By John Byrne and Jane Huh, Post-Tribune staff writers
INDIANAPOLIS -- Cities in Porter County could vote themselves into the Regional Development Authority in a late proposed addition to the bill that also posits moving one of Gary's casinos and creating a "super board" with taxing power to oversee Northwest Indiana's public transportation projects.
House Bill 1607 keeps getting more complicated and controversial with fewer than three days left in the General Assembly session.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, insisted his proposed Monday amendment was meant as a "long term" safeguard, not as a reaction to the Porter County Council's recent vote to leave the RDA.
"My understanding of the law, it is very clear that Porter County cannot get out (of the RDA now)," Soliday said.
But counties can leave in 2015, Soliday said. If any two Porter County municipalities then voted to stay in the RDA, the countywide $3.5 million in annual income tax payments to the development authority would continue despite a vote by the county council to leave the group.
Soliday said officials in Portage, Valparaiso, Chesterton and Porter have told him they want to remain in the RDA.
Porter County Councilman Dan Whitten, who spearheaded the council's April 8 vote to leave the RDA after learning of the proposed "super board" and its additional taxing power, called Soliday's latest plan "backdoor" legislation.
"Ed Soliday has got to quit looking for a shell game to force people to stay in the RDA," Whitten said.
Members of a bipartisan House-Senate conference committee discussed Soliday's idea, but did not reach a final decision on whether to endorse the plan.
Several clauses in HB 1607 have drawn skeptical reviews from lawmakers uneasy about making sweeping changes to state law in such a last-minute fashion.
Only language in the bill creating a one-of-its-kind four-county regional transportation district in Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties has been fully vetted in the House and Senate.
Language allowing one of Don Barden's casino licenses to be moved from Gary's Buffington Harbor to land near the Borman Expressway drew criticism.
Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mt. Vernon, worried Indiana would be enacting piecemeal gambling law if the legislature passes Gary-specific language allowing the state's first official land-based casino.
"If we were to go down a path like this I think the state, in its interests in regards to protecting its own revenue, might want explore the possibility of getting a different operator, someone who has a better history of success," Van Haaften said.
Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, HB 1607's author, urged his colleagues to seize the opportunity to help Gary and begin a major regional development endeavor.
The conference committee will likely meet on 1607 again today. The session is scheduled to conclude Wednesday.