INDIANAPOLIS - With a vote that came down to the wire with just minutes until the 2006 legislative session was to expire, lawmakers passed the governor's transportation bill.
The House passed the bill at 10 p.m. CST with 51 Republican votes. One Republican member, Rep. David Wolkins of Winona Lake, was the only "no" vote on his side of the aisle.
All House Democrats voted against the measure for a slew of reasons. Some argued that it was unfair because it allowed a toll on only portions of Interstate 69 while barring it on others.
House Bill 1008 allows the administration to lease the Indiana Toll Road. A Spanish-Australian group bid $3.85 billion for a 75-year lease.
The bill also allows the state to build the Interstate 69 extension as a public-private partnership but limits tolls from Evansville to Martinsville. The bill requires the administration to do a feasibility study of tolling for the project.
To add a toll on any section north of Martinsville or to build the highway on the planned route through the South Side of Indianapolis, Gov. Mitch Daniels must come back to the Legislature for approval.
I-69 backers said this compromise works well because the bill wouldn't be a strict prohibition on running the highway through Perry Township, on Indianapolis' South Side, which means construction on the federally approved route could begin.
Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon, argued the toll would cause companies to build south of the tolling portion and called on his fellow Southwestern Indiana legislators to vote no.
"I-69 in (House Bill) 1008 is economic development for Western Kentucky and Western Tennessee," he said. "But here we have to stand as Southwestern Indiana delegates and roll over and play dead because we've wanted this road for so long?"
Van Haaften promised to vote for the measure if it was changed to ensure that I-69 is built as a freeway. But local Republicans, Reps. Suzanne Crouch of Evansville and Troy Woodruff of Vincennes, didn't take the bait. Both argued the plan would fund a start to I-69 construction.
"This is the only way we can get I-69 and I-69 is too important," Crouch said. "Major Moves makes I-69 a reality."
Only three Republicans spoke for the measure, including House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, on the floor because the vote came so close to the midnight deadline for action and other bills were still pending.
"I know we all think this is a vote about roads tonight but it really isn't," Bosma said. "This is a vote about vision and a vote about leadership."
The Senate passed the bill 31-19 at 10:43 p.m. CST. Sens. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, and John Waterman, R-Shelburn, voted for the measure. Sens. Richard Young, D-Milltown; Lindel Hume, D-Princeton; and Larry Lutz, D-Evansville, voted against it.
Becker said she's had several conversations with state and federal transportation officials who said the change would not cause a delay on starting construction on I-69. The governor's office also released a summary of the compromise bill that reads "INDOT will continue its work to complete Tier 2 studies on all six sections of the approved route."
"There's $700 million for I-69 plus the ability to start construction in 2008," Becker said. "That will mean jobs for our community and our young people."
But Lutz said he didn't believe that because the bill does bar it from running through Perry Township without legislative approval.
"Folks say tonight that (a re-route) won't happen but I simply don't believe that," Lutz said. "That will be rerouting, re-engineering and redoing environmental studies all to circumvent one Indianapolis township because their representatives don't like it."
The revised bill also reinserted a provision that retroactively legalizes any moves made on the Indiana Toll Road contract if they would be legal under the framework the bill created.