By Steve Walsh, Post-Tribune staff writer
INDIANAPOLIS — Just how many new jobs Major Moves would mean for Indiana was the subject of debate Tuesday as House and Senate leaders began a search for a compromise.
Supporters of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ Toll Road plan packed the cramped committee room to testify, along with some who questioned what kind of jobs the deal would bring.
“I’m supporting this because our county needs jobs,” said Rep. Mary Kay Budak, R-LaPorte.
The bill would grant Daniels the ability to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a Spanish Australian consortium for 75 years in exchange for $3.85 billion. The bulk of the money would spark a massive, $2.8 billion, 10-year road-building project around the state. Supporters picked up on the governor’s mantra, calling it the “jobs bill of a generation” as he sells the plan around the state.
Tuesday, administration officials again relied on a U.S. Department of Transportation study which suggests for every $1 billion spent on road construction, 47,000 new jobs are created.
How many of those jobs are permanent and how many are construction related has not been studied in Indiana, said Office of Management and Budget Director Chuck Schalliol.
“Obviously with Interstate- 69, you are talking about opening up a new road. There is plenty of evidence that no one wants to locate a business 30 miles from the nearest interstate. We’ll see a tremendous job growth in southwestern Indiana,” said Schalliol, after the hearing.
Other areas, like LaPorte, may also see new business.
“With construction, you’ll see smoother traffic flow, that could attract new companies,” he said.
Much of the support for Major Moves has come from business proponents along the proposed route of Interstate 69 from Indianapolis to Evansville. Unionized construction workers have also provided a bipartisan coalition for the Republican administration and both houses of the Republican-controlled General Assembly.
“There are tens of thousands of construction workers supporting this bill,” said Bill Richards, with the Indiana Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters.
During the hearing, he rattled off a long list of trade unions supporting Major Moves, including Laborers, Teamsters and the Northwest Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council.
House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer asked if the Carpenters were concerned how they might be impacted by the administration’s claim that a private contractor could add lanes to the Indiana Toll Road cheaper than the state.
“We think we can be competitive,” Richards said. “We’ll take our chances with that kind of money.”
Detractors have also questioned whether Indiana has the construction capacity to handle the 10-year spending plan outlined in Major Moves, or whether some of the contracts will go to out-of-state companies.
The administration has continued to assure lawmakers that Indiana’s construction community can handle Major Moves.
Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, was appointed a non-voting adviser to the bill. She said she looked at Major Moves as a jobs bill, but she wanted the final package to include some of the administration’s assurances, including protection for the 600 Toll Road workers.
“My only statement is we need to get that in writing,” she said.
She also urged the committee to reject the Senate language that reduced the money going to the Regional Development Authority.
The House and Senate leaders have already begun to meet behind closed doors on a final compromise. Both the House author, Rep. Randy Borror, R-Fort Wayne, and the Senate sponsor, Sen. Robert Meeks, R-LaGrange, said they were confident they could reach a deal. One of the main sticking points, is whether to give the governor broad authority for new toll road projects, such as the I-69 extension.
A side dispute over whether to allow the extension of I-69 to run through heavily populated Perry Township, south of Indianapolis, remains one of the sticking points. The route has already been approved by the federal government and supporters fear changing the location could delay the project.