INDIANAPOLIS - The main Indiana House and Senate negotiators said Monday they have a tentative deal on the governor's transportation bill, but it remains to be seen whether the compromise will get enough votes to pass today.
Sen. Robert Meeks, R-LaGrange, is carrying House Bill 1008, dubbed Major Moves, in the Senate. The bill allows Gov. Mitch Daniels to lease the Indiana Toll Road. A consortium bid $3.85 billion for a 75-year lease and the bill also divvies up that money.
Meeks spoke with reporters Monday and spelled out the provisions of the compromise. Under the deal, the administration must come back to the Legislature for special permission to construct the Interstate 69 extension through Perry Township on the south side of Indianapolis.
The bill would allow the administration to build I-69 as a toll road, either state or privately run, from Evansville to just south of Martinsville. To add a toll on the section from Martinsville to Indianapolis, or on any other transportation project, the administration must return to the General Assembly.
"I've got to go back to my caucus and get their approval," Meeks said.
The bill revamps how much money is given to counties along the Indiana Toll Road, upping the payout to $240 million. It also sets aside $500 million in a trust fund for future transportation projects. The bill would allow lawmakers to tap the interest on the trust fund every five years to build roads.
With those and other increases, the bill spends at least $1.4 billion, apart from funding the Indiana Department of Transportation's 10-year road construction plan. That means the state will be at least $360 million shy on construction costs in INDOT's 10-year plan. But backers say the lease payment will garner enough interest to make that a nonissue.
The House sponsor, Rep. Randy Borror, R-Fort Wayne, declined to comment on the specifics of the deal but said he and Meeks agreed on it.
Now that a compromise bill is floating about, it remains to be seen if there will be enough votes to pass it. The I-69 language appears to appease lawmakers concerned about Perry Township. It remains open to interpretation how much of a delay, if any, the bill would cause for I-69.
Sen. Pat Miller, R-Indianapolis, said the language will allow INDOT to begin construction in the south and still move the route in the north.
I-69 backers are equally confident the language would give the governor enough leeway to start construction by 2008 and eventually win support for continuing the highway as planned through the south side of Indianapolis.
"In six to seven years when we have a highway built from Evansville to Martinsville, we'll have to revisit the issue with the Legislature to construct it through Perry Township," said Steve Schaefer with the Metropolitan Evansville Chamber of Commerce.
Legislators from Southwestern Indiana are reviewing the changes.
Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said state transportation officials have assured her the changes would allow construction to begin on I-69 from south to north. She said that if nothing changes in the versions she has seen, she will vote for the bill.
Reps. Troy Woodruff, R-Vincennes, and Suzanne Crouch, R-Evansville, said they weren't committing their votes yet.
Woodruff said he has been assured by the governor's office the current language wouldn't slow down I-69.
"Right now I'm cautiously optimistic that this still keeps us on track," Woodruff said, adding that he would reserve judgment until he sees the final package.
Crouch said she had not seen any details of the final compromise. "The most critical thing to me is that we get I-69," she said.
INDOT spokesman Gary Abell said Monday that any change in the Segment 6 portion of I-69 would mean the state would have to recalculate data provided in the Tier I environmental studies. He said then the Federal Highway Administration would tell INDOT whether it must reopen the federal record of decision granted in March 2004.
The House and Senate must pass a version of House Bill 1008 by session's deadline of midnight tonight or the bill dies.
In the first round of voting, all 52 House Republicans voted for the bill. One northern Indiana Republican has said he has a likely "no" on the final vote, leaving Republicans unable to lose any more members without killing the bill because House Democratic support seems unlikely.
In the Senate, 29 senators voted for the measure in the first round, three more than needed to keep the bill moving.
Sen. Larry Lutz, D-Evansville, said he could change his vote to "yes" on the final vote if the bill was "friendly enough" to I-69. But on Monday, he said the compromise language "guaranteed I'll vote no" because he thinks the Perry Township language will cause a delay in construction.
Daniels has said he wouldn't agree to a deal that would delay I-69 but issued a statement Monday that sounded supportive of the agreement.
"With thousands of jobs at stake, there are few compromises that I wouldn't agree to," Daniels said in a statement. "Ones reached in the past few days are all acceptable, especially given the enormous upside to Indiana's future."