Pence OKs legislative study of South Shore Line

INDIANAPOLIS | State lawmakers this summer will review possible expansion plans for the South Shore Line and consider changes to the membership of its operating board, under a measure signed into law last week by Republican Gov. Mike Pence.

House Enrolled Act 1450 requires the General Assembly's transportation and infrastructure study committee take an in-depth look at South Shore funding and potentially expanding into south Lake County.

The panel also will consider whether Lake County should have a majority of the membership of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board, since Lake County riders outnumber all others.

State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster, was House sponsor of the new law. It was sponsored in the Senate by state Sens. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso; Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake; and Earline Rogers, D-Gary.

The South Shore proposal was among 17 new laws Pence signed last week. He's now signed 76 measures approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate into law and vetoed zero.