Extras
The likely road ahead for Senate Bill 1, which would allow the state to build the Illiana Expressway and the Indiana Commerce Connector, another privately financed tollway proposed for central Indiana. All steps contingent on legislation clearing previous bar.
Tuesday -- Senate Transportation Committee -- take amendments and vote. Key local players: Sen. Vic Heinold, R-Kouts; Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary
Early February -- Senate Tax Committee -- hold hearing, take amendments and vote: Key local players: Sen. Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake; Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond
Mid-February -- Second reading in Senate -- chance for all senators to offer amendments
By Feb. 28 -- Deadline or third reading vote by full Senate.
Early March -- House Transportation Committee -- hearing, amendments, vote. Key local players: Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago. Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso
Mid-March - House Ways and Means Committee -- hearing, amendments, vote. Key local player: Rep. Bob Kuzman, D-Crown Point
Late March -- Second reading in House -- chance for all representatives to offer amendments
By April 10 -- Deadline for third reading vote by full Senate.
Mid-April -- Legislative leaders would appoint a special conference committee to sort out differences between House and Senate versions of the bill.
Late April -- The final compromise -- conference committee report -- would need to be approved by the House and Senate
Governor -- If both chambers reach an agreement, bill would go to governor for him to sign or veto.
BY PATRICK GUINANE, Times of Northwest Indiana
pguinane@nwitimes.com
INDIANAPOLIS | The legislative path toward approving an Illiana Expressway is a long and no doubt winding road.
Restless townsfolk readying their pitchforks and torches should know that the committee vote scheduled for Tuesday is merely the first step in negotiations that won't be settled until late April, if at all this year. Also, key lawmakers are signaling that any authority they grant Gov. Mitch Daniels would require him to come back to the Legislature before pouring any concrete.
"This is a very long process," said Sen. Vic Heinold, R-Kouts. "I think it's fair to investigate the need (for the highway). I do not want to give authority for this thing to go at the start of this. I want to evaluate it at each stage."
As a Republican member of the Senate Transportation Committee, Heinold is a key player at this stage of the game. Before the panel votes Tuesday, he plans to offer amendments that would spell out terms the governor's office must meet before signing a contract to build a privately financed Illiana Expressway in Northwest Indiana or another tollway outside Indianapolis.
Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, cautions that too much future oversight could kill private interest in building the roads. He and other Republican allies in the Senate say the public needs to believe Daniels when he says the tollways won't be built if planning studies or public support don't pan out.
Some Republicans also caution that it's apples and oranges to compare the issue to last year's "highly politicized" debate regarding leasing the Indiana Toll Road.
The logistics of this year's tollway debate are different, in that Democrats now control the House. Senate Bill 1, which grants permission for the Illiana Expressway and the downstate Indiana Commerce Connector, likely would come before Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, on the House Transportation Committee, and Rep. Bob Kuzman, D-Crown Point, who is vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
"This is really early in session," Kuzman said. "We need to slow this baby down a little bit and not try to, for a lack of a better word, roll over anybody."
Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, who will have a vote in committee on Tuesday, has expressed similar sentiments. The same goes for Valparaiso Rep. Ed Soliday, a Republican member of the House Transportation Committee.
"I'd like to see the (route planning) study and then the action," Soliday said. "Right now we don't have any numbers."
Illinois and Indiana transportation officials agreed last month to begin a three-year study of the Illiana Expressway, which would start at Interstate 57, run east to Interstate 65 and then curve north in Porter County to connect with Interstate 94 near Michigan City.
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