Strange end to Illiana hearing

INDIANAPOLIS | State Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, abruptly ended an Illiana Expressway hearing and ran out of the House chamber Wednesday when two representatives asked to vote on the proposal.

After more than 90 minutes of hearing positive testimony from Northwest Indiana labor unions, businesses and regional organizations describing the jobs and economic development that would come with an Illiana Expressway, state Rep. Bill Davis, R-Portland, moved for an immediate committee vote. State Rep. Thomas Saunders, R-Lewisville, quickly seconded the motion.

Rather than calling the roll, Austin, chairwoman of the House Roads and Transportation Committee, instead declared the committee was in recess, and she fled the House chamber for the office suite of House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend.

"I thought it was appropriate to see if the committee wanted to vote it out," Davis said. "There really wasn't much opposition to a pretty good piece of legislation."

Returning to the House chamber about 10 minutes later, Austin said she didn't want to take a vote Wednesday because the committee already had scheduled public hearings for today in Crown Point and Monday in Indianapolis.

"By taking the vote on the bill today (Wednesday), we essentially would not allow anybody to give meaningful testimony so that we might take their testimony into consideration if we do an amendment," Austin said.

Austin previously has said she wants to change Senate Bill 382 to put in place new rules that would govern all future public-private partnerships in Indiana. Austin told The Times she's been working with the National Conference of State Legislatures and a foreign trade group to develop rules that could be used in every state and internationally.

But state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, said Indiana's existing rules are good enough to get the Illiana started and urged Austin not to change the legislation already approved by the Senate 48-0. That measure simply adds the Illiana Expressway, a proposed toll road connecting Interstate 65 in Lake County with Interstate 55 near Joliet, Ill., to the list of roads that can be built under the existing public-private partnership laws.

"We're not mandating anything. This is creating the opportunity. The same opportunity we've already given I-69," Charbonneau said.

Any Illiana project is still years away from breaking ground, but Charbonneau said Indiana needs to get the process started because it could eventually pay off with 20,000 new construction jobs.

"An investor will not take us, as a state, seriously until we pass this legislation," Charbonneau said. "Whether it's two years out or seven years out, we're never going to create job one until we start. Now is the time to start."

State Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, made sponsor of the legislation after Bauer passed it off to him, said the committee ought to consider making a few changes to the proposal to ensure transparency, protect local governments and reduce the environmental impact of the road.

"I really think with some common-sense additions to this we can heighten public confidence, and we can have a great possibility for jobs and economic development," Pelath said.

Charbonneau said he believes most of Pelath's concerns are already addressed by existing law.

Want to have a say?

The House Roads and Transportation Committee will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. today in the auditorium at Crown Point High School, 1500 S. Main St.

People wishing to speak on the Illiana Expressway proposal will be allowed to address the committee for three minutes each. The committee

also will accept written testimony.

For those unable to attend, The Lakeshore radio station will broadcast the hearing live on 89.1 FM and thelakeshorefm.com.

The meeting also will be Webcast at asx.ihets.org/transitcomm/live.asx