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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowRepublican state lawmakers were never keen on House Democrats’ idea to take $500 million from a trust fund and spend the cash on local road projects. But the GOP-controlled Senate made the message clear yesterday as it approved a proposal to protect the fund by putting it into the Indiana constitution.
Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel) said inserting the interest-generating fund into the constitution is the only way to protect it from the whims of the General Assembly. The proposal would specify that the fund’s principal could not be decreased, and lawmakers could spend only the interest.
“We do not want this money raided,” Delph said.
Some opponents said they wanted to protect the account, but they didn’t think the issue belonged in the Indiana Constitution. The Senate voted 34-15 for the resolution, which now moves to the Democrat-controlled House for consideration.
If the proposal passes both the House and Senate either this year or in 2010, it would also have to pass again in either 2011 or 2012 to be eligible for a statewide vote in November 2012. Delph noted, however, that the Senate has passed similar resolutions in the past only to see them die in the House.
House Democrats have proposed a road projects bill that would tap into the Next Generation Trust Fund, which was created with $500 million from the lease of the Indiana Toll Road in 2006.
Only interest from that account was to be tapped every five years for future highway projects, and current law states it is not to be used for a first time until 2011. The account holds about $550 million, according to the latest audited count from the state treasurer’s office.
House Democrats wanted to take $500 million from the fund and put it toward local roads projects they said would create jobs. Supporters of the proposal said the projects were critical to turning around the state’s struggling economy, and that it made no sense to have the money sitting in the bank when people need work.
The roads bill has already passed the House and moves next to the Senate, where Republican lawmakers will likely change the legislation to protect the fund.
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