House OKs roads proposal, school-funding bill-WEB ONLY

The Indiana House approved two massive spending bills yesterday – a job-creation proposal that would funnel $1 billion toward local road projects and an education budget that would give schools a 2-percent spending increase.

Some Republicans objected to both bills because they would each tap into reserve or trust funds to help pay for the measures. But the legislation cleared the Democrat-controlled House, and both bills now move to the GOP-controlled Senate for consideration.

The road-funding bill would direct $500 million to counties and $500 million to cities and towns for local projects.
The funds would come from three sources: $250 million from expected federal stimulus money, $250 million from federal money the state holds in several highway accounts and $500 million from an interest-generating trust fund created from the lease of the Indiana Toll Road in 2006.

Bill sponsor Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, said the $1 billion proposal could put 40,000 to 50,000 people to work.

“People need help now,” she said. “They need jobs.”

Republicans came up with the idea of using existing federal highway money and federal stimulus funds for road projects. But some GOP members disagreed with the Democrats’ idea to tap into the trust fund, which was only supposed to be tapped for interest for future highway projects.

“Many of us made a commitment to save part of that money for our children and our grandchildren, not to spend it all today,” said Rep. Jeff Espich, a Republican from Uniondale who voted against the bill.

House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, noted that the bill was a work in progress, and said he hoped any final plan would not use trust fund money.

Supporters said the road projects were critical to turning around the state’s struggling economy.

“We’re not going to dig out of this mess until we put people back to work,” said Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City.

The House voted 88-11 for the bill, with all the no votes coming from Republicans.

Meanwhile, the education-funding bill would increase spending on public education by 2 percent, giving schools more than $6.4 billion.

To help pay for the increase, the bill would use $100 million from Indiana’s tuition reserve fund. The account, which currently contains about $400 million, is part of the state’s surplus and was set up as a safety net to protect education funding during turbulent economic times.

Republicans said the state should hold onto its surplus.

“In a time when money is tight – and I mean tight – it spends too much,” said Rep. Jeffrey Thompson, R-Lizton.

But Democrats said the rainy day funds were created for tough times.

“If it’s not raining right now, I don’t know what rain looks like,” said Rep. Terry Goodin, a Democrat from Crothersville who sponsored the education-funding bill.

House Democrats have proposed bucking decades of tradition and separating the state’s traditional two-year budget proposal into several different bills.

The education budget bill approved yesterday and a separate child-welfare budget bill would only cover one year of funding each, while the main budget bill would cover the traditional two-year cycle.

The House passed the education-funding bill on a 52-46 party-line vote.