“I am happy to support a bill that provides funding for Indiana’s infrastructure so we may have safe roadways, without creating debt for future generations.”

Here is a digest of the bill:

• Provides for the transfer of the state’s excess reserves to the local road and bridge matching grant fund and the state highway fund.
• Provides that use tax collected on sales of gasoline is distributed differently than ordinary sales and use tax collections.
• Provides for income tax rate reductions for non-corporate taxpayers that are phased in from 2019 to 2025.
• Provides a county may impose the county motor vehicle license excise surtax and the county wheel tax at higher rates if the county uses a transportation asset management plan approved by the department.
• Authorizes an eligible municipality to impose a municipal motor vehicle excise surtax and a municipal wheel tax.
• Authorizes an adopting body of a county to specify that a part of the county’s local income tax revenue is to be used for road and bridge projects. Increases the gasoline tax from the current rate of 18 cents per gallon to an indexed rate to be determined by the department of revenue.
• Increases the special fuel tax from the current rate of 16 cents per gallon to an indexed rate to be determined by the department of revenue. Increases the motor carrier surcharge tax from the current rate of 11 cents per gallon to an indexed rate to be determined by the department of revenue.
• Increases the cigarette tax to $1.995 per pack and uses the additional revenue for reimbursements of Medicaid providers.
• Requires the department of revenue to study methods of indexing fuel tax rates and report to the interim study committee on roads and transportation.
• Provides that money that may be transferred from the major moves 2020 trust fund to the major moves construction fund in the state fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016, under current law may be transferred instead to the state highway fund and used for preserving and reconstructing existing roads and bridges for which the department is responsible.
• Requires the department to seek a waiver from the Federal Highway Administration to toll lanes on Interstate 65, Interstate 70, and Interstate 80/94. Requires the department to conduct a feasibility study of tolling on those interstates.
• Establishes the local road and bridge matching grant fund.
• Requires a person who registers an electric vehicle to pay a supplemental registration fee of $100.
• Makes appropriations for various highway and bridge maintenance purposes.
• Appropriates $250,000 to the department for the local technical assistance program to develop a data collection system.
• Appropriates $2,000,000 to the state department of health for the tobacco use prevention and cessation program.
• Repeals provisions requiring excess state reserves in an odd-numbered state fiscal year to be used for an automatic taxpayer refund and the pension stabilization fund.

The bill was authored by Rep. Edmond Soliday and co-authored by Rep. Timothy Brown, Rep. Gregory Steuerwald, Rep. Randall Frye, Rep. Holli Sullivan and Rep. Mike Braun.

The bill will be sponsored by Sen. Luke Kenley, Sen. Brandt Hershman, Sen. James Arnold, Sen. Karen Tallian.