HB 1002 introduced by Reps. Brown and Soliday would allow the major moves trust fund to be used for every day highway needs instead of just major projects. According to the fiscal note, $200 million was transferred to the Major Moves Trust Fund on July 1, 2013 and another $200 million will be transferred in 2014. Under current law, that money may be used only for major highway enhancement projects. With this legislation, it could be used for ordinary maintenance.
Essentially, this looks like a transfer of cash from a capital fund to an operating fund. I’m not a financial planner, but my understanding is that you usually want to avoid such transfers because they have a tendency to mask structural deficits at the expense of future assets.
One of the selling points of Major Moves was the trust fund. Critics liked to point out that weak-willed legislators would just raid it rather than raise taxes.
They were right on that part.
“Major Moves” was always a scam. The money from the sale of the Toll Road should always have been part of general revenue.
Joe, why is some government spending called “investment” and other spending called “raiding”?
We should have paid off the bonds on the toll road and made it the same as the rest of the state’s highways. If we wanted more money for general revenue, we should have raised taxes on the general population — not just the motorists in northern Indiana.
I agree. Not exactly responsive to Joe’s complaint or the bill, but you’re right.
I wasn’t commenting on Major Moves (my thoughts fall in line with Doug, generally), I was just noting how legislators are proving again they can’t think long-term.
Remember when the Hoosier Lottery was sold to the public because the profits were not a part of the budget, but they went to (I think) education? It didn’t take long at all for them to be rolled into the budget.
There was a Major Moves trust fund set aside for future spending. That’s part of what they agreed to. They should stick to it.
Just a point of clarification. HB1002 actually addresses the use of the Major Moves 2020 Fund, which was established in last year’s legislative session. Once the money is appropriated from the 2020 Fund, it goes into the Major Moves Construction Fund (which can only be used for projects). The 2020 Fund set aside $200M a year, for two years, to be used on big highway projects. The thought was that the money would be saved up and used for large dollar projects, such as adding lanes to current interstate system, at some time in the future. INDOT has asked the legislature to make those funds available now, to be used on 12 projects that add travel lanes to spots along the interstate. They have estimated that adding travel lanes from stateline to stateline will cost $6-9 billion, but this $400M can be used on the most dangerous spots until the entire interstate can be expanded. The purpose of the funds will not change with HB1002 (as it’s now written), just the timing of the expenditure. It seems that taking care of these dangerous areas on the interstate is better taken care of sooner rather than later.