Senate Bill 0014 – Sen. Jackman.
Public-private agreements for railroads. Adds passenger and freight railroad systems to the definition of “project” for purposes of public-private agreements by the department of transportation (INDOT). Provides that INDOT may issue a request for proposals and enter into a public-private agreement for a railroad project without legislative approval.
Rep. Niezgodski fears that this is aimed at privatizing the South Shore. (h/t Taking Down Words). Recall the hubub a couple of months ago when NICTD general manager, Gerald Hanas reported that he’d been approached by INDOT to consider privatization options for the South Shore. Gov. Daniels denied any interest in privatizing the South Shore.
Sen. Jackman has responded that “Nobody’s going to sell or lease the South Shore” and that doing so is “absolutely not the intent” of the legislation. Regardless of intent, it seems that with this legislation in place, the Indiana Department of Transportation and/or the Indiana Finance authority would be empowered to enter into a long-term lease of any passenger or freight railroad in Indiana under IC 8-15.7. I certainly haven’t done a line-by-line comparison, but if memory serves, this kind of language was in HB 1008-2006 but taken out to get the Toll Road Privatization passed.
[tags]SB14-2007, privatization, toll road, south shore[/tags]
Looks like Daniels brought the theory of the unitary executive back with him from D.C., and the Senate Republicans in the General Assembly are happy to sign on.