INDIANAPOLIS— Today, the Indiana Senate passed the Conference Committee report for SB 283 authored by Senators Aaron Freeman, Jack Sandlin, and Fady Qaddoura, sending it to the Governor’s desk. The legislation is estimated to increase Marion County’s road funding by approximately $8 million annually by improving the state’s road funding formula and requires the Department of Transportation to study the condition of the city’s former state highways. Senator Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis) made the following statement:

“The passage of SB 283 is a good, bipartisan first step towards addressing the shortcomings of Indiana’s road funding formula, which shortchanged Indianapolis by tens of millions of dollars over the past few decades. In addition to the funding increase, I am pleased that INDOT will study the conditions of former state highways within Indianapolis, an idea from my SB 203 which would have required INDOT to cover half of the maintenance costs of formerly designated state highways under local units’ jurisdiction.”

“While SB 283 will help improve infrastructure in Indianapolis, it is not a silver bullet. We need to reform our road funding formula and the Community Crossings Program to equitably fund not just Indianapolis’s roads but all urban and suburban communities across the state. I will continue advocating for legislation that fairly distributes gas tax revenues that are generated within Marion County to fund Indianapolis’s infrastructure needs.”