A Republican bill that could kill IndyGo’s planned Blue Line passed out of the Indiana Senate on Monday, Jan. 29. The vote now sets up a fight that lawmakers in the House of Representatives have mostly been able to avoid in recent legislative sessions.
Senate Bill 52 would place a one-year prohibition on dedicated bus lanes for the project. IndyGo has said that would impact its eligibility for a $150 million federal grant and effectively end the 24-mile Blue Line.
SB 52 passed 35-14. Five Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill.
IndyGo is a frequent target in the Indiana General Assembly, and SB 52 author Sen. Aaron Freeman, D-Indianapolis, has been the chief marksman.
But IndyGo has made it through the last three legislative sessions largely unscathed, with bills that either died in committee or passed out of the Senate only to go nowhere in the House.
This session, however, House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, indicated to the Indianapolis Business Journal that legislation putting lane restrictions on IndyGo would have support in the House.
Rep. Blake Johnson, D-Indianapolis, told Mirror Indy that House Democrats will fight the bill by emphasizing that the Blue Line is more than a bus. According to IndyGo, the project would come with 9 miles of new or replaced sidewalks, 7 lane miles of resurfacing, 2 miles of new or upgraded crosswalks and other improvements.
Senate Democrats and transportation advocates previously made similar arguments during nearly three hours of testimony in front of the Senate committee that approved the bill.
Johnson is a member of the House Roads and Transportation Committee, which is where SB 52 could be assigned.
“This is not gonna be easy,” he said.
Mirror Indy did not receive a response to a question for Northwest Indiana Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, who chairs the committee. Pressel previously told IBJ he was “on the fence” about preventing IndyGo from using dedicated bus lanes for the Blue Line.
Speaking on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, previewed another likely argument against SB 52, calling it “overreach at its greatest form.”
Marion County voters in 2016 voted for an income tax increase to help pay for bus rapid transit projects: the Blue Line, the completed Red Line and the Purple Line that’s under construction.
“In this instance, the General Assembly is taking an action to silence the voice of voters,” Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, said on the floor.
In his closing comments, Freeman defended his bill by acknowledging that voters approved the transit referendum. But he also said voters in his district didn’t agree with the outcome, and they wouldn’t use the buses much anyway.
Freeman said he isn’t opposed to IndyGo or public transportation, adding that the transit agency could reapply for funding. But even if funding was approved again, it would still lead to delays and higher costs.
“I’m not undoing anything,” Freeman said.
Freeman’s challenges to IndyGo date back years. In 2021, for example, he filed a bill that would have withheld local tax revenue from IndyGo if it didn’t meet fundraising requirements, but the bill died in a House committee.
As another sign that this year’s SB 52 has more force behind it than past pieces of legislation, the city of Indianapolis appears to be preparing for the possibility of it becoming law.
In a compromise on another issue last week, Freeman offered an amendment to the bill that would require the city to pause installing no-turn-on-red signs until July 1, 2025, while a proposed state task force studies the impact of turn restrictions and dedicated bus lanes. In doing so, Freeman backed off of a bill that would have repealed the city’s no-turn-on-red ordinance.
Aliya Wishner, a city spokeswoman, told Mirror Indy the city remains opposed to SB 52.
“It is too early in the legislative process to predict the final outcome of SB 52,” Wishner said, “but we are hopeful that this bill stalls like past attempts to stop the critical Blue Line BRT construction project.”
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers economics. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick.
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