During the Interim Committee on Roads and Transportation meeting held on September 26, 2024, at 10 AM, several important topics were discussed:
Key Topics
- Specialty License Plates
- The General Assembly is tasked with approving up to five new specialty license plates each year.
- Nine applications were submitted, but only five could be approved due to the cap of 150 specialty plates.
- Motion to approve the following five plates was put forward:
- Alzheimer’s Association
- Laporte County Meals on Wheels
- Teamsters Local 142
- Little Red Door Cancer Agency
- The Milk Bank
- Discussion occurred around ensuring the application process is rigorous but encourages reapplication for those not approved.
- Road Naming Resolutions
- The committee had 11 road naming applications for consideration, the highest number since 2014.
- Senator Bush presented a road naming request to honor Matthew Tomkiewicz, a marine who died in an Osprey crash.
- Discussion about the possibility of implementing sunsets on road naming (25-year durations) to allow for generational honors.
- A proposal to shift the responsibility of road naming approvals to the Governor’s office in collaboration with ENDOT to streamline the process.
- Long-Term Specialty Plate and Road Naming Management
- The conversation touched on potentially raising the minimum number of plates to be sold from 500 to 750 to avoid administrative overload.
- Possible future reductions in the total number of allowable specialty plates were discussed.
Committee Actions and Votes
- Approval of Specialty License Plates:
- The committee was tasked with selecting five specialty license plates from nine applications, as only five new plates can be approved each year due to the statutory limit of 150 total plates.
- A motion was made to approve the following five organizations for specialty license plates:
- Alzheimer’s Association
- Laporte County Meals on Wheels
- Teamsters Local 142
- Little Red Door Cancer Agency
- The Milk Bank
- After the motion, a second was given, and the committee moved into a discussion. During the discussion:
- Senator JD Ford expressed his support but noted his disappointment that other worthy organizations, such as the Eagle Creek Park Foundation and UAW Local 2209, were not included. He confirmed he would still vote “yes” while encouraging these groups to reapply next year.
- Representative Blake Johnson echoed Senator Ford’s sentiments, appreciating the committee’s approach of approving the top five rather than voting against the remaining organizations outright. He argued that rejecting an application with a “no” vote could negatively impact their chances of being reconsidered in future sessions.
- Vote Outcome: The motion to approve the five specialty plates was unanimously passed with a 14-0 vote. The following members voted “yes”:
- Senator Alexander
- Senator Bohacek
- Senator Crider
- Rep. Christwell
- Rep. Harris
- Senator Hundley
- Rep. Gore
- Rep. Johnson
- Rep. Lauer
- Rep. Patterson
- Rep. Pressel
- Senator Ford
- Senator Good
- Absent: Senator Vincent (left early)
- Road Naming Resolutions:
- A presentation was made by Senator Bush, who proposed naming a section of State Road 114 after Matthew Tomkiewicz, a Marine who died in a NATO training exercise. This road naming request was made to honor his service and the sacrifices of other fallen soldiers. The proposal was well-received by the committee.
- There was no formal vote on the road naming resolutions during this meeting. However, the committee agreed to include the road naming recommendations in the final report.
- Discussions on Road Naming:
- Senator Hundley suggested implementing a sunset clause for road naming honors, proposing a 25-year term after which the road naming could be reaffirmed or changed, allowing for generational recognition.
- Senator Crider suggested shifting the decision-making responsibility for road naming to the Governor’s office, in conjunction with ENDOT, to streamline the process and reduce the burden on the legislature.
- Final Report Adoption:
- The committee discussed the need to approve the final report, which would include the outcomes of today’s business (specialty plates) and recommendations regarding road naming resolutions.
- The final report was not fully finalized during the meeting, but a motion was made to approve a draft version that includes today’s decisions, with the understanding that the road naming resolutions would be added later.
- A motion to adopt the draft final report was made, and the vote was as follows:
- Senator Alexander (excused)
- Senator Bohacek (yes)
- Senator Crider (yes)
- Rep. Christwell (yes)
- Senator Ford (yes)
- Senator Good (yes)
- Rep. Gore (yes)
- Rep. Harris (yes)
- Senator Hundley (yes)
- Rep. Johnson (yes)
- Rep. Lauer (yes)
- Rep. Patterson (yes)
- Rep. Pressel (yes)
- Outcome: The motion to adopt the draft final report passed with a vote of 13-0 (with Senator Alexander excused).
Additional Notes
- The session emphasized the complexity of road naming, noting that some state roads are being renamed multiple times, creating limitations for future honors.
- There was a significant discussion about whether the process for road naming should be adjusted to involve local governments more deeply and reduce legislative involvement.
- Matthew Tomkiewicz Memorial: The moving tribute to Matthew Tomkiewicz, a fallen marine, presented by Senator Bush, stood out as a moment of reflection and respect for his sacrifice.
- Record Number of Road Naming Applications: The committee dealt with an unprecedented 11 road naming applications, signaling the increasing demand for such honors.
- Collaborative Support for Non-Profit Plates: The committee’s support of diverse non-profit causes through specialty plates—such as Meals on Wheels and The Milk Bank—highlighted the state’s commitment to community-focused initiatives.
Good morning. Closest thing to a gavel as I’ve got. Good morning, everyone. Are the microphones on? And LSA is ready to go. Perfect. Well, welcome to the interim study Committee on Roads and Transportation this morning and welcome to the people’s house. So I’m going to give a brief introduction of kind of a rundown of the agenda. But before we do that, I always like to do an introduction of the members that are present. And senator, almost. We almost had everybody in attendance, and I got to tell you, for interim study committee. That’s amazing. So this means a lot to a lot of people. So, Senator Bohacek, if we could start with you and come around with introductions would be outstanding. Sure. State Senator Mike Pohaczyk. All are parts of Laporte, Stark, Marshall, and St. Joe county. Good morning, mister chairman. Senator JD Ford, representing District 29, which is parts of Hamilton, Boone, and Marion counties. Good morning, mister chairman. I’m Mitch Gore. Good morning, Mister chairman. Representative Blake Johnson, District 100, downtown Indianapolis, to the east side. Corey Criswell, Representative for District 54, Henry Rush, parts of Hancock and Shelby counties, Lindsey Patterson, District 55, all of Franklin, Fayette, and Union county, and portions of Decatur, Ripley, and Rush. Jim Presell. District 22, thirds of LaPorte county and the northern four townships in Stark county. Good morning. Senator Mike Crider. District 28, which is all of Hancock county and portions of Shelby and Marionde. State Senator Scott Alexander. District 26, which is all of Delaware county, all of Randolph county. Good morning. Ryan Lauer, representing Columbus and Bartholomew county. Good morning, everyone. Greg Good. Senate District 38, Viggo Clay, and part of Sullivan counties. Good morning. Senator Dave Vincent. It’s district three, Colbert, Lake Station, Merrillville, Gary in New Chicago. Good morning. Andrea Hundley, Senator for District 46, downtown Indianapolis. Good morning. Earl Harris state Rep. For House District two, East Chicago, Gary Hammond and Lake county.
Thank you. And we do have 100% attendance right now, so you’ll probably see a few members duck in and duck out. There are two other study committees going on, so they’re trying to be in multiple places.
First up, we’re going to do license plate, specialty license plates applications. So we do have DMV with us today, if any of the committee has members for DMV, and we do have endot along with them, so feel free to ask questions to them. We will not be taking any testimony. We took all the testimony at the last meeting, so this is really an opportunity for the committee to come together and decide what we’re going to do moving forward. So I’m going to lay out if you weren’t there, if you’re watching from at home or you’re going to watch this later on. So the general assembly is allowed to, or tasked with, we approve up to five license plates, specialty license plates, each year, and then every ten years, we review the status of the license plates that already exist. So there is a limit. And I cannot remember what the limit is, but we’re getting very close to it. Cody, do you know what the limit is? 150. And we are at. See, today is stump DMV day. All right, so we can do up to 150. I know we are getting very close to that. We have nine applications this year, so unfortunately, we can only approve five of those. If the committee does five, it could be one. Don’t know just yet. So if you are one of the potential for that did not make the application, I applaud you for doing what you’ve done. There’s a lot of hoops to jump through. There’s a lot of paperwork I mentioned in our first meeting. Some of the applications were 300 pages long. So there’s a lot that goes into this. I would encourage you to reapply if you didn’t make it. So with that, I’m going to open it up to the committee members on how we want to take these, if we want to take something en masse, if we want to do all individuals looking for any kind of emotion or a thought process moving forward. Chairman, I would recommend that we take a single vote on five and approve them all at once. And I have five that I would recommend and would like to make a motion that we approve: the Alzheimer’s association, the Laporte county meals on wheels, teamsters local 142, the little red Door cancer agency, the milk bank. So I’m going to check with LSA and make sure we can take it in a mass if. Do I need to get consent from the members to do that? No, but if you could name the five again, that’d be helpful. If we could do what? Name the five again. That was so. Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s. Laporte county meals on wheels, teamsters local number 142, the little red Door cancer agency, and the milk bank. Okay. Yeah, you can take a vote. Okay, there’s a motion and there’s a second. Yeah. Is there committee discussion on those? I guess. Call the roll. 1 second. Senator Alexander. Yes. Senator Bahachek. Senator Crider. Yes. Rep. Christwell. Yes. Senator Ford. May I explain my vote, mister chairman? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity again to say a few words. And I already spoke with Megan with the Eagle Creek Park foundation, and will work with her team next year to hopefully bring an application back that kind of gives more of a statewide impact. I also wanted to include UAW local 2209, but unfortunately they were not part of this. But I’ll be voting yes, senator. Good. Yes. Rep. Gore. Yes. Rep. Harris. Yes. Senator Hundley. Yes. Rep. Johnson. Mister Chairman, if I could just again, just to kind of reiterate what Senator JD Ford has said here, I think there’s some in this list that are very worthy, and I’m sorry to see them not on a recommendation. But I do appreciate the approach of voting on five because I think it doesn’t say no to any of these other ones. It just simply says we have more work to do on the applications. I think a no vote is more damaging because not all of us are promised to be here. And I think another chairman or chairman could look at a no vote and make that the process, that you’re no longer eligible at all. So I appreciate this approach, even if I had hoped a couple different names would be on the list. So I’ll vote yes. Rhett blower, aye. Rep Patterson. Yes. Rep Pressel. Yes. Senator Vinzant. Yes. Passes 14 to zero.
Outstanding. Again, I want to reiterate all of the work that went into all these applications, and I can assure you I went through all of them and it was a long process. They’re all great applications. I think some of the things that Senator Ford pointed out, don’t be afraid to bring them back again. They need maybe a couple tweaks to get committee support on them. Thank you.
That’ll move us into road naming resolutions. So there are eleven this year, which is in that I’ll put you on the spot. This is the most in 14 years since 2014. So with all the, I will let everybody file out. Bushes here, bushes here. Is Senator Bush outside? Could you send him in? So eleven of them this year. We’re going through them all. So Senator Bush wasn’t able to join us on the first one, and I promised him an opportunity to be able to present before we come up with a determination. So, Senator Bush, floor is yours first and foremost. Thank you for accommodating that representative. Mister chairman. I threw up my back, so having a two hour drive to Indianapolis didn’t sound very appealing, so thanks for. Thanks for making the switch for us. I present to you today my very first road naming. After seven sessions here, I have a constituent that was part of my district, Matthew Tomkiewicz, who unfortunately, during a NATO training exercise with 27 other nations, perished in a osprey crash that took the lives of three other marines. And we’re looking to name 1 mile of State Road 114 in between north 400 east and north 500 east. That’s very close to where he matriculated at Homestead High School out in southwest Fort Wayne. Happy to add any more color or answer any questions. What year was this in? This was in. This was about. I believe he graduated high school in 2012. I think this was about four years ago. His wife was integral here a couple years ago at the state house with getting the gold star plates to be able to go to wives of fallen and spouses of fallen soldiers. So I don’t have that right. My notes, but I think it was about four years ago, sir. Okay, thank you. Any questions of the committee? Seeing none pretty quick. Thank you, mister chairman.
Thanks. So I don’t know that we’re going to do. I’m pretty sure we’re not going to do an official determination at this meeting, but included in our final report will be the road naming resolutions that are going to move forward. So we will include that because I’m not sure that we’ve decided the conversation continues to go on. We will get with LSA and get that into the, the final report, if the committee is okay with that. Senator Hunley. Thank you, mister chairman.
I know that last meeting that we had, we briefly discussed possibility of doing sunsets for these road renamings. I know that there are a limited number of roads that, you know, that are in Dot supported roadways going through our communities. And I know that we talked about do we do a sunset, 20 years, 50 years, 30 years? And so I think it might be good for us to just have that conversation. Maybe it’s a generation. A generation I think is 25 years. So maybe once every 25 years, then there needs to be a reapplication or a reaffirmation of the road renaming to really ensure that each generation has the opportunity to honor the, the members of their community, you know, who are most important. So I don’t know if that’s a conversation to have or to put a recommendation into the report. Absolutely, Senator Crider, and to build on Senator Hundley’s observation. So we’ve been in this spot where the committee has considered these for a number of years now, and I personally have come to the place where I believe that this should be handled more like a Sagamore or something, where the legislators make a recommendation, get affirmation from their local government officials and present that to the governor’s office. And then the governor’s office, in conjunction with NDOT, would make that final determination. So there’s a lot of passion behind these requests, and often the families are, really feel like they’ve been slighted when one doesn’t go through. And so it just seems like maybe with the new administration coming in with this report, maybe we have an opportunity to at least throw that out there for consideration. The governor’s office may say, no, that’s not something we want to do, but they do a good job of screening applications for sagamores and other awards locally. I know having done a couple of these and participated with ENDOT, there’s fairly considerable expense involved with making the sign. And it’s a unique sign, often has to be placed in an area where they have to bring out multiple trucks and block the intersections and things like that. And so that all being said, it just seems like maybe that would be a better process than us vetting each one of these and trying to make a determination. And then it having to pass through multiple committees in the Senate and in the House in order for it to get final approval. I’m just throwing that out for discussion. I agree 100%. I mean, I’ve been chair here for four years, and I got to tell you that, and if you haven’t heard me say it to you personally, these are some of the toughest things that we have to do in a committee is to vet some of the road naming resolutions, because they are, they’re, and I’m gonna tread really cautiously on my words here. They’re all important, right? They are all important. But to sustain a level of changing a bridge, changing a road, at what level does that happen? Right. Do you have to have x amount of metals that are. I can’t even think of all the metals. I used to have a cheat sheet because I didn’t understand what they meant. At what level do we do this? Because we are gaining so many of them. Michelle Davis’s district, representative Davis’s district is a great example. So she has a small district compact that has very limited state highways that run through there. The road naming resolution that we’re doing this year, I believe has been named twice already. So we’re starting on multiples. So. And this is happening more often. And I always encourage members to first think about a local road where this may mean more to the community before going to a state road where we’re zipping down through there at 70 miles an hour. Because I know we all drive the speed limit and they don’t even notice it. Right. So is it more important to do it locally and is it more important that the governor bestow this honor and take control of it? So I agree with Senator Crider. I think maybe we should have a conversation during legislative session. So Representative Gore and I have talked about this. If you want to chime in, Representative Gore, I think you’ve got a valid concern. Thank you, mister Chairman. Yeah, I just, I had mentioned, I think this is really a symptom of not having another means by which we can honor worthy Hoosiers. You know, the US Congress has the congressional gold medal. The president has the presidential medal of Freedom. These are things that they can use to recognize worthy folks, and we really don’t have anything like that. The closest thing we have is a road renaming, it would seem. And so we have several of them, the most ever this year. And perhaps if we had something like that, make sure that it’s, you know, we don’t give it out too much. It really retains its. Its worth and its value. Maybe that would alleviate some of this. So, any other comments on that perspective? Any objections to including something like that into the final report? Perfect. I’m going to point out specialty license plates also, and I continue to talk about that number, and I’ve written it down, Cody, so I won’t have to ask again. It’s 150, and I know we’re getting dangerously close to the end of that. I think that’s probably something that DMV could probably handle without us. Or we lower that cap. Right. And the expense of creating those specialty license plates, if you’re only selling that 500, that 525, maybe it’s time we take a look at the cost of doing that. Cody, do you know how many, what does it cost us? Any idea on that? Nothing. Because we don’t. The state doesn’t receive any more dollars for that plate. It’s the group that gets those dollars. So we’re designing all these different plates, we’re putting them out there, and we’re keeping track of them. Maybe it’s a conversation we need to have about lowering that number or raising the number of license plates, plates that have to be sold instead of 500. Maybe it’s 750. Maybe it’s 1000. Something like that. So that we’re not here every year doing those fair. All right. With that said, we will have in the final report a recommendation of the committee as we poll the committee to find out where we’re at on final road naming resolutions. Is the committee okay with doing it that way? No objections. Perfect. Any other comments from the committee? Seeing none, we’ll stand in adjournment.
Hold on, members. The chairman made a mistake. We have to adopt the final report by a vote. And I’m asking for your trust in what’s going to be in that final report. Other words, we have to reconvene. Can we call the roll on a final report? Do we? Do we? I’m trying to remember how we did it last year. We approve the final report except for the amended version based on the final. You have a draft final report in your packet. We will include the business that we did today, along with and as yet to be determined number of road naming resolutions that will be included. Mister chair. I’ll defer to council to see if we need to actually vote on those resolutions or if they can be included after the fact. Mister chairman, are we able to. I’m sorry. Mister chairman. Did you give me approval to speak? Oh, thank you. Are we able to, as a committee, authorize the chair and vice chair, with the consent of the ranking minority members, to insert the road renamings as they see fit? I’m just a cop. To be quite honest. I don’t know. I’ve never had this. Is there anything that says we can’t? Let me try and clear up the resolution part of it. So keep in mind, these are. This is only a recommendation. If we were to vote on these all individually in here today, they still have to go through the process. They still have to be filed. They still have to come through the House, through the Senate, and vice versa, both chambers. Right. So we are not adopting them as you skip that process. Right. We’re just recommending that these be approved. Committee vote to acknowledge acceptance and receipt of the applications and review. Yes. I think you can note in the final report that the committee acknowledges that you heard testimony on these applications, and the committee approved that. The chair, vice chair, whomever moving forward will recommend which ones move on in the legislative process. But the fact that you’ve heard them and acknowledged that, I think should be enough. Fair enough. Do we have to vote on that? Well, that’ll just be in the. In the final report. Final report? Yeah. So no further votes required. I don’t want to reconvene us again at the expense of the taxpayer just to vote on the report. With the exception of the draft final report, which includes today’s business, along with the recommendations of the five new applicants. Right. And then just acknowledgement that there will be further information coming regarding road and bridge naving resolutions. I gotta call us back in, right? Oh, right. Yes. Yeah. So, welcome to roads and transportation, part B. The chairman apologizes for such a serious screw up. I thought we were on our way. So with that being said, we’re back in session. Senator Bohacek, I thought you wanted to make a motion again. There’s a motion in a second. Senator Alexander? He had to leave. Okay. Excuse, Senator Bohochek. Senator Crider? Yes. Rep. Christwell? Yes. Senator Ford. Yes. Senator. Good. Yes. Rep. Gore? Yes. Rep. Harris. Yes. Senator Hundley. Yes. Rep. Johnson. Yes. Replauer. Aye. Rep. Patterson. Rep. Pressel. Yes. And Senator Vinzant, excused. You’re here. You’re my second. Draft final report. It passes 13-0. All right, now we’re adjourned.
- Senator Mike Pohaczyk – Representing Laporte, Stark, Marshall, and St. Joe counties
- Senator JD Ford – Representing District 29 (Hamilton, Boone, and Marion counties)
- Representative Mitch Gore – Not further specified
- Representative Blake Johnson – Representing District 100 (Indianapolis, east side)
- Representative Corey Criswell – Representing District 54 (Henry, Rush, Hancock, and Shelby counties)
- Representative Lindsey Patterson – Representing District 55 (Franklin, Fayette, Union, Decatur, Ripley, and Rush counties)
- Representative Jim Pressel – Representing District 22 (Laporte county, Stark county)
- Senator Mike Crider – Representing District 28 (Hancock and Shelby counties)
- Senator Scott Alexander – Representing District 26 (Delaware and Randolph counties)
- Representative Ryan Lauer – Representing Bartholomew county
- Senator Greg Good – Representing District 38 (Viggo Clay, Sullivan counties)
- Senator Dave Vincent – Representing District 3 (Colbert, Lake Station, Merrillville, Gary, New Chicago)
- Senator Andrea Hundley – Representing District 46 (downtown Indianapolis)
- Representative Earl Harris – Representing House District 2 (East Chicago, Gary, Hammond, Lake county)
- Other participants: Representatives from the BMV and ENDOT, as well as various committee members
