(INDIANAPOLIS) — Legislators have a week-and-a-half to figure out how to spend a $3 billion windfall.
Indiana will get $3 billion from the latest federal pandemic relief bill. President Biden signed the “American Rescue Plan” just a month ago, and Senate Appropriations Chairman Ryan Mishler (R-Bremen) says there hasn’t been enough time to figure out the best way to spend that much money, within the rules spelled out by the Treasury Department.
The Senate version of a new state budget, which Mishler unveiled last week, earmarks about a
quarter of the money so far, with money for items from mental health to police body cameras. It
also pays for four grant programs legislators were already planning, including a restaurant
assistance fund and local health initiatives.
Mishler says he’s already talking with House Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown (R-
Crawfordsville) about those proposals and what else could be added to the final version of the
budget. He says one possibility is to pay off state debt early, to free up interest money for the
future. The Senate budget already includes $110 million in state money for that purpose.
Legislators have been vocal about reasserting the General Assembly’s power of the purse in
deciding where the relief money is spent. Money from last year’s CARES Act was reviewed by the
bipartisan State Budget Committee, which comprises four legislators and state budget director
Zac Jackson, but the essential decisions on how to spend it were made by the Holcomb
administration.
Legislators have already passed a bill requiring the budget committee to sign off on any spending
of federal stimulus dollars received when the General Assembly isn’t in session. Holcomb vetoed
that bill last week over a separate provision allowing the legislature to call itself into session to
review emergency declarations.
The Senate budget allocates federal money to state and local water projects, an expansion of
broadband access, a one-time stipend for state troopers, Holcomb’s program to attract more
nonstop flights in and out of Indiana, and a study of how to redevelop the Gary lakefront land being
vacated by the Majestic Star Casino’s move to downtown.
House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) says there’s at least one area where the House will
recommend spending more than what Mishler has proposed: Governor Holcomb’s regional
redevelopment fund, which legislators have rechristened the Regional Economic Acceleration and
Development Initiative (READI). Mishler’s budget sets aside $150 million in federal relief
money for that fund.
Huston says the focus should be on spending which will accelerate Indiana’s emergence from the
pandemic. And he and Mishler both say the state should leave some of the money unallocated for
now, to be available for needs or opportunities which pop up later. Mishler says he has a
percentage in mind, but isn’t revealing it publicly yet.
