INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Gov. Mike Pence’s highway funding plan cleared a preliminary hurdle, gaining
approval from a state Senate transportation committee.
The Senate Homeland
Security and Transportation committee on Tuesday voted 7-0 in favor of the
measure, which was sponsored by committee Chairman Carlin Yoder, a
Middlebury Republican.
The bill would
allow Pence to draw down the state’s budget reserves to help pay for his
plan. It would also allow the state to once again borrow money to finance
infrastructure projects - another key provision in the Republican governor’s
$481 million short-term proposal.
The state has been
prohibited from borrowing money by issuing bonds since 2007.