Federal Legislative Concerns

Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission
Leadership
Current: Federal Legislative Concerns

February 2025

Ongoing Issues of Concern

Sustaining the Highway Trust Fund

As the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (also the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA) comes up for renewal in the fall of 2026, an ongoing, sustainable funding source is still needed to maintain the Highway Trust Fund. We need to actively seek an ongoing solution — not merely by shuffling money around from other sources when we find them (which is how the HTF was funded under the BIL), but by either (a) making the unpopular move of raising the federal gas tax or (b) by finding a better way to keep the HTF solvent that can take advantage of modern technology while equalizing fees for electric vehicles and combustion-based engines alike, such as implementing Road User Charges (RUC) or Mileage Based User Fees (MBUF). There are simply no other viable solutions that have been identified for adequately maintaining our transportation infrastructure.
NIRPC supports the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Priorities established by the National Association of Regional Councils as summarized at this link: https://narc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Transportation-One-Pager.pdf
Clearing Blocked Railroad Crossings

Since the Indiana Supreme Court struck down the ability of Hoosier municipalities to give citations to trains that block railroad crossings for more than 10 minutes, Northwest Indiana — with more railroad crossings than any other region in the state — has seen an increase in the time trains cut off access within communities, blocking commerce, emergency services, and, in some cases, forcing children to crawl under or over the couplings of stopped trains to get to school. The Class I railroads have shielded themselves behind federal pre-emption to be mostly unresponsive to the needs of Indiana communities. Funding overpasses for grade separation is the most helpful but also the most expensive option. Federal intervention is needed to force the railroads to the table to find effective solutions and work cooperatively with constituent communities.
Finally Designating the Calumet National Heritage Area

While there are over 60 national heritage areas nationwide, Indiana currently has none. The designation of the Calumet National Heritage Area through the National Park Service would promote economic development opportunities and cultural tourism in an area bookended by the Indiana Dunes National Park and the Pullman National Monument in Illinois, with negligible cost. The designation is an add-value to visitor and tourism activities in the region, and, as proven by the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area in and around Pittsburgh, PA — a close analogue to the Calumet region — there is a significant multiplier of return in revenue generated as a result of heritage area designation. A Feasibility Study for the Calumet National Heritage Area has already been accepted by the NPS; however, the designation itself must be approved by Congress.

New Issues of Concern

Appropriating Funding for the EDA

After two decades, the U.S. Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce was finally reauthorized in January 2025 with bipartisan support. The EDA was instrumental in helping to sustain local economies during the COVID era, and EDA-designated Economic Development Districts (EDDs) such as NIRPC have served as the local “boots on the ground” entity facilitating economic investment for sustaining the local economy. The Partnership Planning funds the EDDs currently receive from the EDA are not enough to maintain the staffing necessary to do this work — not even with the new 60/40 distribution of federal/local funds (versus the prior 50/50). To function adequately and strategically to ensure a significant return on investment and keep pace with inflation, the EDA’s Partnership Planning funding should (a) be increased from $70,000 to $200,000 and (b) offered at 100% federal funding to these federally-designated districts with no local match.
Protecting Existing Discretionary Funding

Most of the federal infrastructure funding programmed by NIRPC is allocated by formula, and NIRPC supports increasing the use of formula-based funding in the successor transportation bill to the IIJA/BIL. For those discretionary grants that have already been awarded — most notably for Northwest Indiana, the federal RAISE grant awarded for the Marquette Greenway trail, connecting Chicago to New Buffalo, Michigan, through Northwest Indiana — such grants must be protected from claw-backs and cessation of funding. Significant amounts of dollars have already been spent on planning and implanting these projects with vast public support, and this funding must be protected all the way through conclusion of these awarded projects.

Federal Legislative Concerns

February 2025

Ongoing Issues of Concern

New Issues of Concern

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