Bill Text: IN SB0305 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Purchase options for state highway projects.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-01-10 - First reading: referred to Committee on Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs [SB0305 Detail]
Download: Indiana-2011-SB0305-Introduced.html
Citations Affected: IC 8-23.
Synopsis: Purchase options for state highway projects. Authorizes the
department of transportation to acquire purchase options for property
needed for state highway projects. Provides that real property to which
the department has acquired only a purchase option remains subject to
property taxes.
Effective: July 1, 2011.
January 10, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on Homeland Security,
Transportation & Veterans Affairs.
PRINTING CODE. Amendments: Whenever an existing statute (or a section of the Indiana Constitution) is being amended, the text of the existing provision will appear in this style type, additions will appear in this style type, and deletions will appear in
Additions: Whenever a new statutory provision is being enacted (or a new constitutional provision adopted), the text of the new provision will appear in this style type. Also, the word NEW will appear in that style type in the introductory clause of each SECTION that adds a new provision to the Indiana Code or the Indiana Constitution.
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A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
transportation.
(1) Acquire by purchase, gift, or condemnation, sell, abandon, own in fee or a lesser interest, including a purchase option, hold, or lease property in the name of the state, or otherwise dispose of or encumber property to carry out its responsibilities.
(2) Contract with persons outside the department to do those things that in the commissioner's opinion cannot be adequately or efficiently performed by the department.
(3) Enter into:
(A) a contract with the Indiana finance authority under IC 8-9.5-8-7; or
(B) a lease with the Indiana finance authority under IC 8-9.5-8-8;
for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance,
repair, or operation of toll road projects under IC 8-15-2 and toll
bridges under IC 8-16-1.
(4) Sue and be sued, including, with the approval of the attorney
general, the compromise of any claims of the department.
(5) Hire attorneys.
(6) Perform all functions pertaining to the acquisition of property
for transportation purposes, including the compromise of any
claims for compensation.
(7) Hold investigations and hearings concerning matters covered
by orders and rules of the department.
(8) Execute all documents and instruments necessary to carry out
its responsibilities.
(9) Make contracts and expenditures, perform acts, enter into
agreements, and make rules, orders, and findings that are
necessary to comply with all laws, rules, orders, findings,
interpretations, and regulations promulgated by the federal
government in order to:
(A) qualify the department for; and
(B) receive;
federal government funding on a full or participating basis.
(10) Adopt rules under IC 4-22-2 to carry out its responsibilities.
(11) Establish regional offices.
(12) Adopt a seal.
(13) Perform all actions necessary to carry out the department's
responsibilities.
(14) Order a utility to relocate the utility's facilities and coordinate
the relocation of customer service facilities if:
(A) the facilities are located in a highway, street, or road; and
(B) the department determines that the facilities will interfere
with a planned highway or bridge construction or
improvement project funded by the department.
(15) Reimburse a utility:
(A) in whole or in part for extraordinary costs of relocation of
facilities;
(B) in whole for unnecessary relocations;
(C) in accordance with IC 8-23-26-12 and IC 8-23-26-13;
(D) in whole for relocations covered by IC 8-1-9; and
(E) to the extent that a relocation is a taking of property
without just compensation.
(16) Provide state matching funds and undertake any surface
transportation project eligible for funding under federal law.
However, money from the state highway fund and the state
highway road construction and improvement fund may not be
used to provide operating subsidies to support a public
transportation system or a commuter transportation system.
(b) In the performance of contracts and leases with the Indiana
finance authority, the department has authority under IC 8-15-2, in the
case of toll road projects, and IC 8-16-1, in the case of toll bridges,
necessary to carry out the terms and conditions of those contracts and
leases.
(c) The department shall:
(1) classify as confidential any estimate of cost prepared in
conjunction with analyzing competitive bids for projects until a
bid below the estimate of cost is read at the bid opening;
(2) classify as confidential that part of the parcel files that contain
appraisal and relocation documents prepared by the department's
land acquisition division; and
(3) classify as confidential records that are the product of systems
designed to detect collusion in state procurement and contracting
that, if made public, could impede detection of collusive behavior
in securing state contracts.
This subsection does not apply to parcel files of public agencies or
affect IC 8-23-7-10.
(1) Traffic surveys.
(2) The study of transportation facilities.
(3) Research concerning the development of the regions of Indiana and contiguous territory, including the effects of growth and changes in population and economic activity.
(4) The collection and review of data relating to factors that affect the judicious planning of the construction, improvement, and maintenance of highways, including the feasibility of purchasing and exercising options under IC 8-23-28.
(b) An investigation conducted under subsection (a) may interrupt and stop traffic if necessary.
(c) An investigation conducted under subsection (a) may be conducted in cooperation with counties, municipalities, metropolitan planning organizations, the United States, other states, government agencies, or other persons.
(d) The department may enter into an agreement with an entity
described in subsection (c) to conduct an investigation under
subsection (a).
(1) To locate, relocate, construct, reconstruct, repair, or maintain a state highway, including area for:
(A) the placement of a utility facility within the right-of-way of the state highway system; or
(B) the relocation of a utility facility within the right-of-way of the state highway system due to interference with a highway improvement project.
(2) To widen or straighten a highway.
(3) To clear and remove obstructions to vision at crossings and curves.
(4) To construct weigh stations and rest areas.
(5) To provide scenic easements and other areas necessary to cooperate with the federal government or carry out a federal law.
(6) To facilitate long-range transportation planning.
(b) Real property and interests in real property, other than a purchase option under IC 8-23-28, acquired for permanent highway purposes are exempt from taxation from the date of acquisition, provided that all taxes, interest, and penalties recorded on the property tax duplicates have been paid. Where real property or interests in real property are acquired after the assessment date of any year but before December 31, the taxes on the property in the ensuing year are not a lien on the property and shall be removed from the tax duplicates by the county auditor. A property owner who on or after March 1, 1965, conveyed real property or rights in real property to the department and who after July 8, 1965, is assessed taxes upon the property or rights
conveyed and who pays the taxes by reason of the failure of the
department to properly record the interest in the real property conveyed
with the county auditor and recorder for tax purposes may recover the
amount of the taxes from the department.
(b) In the acquisition of property or property rights for a limited access facility or a service road connected with a facility, the state, county, or municipality may acquire an entire lot, block, or tract of land, if the interests of the public will be best served, even though the entire lot, block, or tract is not immediately needed for the right-of-way.
(c) Court proceedings necessary to acquire property or property rights under this section take precedence over all other causes not involving the public interest in all courts.
Chapter 28. Purchase Options
Sec. 1. As used in this chapter, "purchase option" means a transaction in which the department pays a landowner a specified amount of money for the right to purchase the landowner's real property for a state highway project within a set time for a specified price but is not obligated to purchase the property.
Sec. 2. As used in this chapter, "state highway project" means the construction or reconstruction of a state highway (as defined in IC 8-14-10-4). The term does not include maintenance of or
repairs to a state highway.
Sec. 3. (a) The department may acquire purchase options for
property needed, or proposed to be needed, for all or part of a state
highway project.
(b) The department may use any money appropriated to the
department for highway construction or reconstruction to acquire
a purchase option under this section.
Sec. 4. A purchase option may include an option for the
department to renew the purchase option at a specified time. The
renewal option must specify the manner in which the price of the
renewal option is calculated.
Sec. 5. The purchase of an option under this chapter does not
relieve the department of any responsibility to comply with federal
laws, regulations, or guidelines concerning the evaluation of
alternatives to the state highway project for which the option is
purchased.
Sec. 6. The department shall structure the acquisition of a
purchase option under this chapter to maximize the part of the
purchase price that may qualify as state matching funds under
federal law if the department exercises the purchase option on a
state highway project that is otherwise eligible for matching
federal aid highway funds.
Sec. 7. A purchase option acquired by the department under this
chapter does not affect the status of the real property that is the
subject of the purchase option for purposes of taxation under
IC 6-1.1.
Sec. 8. The department shall establish guidelines to ensure that
the department or an agent or employee of the department does
not engage in land speculation when acquiring purchase options.
