Senate panel advances road-funding package after changes to Community Crossings and township reporting

House Bill 1461, a package aimed at altering how state road funding is distributed to local units, moved out of the Senate Homeland Security and Transportation Committee Tuesday after members adopted multiple amendments and voted to recommit the bill to appropriations. The committee vote to recommit passed 7-0.

The bill and amendments aim to change the Community Crossings grant program, clarify responsibilities for small bridges and structures, add reporting or capital-improvement-plan (CIP) requirements for townships and insert a short-line rail tax credit into the measure. Representative Pressell, the bill sponsor in committee, told members the changes were designed to give local units more funding flexibility and transparency.

The Community Crossings changes include an amendment that raised an existing population threshold for a program tier from 50,000 to 55,000 (amendment 22), which Rep. Pressell described as capturing “a few more units”…