Sec. 5. (a) This article contains full and complete authority for agreements and leases with private entities to carry out the activities described in this article. Except as provided in this article, no procedure, proceeding, publication, notice, consent, approval, order, or act by the authority, the department, or any other state or local agency or official is required to enter into an agreement or lease, and no law to the contrary affects, limits, or diminishes the authority for agreements and leases with private entities, except as provided by this article. However, this article may not be construed to:

(1) limit the power of the authority, the department, or a private entity to enter an agreement; or

(2) impose any procedural or substantive requirements on the authority, the department, or a private entity;

concerning a project (as defined by IC 8-15.5-2-7) carried out under IC 8-15.5.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, before the department, the authority, or an operator may carry out any of the following activities under this article, the general assembly must enact a statute authorizing that activity:

(1) Subject to subsection (d), and after June 30, 2011, issuing a request for proposals for, or entering into, a public-private agreement concerning a project.

(2) Imposing user fees on motor vehicles for use of Interstate Highway 69.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b) or any other law, the department or the authority may enter into a public-private agreement concerning a project consisting of a passenger or freight railroad system described in IC 8-15.7-2-14(a)(4). Such an agreement is subject to review and appropriation by the general assembly. However, this subsection does not prohibit the department from:

(1) conducting preliminary studies that the department considers necessary to determine the feasibility of such a project; or

(2) issuing a request for qualifications or a request for proposals, or both, under IC 8-15.7-4 for such a project.

(d) Notwithstanding subsection (b), during the period beginning July 1, 2011, and ending June 30, 2021, the general assembly is not required to enact a statute authorizing the department, the authority, or an operator to issue a request for proposals for, or enter into, a public-private agreement for the following projects:

(1) A project on which construction begins after June 30, 2011, not including any part of Interstate Highway 69 other than a part described in subdivision (4).

(2) The addition of toll lanes, including high occupancy toll lanes, to a highway, roadway, or other facility in existence on July 1, 2011, if the number of nontolled lanes on the highway, roadway, or facility as of July 1, 2011, does not decrease due to the addition of the toll lanes.

(3) The Illiana Expressway, a limited access facility connecting Interstate Highway 65 in northwestern Indiana with an interstate highway in Illinois.

(4) A project that is located within a metropolitan planning area (as defined by 23 U.S.C. 134) and that connects the state of Indiana with the commonwealth of Kentucky.

As added by P.L.47-2006, SEC.40. Amended by P.L.203-2007, SEC.5; P.L.85-2010, SEC.14; P.L.163-2011, SEC.10; P.L.119-2012, SEC.95; P.L.205-2013, SEC.165; P.L.94-2015, SEC.4.