March 12, 2012
2012 Legislative Session Summary
The 2012 Legislative Session will frequently be looked at simply as the year that Indiana became a Right to Work state. Admittedly, Right to Work was a large part of the focus of the session, but there were a number of other takeaways from session that improve the way the state of Indiana operates, as well as give us a bit of a roadmap as to the direction the next few years may take us regarding legislation.
Legislation that we were following that passed includes a nepotism/conflict of interest bill that regulates those who can sit on councils or boards. These bills protect the tax payers, give more transparency to local governments, and increase confidence that local governments act in the best interests of their constituency.
New legislation will begin to phase out the inheritance tax over the next 10 years. Cell phone users will see a potential increase in the 9-1-1 service fee on their bill soon. The state reworked the manner in which funds are collected to fund 9-1-1 service in each county, creating a more equitable process now that most Hoosiers are moving away from land lines and towards mobile devices.
Education issues include a newly-created study committee that will look into bullying. The Chamber also advocated for changes to a law that allowed for undocumented immigrants who were enrolled in higher education to be allowed to complete their schooling at in-state tuition rates. However, the amendment failed in the Senate. The Chamber was, however, successful in forming a committee to study the issue of higher education for undocumented immigrants and the impact of the newly-mandated out of state tuition versus in-state tuition. As we write this, legislators are still debating the statewide smoking ban.
As we finish up this year, the Chamber begins to look towards 2013. We will be working to pass legislation that provides an income tax credit for new expenditures made by a taxpayer related to a project that will substantially enhance the logistics industry, create new jobs, preserve existing jobs that otherwise would be lost, increase wages in Indiana, and improve the overall Indiana economy. Additionally, we will continue our focus on education issues, workforce development issues and improving mass transportation in Central Indiana.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter for updates at @ASmithJones and @MikeBiberstine.
February 6, 2012
Legislative Session Reaches Halfway Point
We are officially on “Super Bowl Break”. Yes, the stars aligned and as Indy gets to experience the fullness of the Super Bowl, so do our legislators. This is the half-way mark for our 2012 General Assembly. This means that bills are switching houses. Thus, bills that have passed the house of origin will now be considered by the second house for debate and discussion.
As we take a pause and reflect on the “first half” (yes every sport pun is intended) we see that a couple of bills have not only successfully passed the house of origin, but have also been voted out of the second house and signed by the governor. Those two bills are the Human Trafficking bill (SB 4) which was signed by the Governor, on January 30th and the Right to Work bill (HB 1001) which was signed by the Governor on February 1st.
There is plenty of action yet to see, so be sure to tune back in for the second half of the 2012 Legislative Session which reconvenes Monday, February 6th. Be sure to follow us on Twitter for updates at @ASmithJones and @MikeBiberstine.
January 30, 2012
Mass Transit Temporarily Derailed
Session is back “in session”. The House Democrats returned to the Chambers on Wednesday, ready to go. As you can imagine, the first order of business was the Right to Work Bill. Several amendments were presented in attempts to alter or dilute the impact of the bill. Discussion and debate was held on the House floor -- all the while the voices of the union members who traveled to the State House were echoing in the background. The question was called and everyone watched the board for votes. The final tally was announced: 54 yes (in favor of the bill) and 44 no (opposed to the bill). All of the House Democrats voted in solidarity against it and there were five Republicans who also voted against the bill. The next step for this bill is for it to go through the process in the Senate.
Mass transit has temporarily been derailed. The bill was finally called down in Committee this week. The room was packed as there is great interest in establishing Mass transit in our city. A few amendments were offered. One was a technical amendment the other removed the common wage language. There was no amendment presented which would repeal the remaining Right to Work language contained within the bill. As the question was called and the roll-call taken, everyone in the room sat with baited breath counting each vote—it was that close. In the end, the bill was defeated 10 – 11. However, make no mistake, the train is in the Station getting a tune up to be ready to move for the second half of session and get back on the tracks.
In other legislation that has moved, a bill that limits nepotism, and limits conflict of interest passed the Senate and is pending in the House. There is a multiple count day bill pending in the House which will require schools to count the student population twice per year has passed out of the House and is now being considered by the Senate. Another education bill deals with school accountability and turnaround academies. It creates the capability for turnaround academies to become independent schools based upon performance. Lastly, there is a Senate resolution which establishes a study committee to look at the impact of the new law which requires undocumented students to pay out of state tuition. Although this resolution was not called down in committee the first half, there is still opportunity to get it passed.
The mid-point of Session is days away. By mid-week, the halls of the Statehouse will be empty of all legislators. The bills will be transferred to the other House and we’ll begin anew after the Super Bowl. Be sure to follow us on Twitter for updates.
January 23, 2012
Dems Boycott Threatens Mass Transit, Other Bills
After a few normal days of operation at the State House, the Democrats have walked out again, preventing a quorum from being present to conduct business in the House. The stalemate continued all last week, preventing movement for almost all legislation in the House. The deadlock exists because of the Democrats position on Right to Work legislation.
This refusal to attend roll call in the House threatens to scuttle Central Indiana’s hopes on a mass transit bill that would allow for a referendum on whether citizens of selected counties would be willing to pay a minimal amount extra on their income taxes to pay for a built out transit system to help move people from population centers to employment centers and amenities.
In other legislation that has moved, a bill that limits nepotism and limits conflict of interest has moved through committee in both the House and Senate and looks to be green-lighted for passage into law before the end of session. This is a bill that the Indy Chamber has been in support of for a number of legislative sessions. It creates a more transparent and open government that meets requirements similar to the private sector.
The legislative session’s mid point is about 10 days away, meaning that any bill that started in the House or Senate needs to be heard and voted on, or that specific bill is dead for this session. We will continue to keep you updated via Twitter and Facebook.
January 9, 2012
Mass Transit Among Top Priorities This Session
The 2012 Indiana legislative session is off to a solid start. Many important pieces of legislation will be debated and voted on during this year’s short session which ends March 14th. One of the main priorities of the Republican caucuses of both the House and Senate will be right-to-work legislation. Right-to-work legislation prohibits agreements between labor unions and employers that make membership, payment of union dues, or fees a condition of employment, either before or after hiring, which would require the workplace to be a closed shop.
This legislation, just as it did last year, has kept the Democrats in the House from showing up to do their job. Without the necessary 67 members present in the House, a quorum is not present, meaning no official business can be conducted. The House Democrats refused to show up on the first or second day of work.
Regardless of that, the House continued conducting committee hearings, although unofficial. One of those hearings was on HB1073. This bill is the frame work for creation of a mass transportation district in Central Indiana. This bill is the product of years of work from the Central Indiana Task Force, of which the Chamber is a founding member. The hearing went very well, with the Mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard offering testimony, as well as Vice Chairman of the Chamber, John Thompson. Each talked of the importance of making the metro area as competitive as possible, the need for increased workforce mobility and the demand for alternative means of transportation. The bill will be held up and is potentially dead unless the Democrats in the House decide to go to work. If the Democrats return, the bill will be called down to the House Ways and Means committee for official action, where they will vote to either allow, or deny the bill go to the floor of the House for a full vote.
Other bills which appear to be fast-tracked because of the upcoming Super Bowl include strengthening the human trafficking laws and a possible statewide smoking ban. We will keep you updated on those in the next few weeks.
Finally, we will continue to update you specifically on pieces of legislation that are important to the Chamber’s agenda for 2012. Bills on education, government reform, workforce development, and transportation highlight our 2012 agenda.
May 9, 2011
A Look Back at the 117th Legislative Session
The 117th legislative session has ended, and what a grueling race this was. We started this marathon with high hopes of accomplishing many of the objectives on the score card, alas, we were not aware of the deep valleys and rolling hills that this race contained. Deep valleys, like the five-week walkout by the House Democrats and high rolling hills, such as the education reform bills. We all finally finished this race with bumps and bruises, clawing to the finish line haggard, yet wiser for it. The following highlights the results of this 117th session.
Government Reform
Once again the legislature caved in to the interests of township elected officials with their failure to pass legislation transforming the structure of local government in Indianapolis. Senator Merritt’s bill, (SB526) could not make it out of the Senate in the final week. This results in the status quo on how local government operates and probably eliminates the possibility of consolidation of the final three township fire departments in the near future, continuing the practice of township government being able to quietly conduct business with little oversight by an advisory board that few township residents could identify. Conflict of interest legislation and nepotism legislation also failed to survive the session.
Education Reform
Education and reform were the buzz words this session. With the Governor and Dr. Bennett leading the charge statewide and various legislators spearheading the effort, most of the education bills that we were watching passed. Collective Bargaining (SB 575), Merit Pay for Teachers (SB 1), Vouchers/School Scholarships (HB 1003); Charter Schools (HB 1002) have all been signed by the Governor and will become law July 1st. Pay for Performance for School Administrators (HB 1369) did not make it out of study committee; however, we can continue working on this issue next session. All and all, it was a very successful session for education reform. This also put Indiana on the map as the most aggressive state with regard to education reform. What a feather in our cap. Now the real work begins and the Department of Education must create administrative rules to more specifically define the process and set the standard.
Immigration Reform
The Immigration Bill (SB 590) was amended, and against wisdom or ration passed both houses. Although this final version is a “watered” down version, it is still not good law. We are still subject to possible law suits and this type of legislation has a chilling effect on business and the economy. Even up until the last hour during the concurrence discussion and vote on the senate floor, there was still a heated debate amongst the senators trying to kill this bill. This is a federal issue and any piecemeal effort by the states is ill advised. Hopefully, this will be the end of the Indiana Immigration reform efforts and we can spend next session cleaning this language up or perhaps nothing because of a stay issued by a federal court. As of now, the governor has not signed this bill, so we will see what the final determination holds for Indiana.
In closing, this was an historical legislative session with lessons learned by all who participated. Soon it will be time to begin training for the next race and look toward the 118th General Assembly.
April 11, 2011
Government, Education Reform Bills Await Final Hearings
With just three weeks left in the regular session of the General Assembly this year, a lot of issues are meeting their final conclusion. The smoking ban died in a Senate Committee this past week. There were a number of issues regarding the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Alting and the different groups pushing the bill. When it was all said and done, the bill died by a vote of 8 to 1. Don’t be surprised if some of the language from the initial bill that came out of the House is placed back into another bill.
Marion County government reform is still alive with SB526, It is set for a hearing on April 12th. It would transform the way township government operates in the Capital City and create more accountability. Expect a few more amendments to this bill at the upcoming hearing.
The education reform that was part of the reason for the five week long walk-out is still alive and inching ever closer to passage of the second chamber. The Charter School Bill (HB 1002) was heard on second reading in the senate and passed on April 4; however it was returned to a second reading due to procedural issues. The Voucher – School Scholarship Bill (HB 1003) received testimony in committee this week; however, no final vote has been taken. Pay to Performance (HB 1369) has been assigned to the Education and Career Development Committee and is scheduled to receive additional testimony and a vote next week. Teacher Collective Bargaining (SB 575) was passed out of Committee this week and we look to see this bill on the calendar this week.
Finally, it appears that the immigration bill (which we strongly oppose) is going to be amended to remove all of the language that was similar to the Arizona law. This change will help the state avoid negative publicity and the repercussions of a potential negative economic impact.
Next week we will shift most of the conversation to redistricting, which is mandated to be finished for next years’ elections. Expect a heated debate, and lots of positioning by each party through the media.
March 28, 2011
Republicans Call House to Order, Increase Fines for Democrats
Well, we have just ended week five of the stalemate at the Statehouse. The House Democrats left the House floor on February 22nd and business has been very slow across the street. Each day, the House Republicans, the entire Senate and lobbyists await the return of the missing House Democrats.
The Senate has continued to conduct business as usual, but has remained very strategic. For example, Senator Kruse announced that several bills which were scheduled before the Education and Career Development Committee were not going to be heard. What is the strategy? Holding bills that are germane to certain topics allows the committee to insert desired language into those bills thus keeping them “alive”. Two bill hearings were pushed into next week to accomplish such a feat.
One was a controversial bill, HB 1402 concerning resident tuition for illegal aliens, the other was HB 1369 concerning pay for performance for school administrators. Senator Kruse took his time to explain what the Committee was doing and proceeded to take testimony on the other bills which remained on the calendar. Several Senate committees held hearings and received testimony this week. In fact, it was quite busy at the Statehouse with hearings being held by both the Senate and the House.
The House of Representatives also held hearings in committee. There was a quorum of the committees which allows them to conduct committee business. They scheduled bills for hearings, received testimony, recorded this testimony and took it under advisement; therefore there was no vote taken on the matter. Speaker Bosma continued to call the House to order day after day and take a roll call of all members present. In the end, there were never more than three Democrat representatives present, and their presence was solely to watch for procedural and legal matters as House business was being conducted. Cleverly, the Democrats rotated in different members, thus allowing those members an opportunity to see their families and get a different view other than that which they were seeing from their Urbana, Illinois hotel rooms.
The House Republicans not only called the House to order this week, they also raised the fines from $250.00 to $350.00 per day. This is the fine that the law allows to be levied against absent members. This new fine was not intimidating as the Democrats remained in Urbana. However, as the week progressed, Speaker Bosma and Democrat House Minority Leader Pat Bauer met via phone and then in person. Reporters were writing about these meetings, with great anticipation that perhaps the walkout would soon end. The Democrats did not return this past week, but rumor has it that they will return next week sometime. We are all waiting with baited breath.