Bauer returns to Indy to meet with Bosma

The leader of House Democrats who left Indiana over bills they disagreed with has returned to the state and met with the Republican House speaker — but their talks ended with no agreement on ending the weeklong Statehouse standoff.

House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer drove back from Illinois and met with Speaker Brian Bosma for 50 minutes Wednesday in the GOP leader's Statehouse office. Bauer had two other House Democrats with him in the meeting, which also was attended by four other majority Republicans.

Most House Democrats have been staying in Urbana, Ill., since last Tuesday, when they began boycotting the House to derail labor and education bills they're against by denying the House the quorum needed to conduct business. The boycott already killed a "right-to-work" bill that unions opposed.

The meeting signaled improving relations for the leaders involved in the ongoing impasse. But it's not clear what the talks actually accomplished. Bauer has repeatedly said he wants to negotiate on GOP-proposals that Democrats consider an assault on the middle class. And Bosma has repeatedly said he'll talk to Bauer, but won't negotiate a back room deal or agree to take GOP proposals off the table.

Republicans are already planning changes to a private school voucher bill that Democrats oppose. The bill would use taxpayer money to help parents send their children to private schools. Bosma said the bill needs to be changed to get enough support from his own caucus to pass, and Republicans will introduce an amendment limiting the number of students who can participate in the program and adding more restrictive income level requirements. Bauer said Tuesday that those changes were a good step forward.

The Democrats' boycott has already killed a "right-to-work" bill that would have prohibited union membership from being a condition of employment. Republicans say they won't try to resurrect that proposal this year. Bosma says he will not allow the boycott to kill other bills and plans to extend legislative deadlines to keep the other proposals on the House calendar alive as long as necessary.