Indiana Senate strips jobs provisions from bill

Republican leaders in the Indiana Senate stripped several tax credits and other measures to create jobs from an unrelated
agricultural bill Monday, which could make it unlikely they will pass before the legislative session ends.

Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, told a House-Senate conference committee that Senate President Pro Tem David Long,
R-Fort Wayne, had determined the jobs provisions were not related to the subject matter of the original bill.

The state constitution requires bills to only deal with one subject, although lawmakers often break that rule. The Senate
has traditionally taken a stricter stance on on the practice than the House.

The bill initially only dealt with changes in the way farm land is assessed for property-tax purposes.

House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said Long was using a technicality to kill provisions he said could have created
as many as 60,000 jobs. He said it should be up to Long to find a new home for the provisions before Thursday, when Bauer
wants to adjourn the session — days before a March 14 deadline set in state law.

Bauer said he hadn't expected Long to find the jobs provisions unrelated to the original bill.

The House had tacked the provisions onto the agricultural bill with a series of amendments that won overwhelming bipartisan
support in the House.

"Of course, we're going to do everything we can to find places to create jobs," said Bauer, who has been nicknamed
"Mr. Obstructionist" by opponents because of his own history of using his power to sideline popular legislation.
"We are not going to use technicalities to kill it."

Senate Tax Chairman Brandt Hershman, R-Lafayette, said he doubted the provisions would survive.

"I'm aware that the job credit proposals have a number of fiscal questions and some questions about policy as well,"
Hershman said. "I appreciate the intent to try to bolster the economy. It's a critical goal.

"But these are proposals that need further discussion and I don't see a likelihood that they would be a good fit
in any of the more pressing bills we're dealing with right now."

Among other things, the measures would have:

— Given a $3,000 tax credit to companies with fewer than 150 employees for each new worker they hire. The new hires
would have had to be either unemployed Hoosiers or Indiana veterans.

— Provided a tax credit for new Indiana businesses equal to 50 percent of their tax liability for the first two years
of operation in the state.

— Created an ombudsman to help small businesses better interact with state government.

— Created a new program for companies to hire the unemployed or low-income workers who receive federal food stamps.
The state would have spent $20 million to draw $100 million in federal stimulus money to help pay for the first six months
of the new employees' salaries.