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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Chamber of Commerce unveiled its top priorities for the upcoming legislative session Monday and is backing Gov.-elect Mike Pence’s idea for a new state-sponsored research institute.
Pence said he wants to create the Indiana Applied Research Enterprise—an industry-driven institute that would work to foster collaboration between the state's research universities and the private sector to commercialize innovation.
“The plan needs [to be] fleshed out and the state’s role is still to be determined, but this idea has much merit,” the chamber said in identifying the research institute as an economic development concern.
The General Assembly will be tasked with passing a new two-year state budget, and any funding for such a research enterprise would be included in the discussions, said Ed Feigenbaum, publisher of Indiana Legislative Insight.
Feigenbaum expects Lt. Gov.-elect Sue Ellspermann to take the lead to rally support for the enterprise, as she’s pushed similar economic development initiatives as a state representative.
Ellspermann, a Republican from Ferdinand in southwestern Indiana, has been director of the University of Southern Indiana's Center for Applied Research, which aims to find ways for the Evansville school to help businesses in the region. She previously had her own business consulting firm.
“[Pence] has made it a priority,” Feigenbaum said of the enterprise, “and he has somebody that can push it as a priority.”
Education also is expected to be a hot topic, particularly following the upset loss of Republican Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett to challenger Glenda Ritz, which could set up a showdown between Republicans and Democrats.
The chamber said it supports protecting the 2011 reforms involving charter school expansion, school choice and merit pay for teachers.
Ritz wants to scrap the A-F labels placed on schools in favor of an accountability system that would de-emphasize pass-fail tests like the ISTEP and measure students’ year-to-year growth in different ways.
With a Republican governor and super-majorities in both the Senate and the House, Ritz faces a daunting challenge.
Yet the state chamber said it expects Democrats will undertake efforts to roll back the measures.
“These laws are the most significant enhancements to the state’s education system in more than 20 years; they put the focus where it should be—on students and increasing their potential for academic achievement,” the chamber said. “We need to make sure these reforms stay intact.”
Among other areas the chamber will focus its attention:
— reinstating a tax credit to give employers an incentive to start a wellness program;
— supporting changes to the state’s unemployment insurance system to strengthen eligibility requirements;
— reducing the state’s dependence on the taxation of machinery and equipment.
Taxing personal property discourages capital investment, the chamber said, and puts Indiana at a competitive disadvantage with surrounding states that have eliminated the tax, or are in the process of doing so.
The issues the chamber is involved in may seem familiar, but the election of a new governor should make the session more interesting, Feigenbaum said.
“Every governor comes in with a different life experience,” he said. “He’s in a new role. “We don’t know how forcefully he’ll advocate for his programs and how receptive they’ll be to them.”
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