Gov. Eric Holcomb and Republican legislative leaders revealed a revised state two-year budget Tuesday that invests a historic $1.9 billion in additional funding for K-12 education and provides a healthy boost in economic grants and building projects.
The program will provide grants of $10,000 per month to small businesses, with a maximum award of $50,000. The funding could reimburse businesses for up to 80% of non-payroll expenses and 100% of payroll expenses between March 1, 2020, and April 1, 2021.
The Indiana House and Senate voted to override GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto of a bill giving legislators more authority to intervene during emergencies declared by the governor. The conflict ultimately may be decided in court.
Holcomb’s fellow Republicans pushed the bill after months of criticism from some conservatives over COVID-19 restrictions the governor imposed by executive order during the statewide public health emergency over the past year.
Gov. Eric Holcomb will now get the chance to follow through on his pledge to veto a bill that would give state lawmakers the power to call themselves into session during public emergencies. The measure ultimately may be challenged in court as unconstitutional.
The final version of House Bill 1123, which would create what would be called an “emergency session,” could pass out of both chambers as early as Thursday.
In a statewide address Tuesday evening, Gov. Eric Holcomb said he will also let statewide capacity restrictions expire.
In addition to giving taxpayers more time to file their state taxes, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s executive order also extends the temporary licensing of health care workers.
During the occasionally tense hearing on House Bill 1123, a slew of officials from Gov. Eric Holcomb’s administration tried to convince lawmakers that the governor’s ability to make quick decisions has been key to the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb sat wearing a face mask in the front passenger seat of an SUV while getting the shot in his right arm of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine being given during the drive-through clinic.
In a memo to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. board of directors, Schellinger said he is leaving state government “with the deepest sense of gratitude and joyful satisfaction in my heart.”
Republican legislative leaders have generally praised Gov. Erric Holcomb’s handling of the pandemic, but they also say lawmakers should be able to provide input in the decisions when an emergency continues for an extended period of time.
Senate Enrolled Act 148 prevents all local governments from regulating any aspect of landlord-tenant relationships and blocks tenant protections that the city of Indianapolis had put in place last spring.
Lawmakers seeking to curb gubernatorial power in emergencies might want to think twice about whether they are prepared for the aftermath.
The current executive order outlines restrictions based on the rate of infection in each county. Under the county-by-county system, each county is assigned a color each week that is based on its seven-day positivity rate and number of infected individuals per 100,000.
We’d like to see the governor be more specific about his proposal. He didn’t say, for example, how much money he wants to put behind it.
You have to go all the way back to Albert Gallatin Porter, who served from 1881-1885, to find a governor who had a full beard in his portrait.
Normally, the governor gives the annual State of the State address before a joint session of the Indiana General Assembly inside the Indiana House chamber. But for safety reasons, Holcomb pre-recorded the speech without an audience.
The FBI has warned that potentially violent protests could take place at all state capitols over the next several days leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
The $35.2 billion budget, which Office of Management Director Cris Johnston and Budget Director Zac Jackson presented to the State Budget Committee on Wednesday morning, also restores the state’s reserve balance to $2.3 billion each year.
