Left to their own devices, Indiana's Republican-led General Assembly pushed the state right ever so gently, adopting such marquee conservative priorities as tax cuts, a school voucher expansion and constrained spending in measured fashion.
Indiana Gasification LLC project manager Mark Lubbers said developers wouldn't have tried to build the plant at Rockport if the law passed early Saturday morning had been in place.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway could get $100 million in state assistance for planned improvements under a plan approved by Indiana legislators.
Lawmakers worked feverishly into the wee hours to hammer out agreements on the budget and other issues, including an expansion of the state's school voucher program and changes to sentencing laws.
A decision to cut state funding by 38 percent for programs that help people stop smoking and try to prevent others from starting worries those behind the state's tobacco cessation efforts.
Indiana lawmakers have approved an expansion of the nation's broadest private school voucher program that will allow more children to be immediately eligible.
An effort to require Amazon.com and some other online-only retailers to start collecting Indiana's 7-percent sales tax this summer has fallen short in the Legislature.
Rep. Bill Friend, R-Macy, said he withdrew the bill he sponsored at the request of Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma.
The Indiana General Assembly worked into the night Friday to hammer out final details on a two-year, $30 billion budget containing new tax cuts, a modest expansion of school vouchers, new oversight of the $2.8 billion Rockport coal gasification project and a series of other measures.
The Senate voted 34-15 on Friday in favor of the bill aimed at sending fewer nonviolent offenders to prison.
The plan authorizes the state to loan the Speedway $100 million—money it will borrow through bonds—to make the grandstands more accessible to people with disabilities and to install lights for night races.
Indiana legislators prepared a compromise bill Thursday that would suspend implementation of a national set of reading and math education standards for a year while new state reviews are done.
When partisanship did rear its head—Indianapolis Democrats charged a GOP “power grab” in negotiations over changes in Marion County government structure—it was not disruptive.
Democratic City-County Councilor Vop Osili said he expects to draft a “ban the box” ordinance this spring or summer.
Indiana taxpayers will see their personal income tax rate reduced by 5 percent over the next four years under a budget plan agreed to Thursday by lawmakers. The plan also repeals the inheritance tax retroactive to Jan. 1.
A proposal aimed at legalizing five fenced deer-hunting preserves around Indiana has failed in this year’s legislative session.
Indiana lawmakers have reached a compromise that would direct more non-violent, low-level felons to work release and other local programs rather than sending them to prison.
Indiana's new state budget will include at least a small personal income tax cut, although legislative leaders said Wednesday they weren't certain whether it will be as large as Republican Gov. Mike Pence wants.
Republican lawmakers bypassed House Speaker Pro Tem Eric Turner for the chairmanship of House Ways and Means committee last year amid concerns over his potential conflicts of interest, sources say.
Everything is on the table for consideration, says new Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles.
