Pence signs bill allowing state fair alcohol sales
The law ends a 67-year ban on selling alcoholic beverages at the Indiana State Fair, positioning Indiana to join 48 other states that allow the practice.
The law ends a 67-year ban on selling alcoholic beverages at the Indiana State Fair, positioning Indiana to join 48 other states that allow the practice.
Gov. Mike Pence and House Republicans entered the 2014 legislative session with big plans for education, taxes and roads, but they often found themselves running into Senate roadblocks.
The measure will make about 26,000 Indiana veterans who served in the Armed Forces or National Guard after Sept. 11, 2001, eligible for grant payments through the state's Military Family Relief Fund starting July 1.
Indiana lawmakers have only a few more days this week before they wrap up the 2014 legislative session. But that doesn't mean they're totally done for the year.
Local governments have loudly fretted about the potential loss of tax dollars from a reduction or elimination of the business personal property tax, and raised concerns about forcing intrastate competitions for business relocations.
Pence is heading to the Shepherd Community Center to highlight his request that the state provide vouchers for children from low-income families to attend preschool.
The measure was revised multiple times in the Senate after the Hoosier State Press Association and animal rights groups blasted it as an attempt to restrict whistleblowers at factory farms. Earlier versions would have banned videotaping or photography without permission.
The bill, authored by Sen. James Merritt, R-Indianapolis, seeks to end a nearly 70-year old ban on beer and alcohol sales at the state fair.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission openings generated heavy interest. Gov. Mike Pence added a second round of interviews in order to hear from 21 candidates.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is leaving the door open on a potential 2016 presidential campaign.
The reduction, led by Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, was a partial blow to one of the governor's key legislative goals.
The Senate Education Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to change the measure from a limited pilot program to an issue that will be studied over the summer.
Lawmakers considering a cut to Indiana's tax on business equipment might leave the matter to a summer study committee, a move that would delay any action by at least a year.
The Indiana Department of Transportation asked the state Senate Appropriations Committee to approve the release of $400 million saved in a special trust fund created last year.
The Pence administration has overseen the six-figure renovation of a Brown County cabin that one political observer calls Indiana’s Camp David.
The Pence administration is discussing whether to include electric-utility deregulation in a new state energy policy, making Indiana one of the few states since California’s electricity crisis to consider opening its market to competition.
Under the House Republican plan, families earning less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level in five selected counties would get state aid to send their children to public, private or religious preschools that meet certain education standards.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said Thursday he’s pleased with the way his agenda is faring at the halfway point of the 2014 session of the General Assembly.
Thanks to a concerted effort to lower taxes and government spending, Indiana ousted Texas this year in the Tax Foundation’s annual ranking of business tax climates. Indiana now holds the No. 10 spot and could rise higher by eliminating the business personal property tax, an equipment tax that experts say deters investment.
Despite concerns that debating a constitutional amendment defining marriage would rip our state apart, that didn’t happen and the General Assembly has proven quite productive—as well as judicious in deciding what issues not to become entangled in during the “short” session.