The General Assembly plans to consider changes to Indiana’s alcohol laws this session, including proposals that would allow
microbreweries to sell takeout beer on Sundays and permit alcohol sales during voting hours on Election Day.
Proposed legislation that would allow Indiana voters to cast absentee ballots by mail without having an excuse such as being
out of town on Election Day cleared the Democrat-controlled House elections committee, but it could face hurdles in the Republican-led
Senate.
A final vote on the legislation is expected Monday. If the House and Senate pass the same resolution this session, voters
would decide in November whether to put the tax limits into the constitution.
The word “nuclear” isn’t even mentioned, but Senate Bill 69 is a virtual launch code for reviving attempts
at commercial nuclear power in Indiana.
What changed over the last year to make House Democrats so eager to allow Hoosier voters to amend the property-tax caps
into the Indiana Constitution? The calendar.
Doctors are pushing again to strengthen their hands in contract negotiations with health insurers, especially market leader
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
The House could also advance a bill Thursday that would tighten lobbying and ethics rules in the General Assembly.
Indiana Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer isn’t predicting the fate of legislation that could lead to caps on property
tax bills being amended into the constitution.
Indiana General Assembly begins 2010 session with the usual pledges, but election-year politics and redistricting are likely
to complicate matters.
Assessing the odds for government reform in the General Assembly.
Property-tax caps, unemployment insurance, ethics top list of issues awaiting General Assembly.
In an election year with a big reward—the potential to redraw political maps for the next decade—lawmakers are looking to impress voters.
The December hearings by Indiana General Assembly committees focused on issues that legislative leaders designated as
key session priorities, but the committee work was largely unremarkable, with predictable testimony derived from the usual
suspects.
The Hoosier Environmental Council and Citizens Action Coalition see an expansion of the state’s
“net metering” policy as achievable during the short legislative session that starts Jan.
5.
Legislation that could bring more wind turbines and solar power projects to the state failed in the last session’s closing
hours.
A state senator from Carmel says he’ll file legislation that would prevent Indiana schools from starting classes before Labor
Day and ending after June 10.
The Indiana General Assembly is taking its first steps toward restructuring Hoosier gambling law.
Indiana lawmakers are preparing to punt on 2009’s must-solve business issue in the hope of a federal bailout. However, it’s
anybody’s
guess how Washington will respond.
Lawmakers are likely to pass property tax legislation, which would send it to a voter referendum in November and potentially
into the state constitution.
About the only certainty for the upcoming legislative session is that it will be over in March.
