Brace yourself, because things in this legislative session are destined to get messy: the politics, the process, the personalities,
the context, and the issues and their substance, all at once.
The key legislative item at this point remains House Bill 1001, the budget bill.
Dr. Jeff Wells is moving on from the Indiana Medicaid program even as a $40 million cost-savings plan he spearheaded faces
a threat in the Legislature.
Leaders on both sides of the aisle have called for streamlining township government, and it’s time to demand that our legislators
make those changes.
Retired people living on a fixed income have no way to raise extra money to pay for property taxes.
The Indiana state budget will continue to be a work in progress for many more weeks.
Shoring up the state’s jobless-fund shortfall likely will cost employers and employees more.
Positive action, action for the sake of action, and inaction were all on tap in the General Assembly in recent days as lawmakers
prepared to wrap up the first half of the session.
After a surprisingly slow month of January, the pace of legislative action picked up considerably during the first two weeks
of February.
Indiana Medicaid officials want to take over management of all its patients’ prescription drugs because they say it could save the state as much as $40 million a year.
Danielle Chrysler hasn’t met a challenge yet that she hasn’t embraced–and conquered.
Stimulus talk continues to dominate discussion at the Indiana Statehouse, creating indecision for lawmakers who were supposed to be devoting their full attention to assembling a two-year budget under difficult economic circumstances.
Centaur is lobbying the Indiana General Assembly to let it transfer 500 slots from its Hoosier Park horse track in Anderson
to the Fort Wayne area.
Jobs themselves may become “Job One” for our elected officials.
Critics were lined up to oppose Gov. Mitch Daniels’ plan to streamline
local government almost before he left the podium Dec. 19. Big surprise.
Soaring property taxes were arguably Indiana’s biggest problem in 2007. In 2008, the Legislature approved property tax caps
as a solution. But because the caps haven’t been implemented, debate is still raging over the consequences the caps will have
for local governments and whether they should be made permanent.
Now expecting $935 million less in annual revenue than they did a year ago, legislators will spend the next four months arguing
over budget cuts.
Several major issues with business implications are expected to receive ample attention when legislators convene next month,
particularly the continuing saga of property-tax relief and the state’s ability to pay jobless benefits.
A state-funded study of Indiana’s charter schools has found that “no practical difference” exists between the alternative
schools and traditional public schools.
Indiana legislators are signaling that everyone who receives funding from state government must tighten their belts as tax
collections fall short of projections. That could cause pressure for cuts to key technology incentives.
