Transit bill advances at Statehouse after losing amendments
The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday morning to move a mass-transit bill to the full House, where it’s sure to see further debate.
The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday morning to move a mass-transit bill to the full House, where it’s sure to see further debate.
A pair of legislative panels approved changes Tuesday for competing House and Senate tax measures that would cut taxes on business equipment and corporate earnings.
The moves against the conservative senator follow an intraparty fight over amending the state's constitution to ban gay marriage.
The construction ban is at the center of an ongoing debate between the state's existing nursing homes and developers leading a wave of construction, including Zeke Turner of Mainstreet Property Group.
The reduction, led by Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, was a partial blow to one of the governor's key legislative goals.
The business community has turned a keen collective eye to a passel of bills that seek to improve education, including measures that would authorize Indianapolis Public Schools to enter into an agreement with a school-management team to establish innovative network schools, allow charter school support to be distributed at the organizer level; and create a career and technical education diploma.
Sen. Luke Kenley scuttled a pilot program of state-funded preschool vouchers for low-income families on Feb. 19, instead sending it to a summer committee to investigate 10 questions he said will help make sure Indiana launches a worthwhile program.
The Ways and Means Committee voted 18-2 Thursday afternoon in favor of a bill that would facilitate a new downtown soccer venue.
The full House now will consider the controversial proposal to opt out of federal standards and allow Indiana to make its own benchmarks for preparing students for college and careers after high school.
A committee nearly unanimously approved a measure clearing the way for alcohol sales at the Indiana State Fair. Another committee unanimously passed a bill that would expand privacy laws to accommodate the increased use of digital technology.
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.
A proposal under consideration by the Legislature would curb rental-property inspection programs, but local officials worked with its author to let cities set up landlord registries.
Lawmakers amended the measure and delayed a referendum until at least 2016, despite calls from social and religious conservatives to hold the vote this year.
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 bill would make trespassing on the production area of farm property a criminal offense and causing property damage to a farm an act of criminal mischief.
Earliest vote on proposed constitutional marriage ban would be at least 2016.
After an extended Twitter tirade over the weekend stemming from a Senate move stalling the amendment, Sen. Mike Delph on Monday pledged to use a procedural maneuver to resurrect deleted language.
Indy Eleven owner Ersal Ozdemir fielded questions from legislators Thursday about the $87 million, state-financed outdoor stadium he has proposed. The meeting started with a warm reception for Ozdemir, and lacked any testimony against the plan.
If the House approves the bill as amended, it will set up a debate between the Republican-controlled chambers about who pays for expanded transit.
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.