Legislative roundup: Session yields mixed bag
The General Assembly’s work left some groups happy, some disappointed.
Legislature
Articles
State OKs private financing for roadwork
The Indiana Department of Transportation will press ahead with a request for proposals on Interstate 69 from Bloomington to Martinsville, in hopes that a public-private partnership will stretch limited state funds.
Pence doesn’t rule out vetoes of legislative bills
Some 70 bills were approved in the final days of the legislative session.
Mixed performance from Pence in first legislative session
Legislative leaders, who spent the last eight years of working with former Gov. Mitch Daniels, graded the new governor as off to a good start, but with plenty of room for improvement.
Analysis: Lawmakers put pragmatism before party
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.
Developers: Law will likely kill coal-gas plant
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.
Indiana Legislature passes $30 billion budget
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.
Anti-smoking officials say Indiana funding cuts hurt
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.
Voucher expansion awaits governor’s signature
Indiana lawmakers have approved an expansion of the nation's broadest private school voucher program that will allow more children to be immediately eligible.
Online sales tax push dies in Indiana Legislature
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.
Bill banning secret videotaping at businesses fails
Rep. Bill Friend, R-Macy, said he withdrew the bill he sponsored at the request of Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma.
General Assembly goes late in effort to wrap us session
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.
Lawmakers forge deal to help Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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.
FEIGENBAUM: Legislative session notable for minimal acrimony
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.
Senate cans hunting plan
A proposal aimed at legalizing five fenced deer-hunting preserves around Indiana has failed in this year’s legislative session.
Low-level felons could get less prison time under plan
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.
Size of Indiana income tax cut remains undecided
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.
GOP concerns derailed Turner’s chance at powerful post
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.
New lights only the beginning for Brickyard changes
Everything is on the table for consideration, says new Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles.
More Hoosiers favor legal pot than Pence’s tax cut, poll says
A new poll of 600 voters by Howey Politics Indiana shows 39-percent approval for Gov. Mike Pence’s proposed 10-percent tax cut. But 56 percent said they favor decriminalization of marijuana.