Indiana lawmakers may have found a way to spur the consolidation of small school districts without jumping into the politically unpopular issue: Starve small districts of state funding to financially push them toward merger talks.
Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma says Indiana lawmakers are on track to finish their work on time as the legislative session draws to an end this week despite a five-week boycott by House Democrats.
Indiana taxpayers are paying about $300 million a year in nursing home costs despite a state law that would allow the state to save millions while keeping many elderly and disabled Hoosiers in their homes or with family members.
Indiana's corporate income tax rate would be cut by nearly 25 percent over the next four years under a plan the Indiana House has approved.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has written lawmakers to urge them to restore an automatic taxpayer refund that was removed from a budget proposal this week.
Indiana lawmakers likely will avoid tapping an obscure bank-insurance fund to help bolster state coffers, but bankers may not survive the battle completely unscathed.
The Indiana Senate voted Monday to prohibit any state contracts or grants with Planned Parenthood or other organizations that provide abortions.
Analysts told the State Budget Committee on Friday they expect the state to take in some $643.7 million more in fiscal 2012 and 2013 than anticipated in the previous revenue forecast.
Officials from Indiana Medicaid and a hospital trade group are trying to craft a deal that would create a tax on hospitals that would help attract more federal funds for hospitals—thereby offsetting looming cuts in state payments.
Budget cuts became more painful in the past several years as the national recession drew the fiscal noose tighter on Indiana government income.
Indiana lawmakers plan to set aside more money in the next two-year budget to help deal with unfunded pension liabilities, but experts warn the amount needed to pay retirees will only grow in the next 15 years.
The Indiana House has approved a Republican-backed state budget plan that would keep overall education funding at current levels while making major shifts in the way money is divvied up among individual school districts.
More than 330 proposed amendments to the state budget bill were listed online as of Monday night, and Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said more are pending.
House Speaker Brian Bosma directed Republican committee chairmen to hold meetings starting this week to discuss Senate bills, even though no official action or votes can be taken until Democrats return and provide the quorum required by the state constitution.
An Indiana Senate committee is set to start public hearings on a new state budget, reviving a process that has been stalled by the month-long boycott by House Democrats that shows no signs of ending.
More talks between the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Indiana House might be inching the two sides closer to resolving the now three-week-long boycott by Democratic legislators.
An Indiana House Democrat threatened Monday to continue the caucus's ongoing boycott "as long as it takes" to get changes made to Republican-backed proposals, even if their absence shuts down state government.
Most House Democrats skipped Thursday morning's floor session, extending their stay at an Urbana, Ill., hotel to an 11th day and preventing action on labor and education bills they oppose.
House Democrats say they won't return to the Statehouse unless Republicans give into their demands to change labor-related legislation.
State budget officials are seeking to recoup much of nearly $610 million overpaid to local governments in fiscal years 2009, 2010 and 2011 due to income tax revenue estimates thrown off by the lingering recession.
