The Indiana House's Democratic leader said Friday his boycotting members are willing to return at "high noon" Monday to begin debating a contentious right-to-work bill, although the ongoing dispute over whether a statewide referendum on the issue is constitutional could prevent legislative action.
Chairman Jeff Espich said the central Indiana mass-transit plan faces almost certain defeat in the House Ways and Means Committee, and he is still mulling whether or not to bring it to a vote.
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Indiana House had a tense 10-minute exchange on the House floor Friday morning over whether Democratic leaders will end their boycott over the right-to-work bill.
The bill makes attending animal fights a felony punishable by six months to three years in prison. Under current law, a first offense is a misdemeanor with a second offense considered a felony.
Indiana House Democrats got a boost Thursday when a judge temporarily blocked the collection of $1,000-a-day fines imposed on them for their legislative boycott over the contentious right-to-work bill, and their leader said they might return to the House chamber Friday to vote.
The chief of staff to Gov. Mitch Daniels, Earl A. Goode, bought a residential lot from the real estate broker John M. Bales about two years after an agency led by Goode awarded Bales a contract to handle state leasing.
The state’s largest green group is seeking changes to measures it says could strip funding and oversight for environmental protection.
Republican State Sen. Brent Waltz has filed a bill that would require the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and businesses seeking awards from the 21st Century fund to match the state’s money with outside capital at a four-to-one ratio.
State officials in 2005 vowed to run a competitive process to select a private firm to handle real estate leasing for public agencies, but a 20-page request for services to more than 400 potential bidders was a sham, according to three people with knowledge of the process.
Besides no longer requiring barbers and cosmetologists to be licensed, the bill also exempts dieticians, hearing aid dealers, private investigators and security guards.
Indiana House Democrats kept up their legislative boycott over the right-to-work bill Thursday morning, a day after majority Republicans voted to start imposing $1,000-a-day fines.
An Indiana Senate committee is advancing a plan to put more money into state savings accounts before automatic tax refunds go out to taxpayers.
Campaign finance numbers released Wednesday show Indiana Rep. Mike Pence raised $5 million last year and has $3.7 million in the bank. Former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg has raised $1.7 million so far and banked $1.2 million.
Indiana House Democrats say they'll go to court to challenge the $1,000-a-day fines they face for their legislative boycott over the right-to-work bill.
A state Senate committee rejected an effort Wednesday to resurrect Indiana's single-class high school basketball tournament, but the head of the statewide high school athletics governing body agreed to review the current format.
Indiana House Republicans have approved $1,000-a-day fines against Democratic legislators who are boycotting over a right-to-work bill.
All outdoor stages in Indiana would have to pass inspections before any performances under a bill approved by a state Senate committee.
An Indiana Senate committee has endorsed a proposal giving state residents limited rights to resist police officers trying to enter their homes.
The former director of an Indiana University scholarship program has filed a federal complaint accusing IU of gender and equal pay discrimination.
The vote comes out of a truce Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma and Democratic House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer negotiated to end Democratic boycotts.
