FEIGENBAUM: Session to test lawmakers’ views on small government
Many new House and Senate members won election in part on platforms of reducing government regulation and minimizing government in the lives of Hoosiers.
Statehouse Dispatch
Articles
FEIGENBAUM: Short session succeeded in doing no harm
The 2010 legislative session ended strangely: ahead of deadline, yet a week beyond the expected schedule, and the last full
day saw more mood swings among lawmakers than Indianapolis Colts fans experienced during the Super Bowl.
FEIGENBAUM: Legislature heads toward bumpy conclusion
OK, I admit that I’m still wincing about last week’s column about a peaceful, easy feeling in the General Assembly
as it approached the leadership-targeted early-adjournment date.
FEIGENBAUM: Session heads toward early, quiet completion
The buzz as the days ran out suggested that nothing on the agenda was “must-pass” legislation, leaving Democrats
and Republicans, the House and the Senate, and the governor and the General Assembly with little leverage to exert.
FEIGENBAUM: Don’t expect fireworks in session’s grand finale
Lawmakers head into one
of their briefest periods of conference committee deliberations in recent years with just a handful of major issues needing
resolution.
FEIGENBAUM: Sen. Bayh’s call for civility reverberates at Statehouse
In the most significant retirement decision announced in Indiana since Reggie Miller hung up his sneakers, Democratic U.S.
Sen. Evan Bayh said Dec. 15 he would not seek a third U.S. Senate term. That decision also sent shock waves through
the ranks of Democratic lawmakers in Indianapolis, none of whom had any advance word.
FEIGENBAUM: Remainder of legislative session will be all about jobs
House Democrats now have their opportunity to tinker with legislation sent to them by the Senate, and they will look for
every opportunity to use these miscellaneous bills to preserve and create jobs. Similarly, Senate Republicans will analyze
each piece of legislation that crossed the Statehouse Rotunda from the House to determine whether it is a “job-killer.”
FEIGENBAUM: Legislature’s second half will have its share of drama
Perhaps it was serendipity that the midpoint of the 2009 legislative session fell just ahead of the Indianapolis Colts’
Super Bowl appearance.
FEIGENBAUM: Debate rages over the right to bear arms
House Bill 1065 would bar business owners
from prohibiting an employee from keeping a legally owned firearm in his or her locked vehicle at work.
FEIGENBAUM: Daniels’ agenda built on avoiding new taxes, programs
The State of the State address delivered by Gov. Mitch Daniels Jan. 19 contained no surprises at all, except, perhaps in
his optimism.
FEIGENBAUM: Bills flying through Legislature at Castroneves’ pace
At a torrid pace, major pieces of legislation are flying
through the Indiana General Assembly, leaving lawmakers with an envious decision: Adjourn early and make Hoosier voters happy,
or stick around and devote attention to other major issues that deserve close scrutiny, but receive short shrift in sessions
bogged down by battles over high-profile partisan matters.
FEIGENBAUM: Democrats start to embrace constitutional amendment
What changed over the last year to make House Democrats so eager to allow Hoosier voters to amend the property-tax caps
into the Indiana Constitution? The calendar.
FEIGENBAUM: Early committee hearings were mostly theater
The December hearings by Indiana General Assembly committees focused on issues that legislative leaders designated as
key session priorities, but the committee work was largely unremarkable, with predictable testimony derived from the usual
suspects.
FEIGENBAUM: Historic milestone in gambling industry approaches
Indiana has made billions on gambling in nearly two decades, funding key programs, cutting excise and property taxes, and
avoiding tax hikes. The state has seen more than $2 billion in investment without any government incentives,
and more dollars committed in our history than by any industry outside of steel, power and autos.
FEIGENBAUM: Education money helped land key Democratic votes
As both House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, and House Republican Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, see it, this is definitely a "Republican-flavored" budget. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels laid the framework, and legislators from both sides of the aisle largely abided by his bottom lines of spending, state agency cuts and surplus.
STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Political posturing puts session on strange trajectory
Casual observers of the legislative process might be confused by the political posturing, lack of a sense of imperative, and seeming non sequiturs in this General Assembly special session. Rest assured that even many veteran legislative observers also share the sense of puzzlement about June’s events. However, there is some method to the madness, and […]
FEIGENBAUM: Problems pile up as legislators get back to work
Special session will be longer than all had hoped before because of multiple unresolved issues
FEIGENBAUM: Let the state budget bickering begin again
Lawmakers return to Indianapolis June 11 tanned, rested and presumably ready to agree upon a budget that, via gubernatorial assent or a veto override vote, will guide Indiana through fiscal 2010-2011.
Legislators, governor disagree about special session
Assigning responsibility for what stuck us with a special session is a political post-session must, but playing the blame
game usually isn’t a productive exercise.
Deal-making efforts unraveled in session’s last days
You wouldn’t have expected it going into the final week of the Indiana General Assembly, but we’re headed for a special legislative
session.