Ed Feigenbaum: New lawmakers find roles diminished as session plods on
The big issues will be worked out in conference committees without the help of less experienced lawmakers, and their input won’t be critical in caucus.
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Paul Ashley: Hospital pricing rule is step in right direction
The best solutions will come from collaborations between health care providers and payers. With the technology at their disposal, they could create systems that allow consumers to check prices based on a wide range of factors and variables.
Steve Key: Legislature should defeat attempts to kill public notice
Since the founding of our country, paying newspapers to publish public notice has been the most cost-effective way to disseminate information that state legislatures deem important. The payment isn’t a subsidy; it’s payment for a service.
Sheila Suess Kennedy: Ford bill would reverse 2017 law’s harm to clean energy
An important bill has been sent to the Senate Utilities Committee, chaired by Sen. Jim Merritt. Senate Bill 430, introduced by Sen. J.D. Ford, would repeal the provisions of last year’s controversial measure phasing out net metering.
Tim Phelps: A conservative case for supporting clean energy
These private-sector success stories—nationally and in our state—deserve robust praise because they showcase the free market working exactly as it should.
Richard Feldman: Indiana must get serious about pathetic state of health
Tobacco use still is the leading cause of preventable disease and premature death, and the Hoosier state is mired in the human and economic losses due to its use.
Gary Green: Older ex-offenders make better employees
The movement to put ex-cons to work should start with those who’ve had the time to truly change course.
Lauren Conaboy: Three ways elected leaders can change health care
Comprehensive care that addresses mental health is essential to helping patients, families and employers.
Michael LaFaive & Todd Nesbit: Hiking cigarette tax won’t help Hoosiers or state treasury
Consumers will take their spending across state lines.
Andy Crask: Smart city technology is answer to city’s population boom
Increasing the rate at which we adopt “smart city” technology that enhances connectivity, improves quality of life, and better supports urban population growth is paramount for urban planners in Indianapolis.
Ann Murtlow & Michael Huber: Pass a bias-crimes law with no exceptions
If we go to the Statehouse ready to exclude some of our fellow citizens— trading equality for expediency—any victory would be a hollow one that surrenders any claim to real leadership.
Sandy Sasso: The Women’s March has an anti-Semitism problem
I have been asked whether I will participate this year. While I pledge to continue to help enhance women’s power, I regret that I cannot attend this year’s Women’s March without abdicating my self-respect as a Jewish woman.
Michael Farren & Anne Philpot: Indianapolis dodged the Amazon HQ2 iceberg
Many politicians and economic development officials see the ruse for what it is, but they feel trapped because every other city and state is doing it. Politically, they can’t risk letting their neighbors outcompete them.
Sheila Kennedy: Challenges to democracy come from within
Gerrymandering is a frontal assault on democracy. A pre-midterm electoral analysis from the Cook Report really brought home the extent of that assault: Just one out of 20 Americans lives in a competitive Congressional District.
Dennis Murphy: Discourage smoking, save lives with smart public policy
Only five states have higher rates of infant mortality than Indiana’s. While the past two state administrations have declared infant mortality a priority to fight, the death rate remains grimly high.
Larry Gigerich: Cities, states should revisit economic-incentive policies
Flexibility, reasonability, accountability and transparency are all important factors to consider when taking a long-term view of incentives and entering into a public-private partnership.
Amber Van Til: Keep the ‘farm’ in farm credit; program needs reform
Time is running out, but the Indiana Bankers Association is confident lawmakers will maintain the programs that help rural community banks serve farmers, ranchers and producers.
Kerwin Olson: Proposed Vectren plant would set Indiana back
Vectren’s plant will harm our economy and our environment and will unnecessarily increase the monthly bills of electric consumers already saddled with the highest bills in Indiana.
Dennis Sasso: On patriotism, religion, culture—and humanism
It is the documents and values that inspired and shaped American democracy—the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the advocacy of civil rights and the ongoing vigilance to preserve and enhance our constitutional rights of equality and freedom—that I treasure.
Tim Cook & Katie Culp: What Indy won in the Amazon HQ2 process
The cost of the project, while critically important, never trumped its key determinative factor: people. Size, skill levels and growth rates of the qualified labor pool were indispensable considerations. With that criteria, Amazon chose New York and D.C.