By Wade Coggeshall
DANVILLE — “We are broke folks. That’s just the truth.”
Not the news several Hendricks County residents wanted to hear first thing on a Monday morning, but nonetheless what they got from Rep. Jeff Thompson and other legislators during the first Legislative Breakfast of the 116th General Assembly.
The breakfast — sponsored by Hendricks Power Cooperative, Hendricks County Farm Bureau, and North Salem State Bank — offers constituents an opportunity to hear directly from their state representatives and ask questions. The next legislative breakfast is 7 a.m. Feb. 22 at the Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds and Conference Complex, 1900 E. Main St., Danville. Attendance is free, but reservations are required and may be made by calling Hendricks County Farm Bureau at 272-2460 by the Thursday prior to the breakfast.
Lawmakers reported this general assembly, which started Jan. 5, is going much faster than normal.
“This session is moving like a cannonball; it’s just moving really quickly,” Sen. Connie Lawson said.
Perhaps that’s because the state doesn’t have any money to do anything extra. In fact, Sen. Boots said when the last budget was passed in June, Indiana anticipated having a $1 billion surplus by the end of the fiscal year in 2011. Now a revised forecast expects the state to be half a billion in the hole by then. That means every reserve dollar being spent.
“That’s set the mood for a lot of bills being considered,” Boots said. “If any has a fiscal impact on the state, it’s not going to be considered.”
Instead, Republican lawmakers, led by Gov. Mitch Daniels, are focusing on fiscal restraint, taxpayer protections, economic development, and ethics reforms.
The biggest news is the Indiana Senate voting 35-15 earlier this month in favor of capping property tax rates at 1 percent for owner-occupied homes, 2 percent for other residential and agricultural properties, and 3 percent for businesses. It will be up to voters this November to decide whether to add the caps to the state constitution and make them permanent.
“From all the polls I’ve seen, support for the caps is high,” Lawson said.
House Bill 1004 would add other taxpayer protections, such as a provision that a property tax bill can’t exceed the annual growth of the Consumer Price Index.
With a 7 percent drop in state revenue from 2008 to ’09 and another 7 percent drop estimated from last year to 2010, fiscal restraint is another idea being pushed. State agencies have been cut by 20 percent and higher education by 6 percent. As a last resort, all school corporations are now being asked to trim their budgets by 3 percent. Rep. Robert Behning, a ranking member of Indiana’s Education Committee, said all state employees are feeling the recession’s sting. He noted that Indiana has fewer government employees now than in 1982.
“Asking our schools to bear some of the burden in terms of trying to balance the budget, I think, is a reasonable thing to do,” he said.
Savings also are being sought on the local level. House Bill 1181, which recently passed the House 55-44, allows Hoosiers to vote on whether to abolish their local township government and transfer those duties to the county government level.
“That’s not to say that township trustees and their advisors aren’t doing a good job, but we have to think about their role and whether we can afford that role in the 21st century,” Rep. Ralph Foley said.
A bill filed by Lawson in the Senate would keep township trustees in place, but waive their advisory boards and give fiscal oversight to the county council.
“One of the objections I heard is that citizens want to make sure they have representation,” Lawson said. “Keep in mind everyone here not only has a county council person from their district, but you also have three people at-large. So you’re represented by four people on the county council.”
Economic development is always a priority, especially in a recession. The lawmakers touted Indiana’s No. 1 ranking in the Midwest for low taxes and its titles as Best Place for Business by Chief Executive Magazine and Best State for Business by CNBC. They also noted the 160 companies who chose Indiana in 2009 for investments totaling $1.96 billion and almost 20,000 new jobs. Objectives like permanent property tax caps and delaying the unemployment insurance tax increase make Indiana a more attractive state in which to do business, they add.
Ethics reform is another prerogative. House Bill 1001, which received near unanimous approval from the House last week, places stricter guidelines on gift reporting. Lobbyists, for example, would have to report all gifts to legislators of at least $50 (currently it’s $100). Legislators also would have to wait at least a year after leaving office before they can register as a lobbyist.
“I think it will protect the integrity and reputation of our institutions and provide an open and transparent government,” Lawson said. “That’s what we want.”
But as always in politics, lawmakers don’t expect anything to happen without a fight.
“What we’re trying to do is have both good politics and good policy,” Foley said. “It sounds easy, but it’s always a struggle.”
wade.coggeshall@flyergroup.com
