With a solid majority in the Indiana House and a super-majority in the Senate following the November 2010 elections, Statehouse Republicans led by Gov. Mitch Daniels approved much of a GOP wish list in the 2011 legislative session.
Republicans pressed ahead with an agenda of social legislation, and the outcomes prompted no less than the usually conservative Indianapolis Business Journal to ridicule the measures on the editorial page of its May 7, 2011, issue:
“…we’re forlorn, even embarrassed by what emanated from the Statehouse this year,” the IBJ said.
One was the failure to authorize a statewide smoking ban, which the IBJ noted could hurt the state’s convention and tourism industry, worth $3.56 billion in Indianapolis alone last year, according to the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association.
Another was approval of a proposed amendment to the Indiana Constitution that would ban gay marriage and civil unions. The IBJ said the proposal will harm the state’s ability to attract skilled, educated workers and expressed relief that it still must be approved in a second legislative session, either in 2013 or 2014, then face a statewide ballot referendum in 2014.
Finally, the Republican-controlled House and Senate approved a measure, which the governor signed, to end all state funding of Planned Parenthood, making Indiana the first state in the country to do so.
In its editorial, the IBJ called it, “…a bad law, just the sort of vindictive, backward measure that lawmakers spent way too much time debating this year.”
Ending the funding puts the state at risk of losing $4 million per year in federal family planning funds. None of the federal or state money is used for abortions.
A federal judge in Indianapolis ruled on May 11 that the new law may go into effect – another hearing is scheduled for June 6.
Among other contentious items approved by the GOP-controlled legislature this year are House Bills 1002 and 1003 which expand the state’s charter schools and voucher programs, and Senate Bills 1 and 575 which create an annual performance review for teachers and limit collective bargaining for teachers’ unions to wages and wage-related benefits.
GOP lawmakers also cut unemployment benefits for laid-off workers by 25 percent – the average benefit payout of $283 will drop by about $70 per week – while at the same time cutting the amount business has to pay into the state’s unemployment fund.
Business tax cutting continued as Republicans approved legislation to reduce the state’s corporate income tax from 8.5 percent to 6.5 percent phased in over 4 years, an effort to make Indiana more attractive to new economic development.
Lawmakers also approved HB 1216, the Common Construction Wage bill, raising the price of government contracts which require the common wage structure from $150,000 to $250,000 in 2012, then to $350,000 in 2013, meaning fewer contracts will have to pay the higher common wage, hurting union workers.
House and Senate negotiators restored funding to the horse racing industry that was cut by more than half in the House version of the 2-year state budget. The fund will receive about $60 million this year.
And the legislature expanded the governor’s power to create toll roads but not as much as originally proposed. The governor now has the authority to designate new highways as toll roads without legislative approval, but not existing roads as in the initial plan.
These bills died in session:
Paid for by the Shelby County Democratic Party, www.shelbydems.org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Museo Font by Jos Buivenga .
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