...I told you so. And so did quite a few other organizations around this state.
I'm talking about the Mitch Daniels Plan for Tax Salvation, wherein he urged the State of Indiana to assume 100% of public school operating costs, shifting the tax burden from the hated-but-stable property tax to the slightly-less-hated-but-instable sales tax.
ISTA hated it, and I echoed what may were saying in this 2007 post:
Doesn't it make more sense to leave the operating funds with the more stable funding source and move the building projects under the umbrella of a tax structure that might face shortfalls during times of economic recession? If we were facing a big deficit in revenue at the state level, would you rather that school building projects were put on hold, or that remedial ISTEP tutoring was ended for the students that need it?
Well, we got our answer.
The Courier & Press took a look at the growing problems associated with the current funding scheme, and determined that legislators have only themselves to blame.
The current fiscal downturn began just months after the change took effect - a fact that forced legislators to make some tough choices in June 2009, as they prepared the biennial budget.
Legislators had to decide who would feel the most pain - urban and rural districts with declining enrollment but greater challenges, or rapidly expanding suburban districts where class sizes are growing quickly.
The funding formula they came up with left all sides somewhat displeased.
In a lot of ways, the public school crisis mimics the approach toward public programs that we've seen from Daniels and his crew from Day One: if you starve them, cuts will come.
Oh, Indiana General Assembly. You never cease to amaze.
To recap, last year the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House passed a much-needed fix to Indiana's unemployment insurance fund. That fix consisted of a tax increase. The world did not end.
That is, until this year, when Election Mode kicked in and suddenly the only course of action that any logical legislator could take was to rail against the very bill passed by the General Assembly last year -- a bill, it's worth noting, that was signed by Governor Daniels.
The end result? A political stalemate that led Democrats in the House to push an amendment forcing the GOP's hand. Niki Kelly picks up the story:
Republicans in the House and Senate had been seeking a one-year delay of the tax increase, which was expected to cost Hoosier companies more than $300 million this year.
But in a surprising move, House Democrats proposed rejecting the increase altogether and going back to the drawing board.
[...]
House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, declined to call the move a political maneuver but said his caucus is tired of being demonized by House Republicans for having helped pass the bill last year with Republicans in the Senate. House GOP members never supported the measure in the first place, claiming it would cause employers to lay off more employees to cover their increased taxes.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of political posturing, I have yet to see a good discussion on the fiscal impact of this move. Stay tuned...
For those of you who have been tracking the ever-changing, ever-controversial path of the General Assembly's attempt at ethics reform, this Associated Press blurb seems to indicate that we're finally within view of that light at the end of the legislative tunnel.
The House and Senate each passed bills on the issue, and the Senate Rules Committee will take up the House bill on Monday.
The bill would prohibit lawmakers from becoming lobbyists for one year after their terms expire, regardless of whether they complete the term. It also would require lobbyists to report gifts worth $50 or more, including meals, drinks and tickets to events. The current threshold is $100.
For what it's worth, ethics stalwarts such as State Rep. John Day of Indianapolis have worked tirelessly (and at times, seemingly hopelessly) on this issue for years. They won't get the credit they deserve should a bill pass, but they have been instrumental in keeping this topic alive when public attention wasn't so squarely fixated on the General Assembly.
If ever you were going to explain to someone the beauty of America's democratic process, a quick examination of the unemployment insurance crisis in Indiana would probably do the trick. To recap, Indiana was faced with a stunning amount of debt last year due to our bankrupt unemployment insurance program. To address this issue, the General Assembly -- with bipartisan support -- passed a "fix" involving a modest tax increase on businesses. Governor Mitch Daniels then signed the bill into law.
Fast-forward to this week, where those very same Republicans are confronted not with a budgetary crisis, but something far more sinister: an election year.
Republican lawmakers say the recession has lasted longer and cut deeper than anticipated, putting other states in the same predicament and raising the possibility of federal action. Therefore, they say, the state should delay the tax hike by at least a year.
Gov. Mitch Daniels said that allowing the new rates to take effect would be a job killer. He has lobbied the General Assembly for a one-year delay to see if Congress acts.
"If (lawmakers) want to really be helpful, that would be the single biggest thing they can do" to protect Hoosier jobs, Daniels said.
This coming from the same people who want to set in stone a series of tax caps based on the theory that revenue fluctuations would never necessitate a restructuring of our tax base.
Democrats, for their part, are set to unveil a jobs plan in the coming days. Jobs also being incredibly important when it comes to protecting Hoosier jobs.
The skinny is this: NRA lobbyists, never content to let a sleeping dog lie, have descended upon the state with two ideas. I'll let the Journal Gazette summarize the proposals:
House Bill 1068 would seal a public record, an act that almost never serves the public. The bill would make permits to carry handguns a private record, no longer open to the public. These are not "gun permits"; these are licenses that specifically allow people to carry handguns in public. Such permits are not necessary to carry rifles or shotguns, nor are they needed to have a handgun in your home.
[...]
House Bill 1065 would require businesses to allow their employees to leave guns in their cars in employee parking lots. Consider that the same conservatives supporting this bill generally reject new regulations on business. Consider, too, that businesses have long had the right to control what kind of personal belongings employees are and are not allowed to bring to business property.
To recap: Current public records become private, and employers give up their right to regulate their workplace in return for the assurances that weapons locked in a trunk could never pose a threat to them or their employees.
Perfect.
My two main problems with these bills are simple. First, they aren't needed. There's no pressing public need for these changes, and aside from a manufactured controversy fueled by out-of-state money, no one is clamoring for the General Assembly to dedicate hours upon hours to these "problems."
Secondly, as bravely pointed out by State Rep. Phil Pflum, the possible harm greatly outweighs any purported benefit.
Pflum, a Democrat from the eastern Indiana town of Milton, likely realized he wasn't going to sway the committee's decision. But his voice quivered as he described how in the 1980s he had to tell hundreds of workers at a Richmond factory that they were going to lose their jobs, and how when he drove up alongside one of those workers later the man pointed a gun at his car before Pflum sped away.
"This bill scares the hell out of me," Pflum said.
"What if he'd had a weapon on the company property?" he asked.
For more on this, check out the full editorial in this morning's Journal Gazette.
The amendment is now eligible for a full vote on the Senate floor where it's expected to pass handily. The Indiana State Senate has an overwhelming majority of Republicans.
The amendment would still have to pass the Indiana State House of Representatives before it could move on to the next stage needed on the way to a public referendum, The amendment is expected to fail in that chamber. Democrats hold the majority in the Indiana House.
As you have probably read this morning, yesterday saw Governor Mitch Daniels make his sixth State of the State address before the General Assembly, an annual ceremony that for the last few years has served as the launching point for numerous now-(in)famous policy campaigns.
But, alas, last night was anything but a wonkfest. Of all people, I quote Matt Tully:
The state of our state is, well, at least better than the other guys'.
That was the message Gov. Mitch Daniels delivered over and over -- and over again -- Tuesday night during his annual State of the State address. Actually, Daniels didn't so much deliver that message. To be more accurate, he pummeled it into the heads of Hoosiers.
No doubt Mitch was forced to go rest up after the speech, as both his right arm and shoulders were surely sore after the thirty-minute back-patting session that he had just endured. A testament to Daniels' ability to look on the sunny side of (his political) life, Hoosiers were treated to a half-hour treatise on why we should quit our nagging about jobs and the whatnot and just thank our lucky stars we don't live in -- shudder -- Michigan.
Absent was any discussion of the top three priorities for most Hoosiers: jobs, jobs, or jobs. Also off the agenda was the implosion of Daniels' Family and Social Services Administration privatization or his equally damaging plan to downsize public education in the state.
Quoth the Tully:
Still, there was something disappointing about Daniels' speech. So much of it looked backward and seemed back patting, exposing what for Daniels is an abnormally mild legislative agenda. Instead of talking about big ideas, Daniels talked about harder-hit states.
If your house goes up in flames and the local fire department shows up and spends a half-hour lecturing you on how this house fire doesn't hold a candle to that three-alarm fiasco on Elm Lane from last week, I doubt you'd be impressed. That's how I would imagine most Hoosiers felt after last night's State of the Other States address.
Expect to open your newspaper tomorrow morning and read of the final passage of a constitutional amendment enshrining the all-too-recently-passed property tax caps. The next step will be a statewide referendum, which recent polling seems to indicate will pass by a huge margin.
State law already limits property tax bills to 1 percent of homes' assessed value, with 2 percent caps on rental property and 3 percent limits on business property. If the bill clears the Senate, voters would decide in a November referendum whether those limits should be amended into the constitution.
Supporters say the caps protect taxpayers, while opponents say they hurt local government.
More accurately, opponents point out that the caps could hurt local government. Or could destroy the known universe. We don't really know because the things were only passed and implemented in the last year or so.
On a related point, the Post-Tribune features an interesting discussion of the effect that the wording of a referendum question can have on its chances of passage. Expect some changes for the tax cap question, as the current draft reads more like the tax code than the political stunt the move largely amounts to.
Call it efficiency or fear of an electorate still pissed about last year's extended stay, but the General Assembly has been making short work of their legislative obligations this session. And as Bill Ruthhart noted yesterday in the Star, the result of all this could be an early dismissal for legislators itching to get back to the campaign trail.
So, what's the rush?
Lawmakers spent extra time at the Capitol last year with the special budget session that didn't wrap up until the end of June, so that's part of the motivation. But more of it has to do with politics.
This is an election year, and legislators are eager to get back to their district to raise money and run their campaigns as soon as possible, particularly in the closely contested House.
It also doesn't hurt that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will be able to laud passing the constitutional property tax caps before Gov. Mitch Daniels gives his televised State of the State speech Tuesday.
Notably absent from this session -- for the most part -- have been the sort of wedge-issue shenanigans that generally characterize an election year. (Especially when Brian Bosma and the House Republicans are in the minority.)
A good thing? Policy wise, surely. But politically? One can't help but be a little unsettled by the absence of politically-charged rhetoric from a GOP caucus that by all accounts is singularly focused on retaking the House.
Are we seeing quiet confidence in the position they find themselves in currently? Or is this just a result of a Hoosier constituency that in recent years has appeared increasingly skeptical of the kind of stunts that Bosma has made a name for himself with?
Either way, I would be surprised if in at least a few swing districts we don't see these issues creep back in before November.
Ah, Organization Day. That time-honored tradition of nothingness that all political junkies long for after the doldrums of summer. Tomorrow brings us this year's edition, and per usual we'll likely hear a lot from both sides in the General Assembly as positioning begins in preparation for next year's session.
Indiana lawmakers return to the Statehouse on Tuesday for their first meeting since a June special session in which they approved a state budget just ahead of a looming government shutdown.
Four months later, that budget is more than $300 million out of balance, as state income and sales tax revenue have plunged during the recession.
What to do about the deficit is likely to be the subject of many conversations during Tuesday's largely ceremonial Organization Day session.
The rest of the article takes a look at the logistics of tomorrow's shindig, but the last line of the piece was what caught my eye the most.
The governor has repeatedly said he will not raise taxes on Hoosiers during a recession.
Except, of course, unless we're talking about local income taxes, sales taxes, cigarette taxes...
The Campaign to Elect Codie Ross is gearing up for an exciting winter of grassroots campaigning and hard work. It is extremely refreshing to see the tremendous amount of support from volunteers and community members who are eager to elect a candidate of substance. We know that Codie understands the issues facing District 51 because he listens to us and continues to ask for community input.
Codie Ross understands the best remedy for the economy is to put people back to work and to utilize Indiana's resources. For example, Codie supports tax incentives for businesses to further the training of their employees, especially those working with local educational programs. We want and need these things to make Indiana great. Codie Ross will make it happen for us.
For the last couple of months, I've seen Codie work for what's best for his constituents. I believe that as a representative for District 51, he will work just as he hard as he worked for his students as a high school teacher. It's about time Steuben and DeKalb Counties had a representative who listens to his fellow community members and is poised to act in their best interest.
If you'd like to learn more about this growing and refreshing campaign, www.rossforstatehouse.com .
I would like to draw your attention to Codie Ross, who is running for a seat in the Indiana House of Representatives for District 51. I know that he will not represent you, per say, but intelligent, hard-working legislators benefit all of us, regardless of district lines.
I believe that Codie Ross is committed to strengthening infrastructure, resources and people to meet our changing economic needs. He believes the state must implement incentives for adults who choose to re-educate themselves to improve their "employability". One way to do this is by offering a tax credit to employees who further their education and a tax deduction to employers who pay for additional employee education.
As a former educator, Codie Ross understands the need to establish higher standards in education; this includes introducing varied assessment techniques that measure students' progress and abilities beyond that of rote memorization and recall. He would work to create partnerships between schools and local businesses to prepare students to lead our local communities in their respective economic areas. This will likely eliminate "brain drain" and encourage college graduates to return to their communities to use their talents.
Codie Ross will work to make our communities safe. He believes in tougher penalties for those who manufacture methamphetamines, particularly those who do so in the presence of children. Finally, he will work to improve emergency public safety dispatch systems throughout the district and foster a greater communication between our counties.
I am quite excited to have the opportunity to support such a young, intelligent, hard-working candidate for the state legislature like Codie Ross. Dick Dodge, the current "representative" for District 51 does nothing for the people of his district, or the rest of the state. Please help spread the word about Codie Ross, the Democratic candidate for District 51.
Another call to action, this time from AARP Indiana. Personally, these are the most egregious cuts I've heard about, though I know the focus by the Democrats, thus far, is on Education (which is plenty important, just not one of my pet issues).
Home energy tax looms for low-income Hoosiers
Indiana's poorest families face a looming tax hike on energy unless the Indiana General Assembly acts soon to prevent it.
Gov. Mitch Daniels' proposed budget effectively reinstates Indiana's 7 percent sales tax on federal energy assistance payments to almost 200,000 low-income families. For the past three years, the Legislature has wisely exempted that assistance, known as LIHEAP, from state sales taxes.
That's a small but meaningful benefit for LIHEAP recipients, whose household income cannot exceed 150 percent of federal poverty guidelines ($21,855 for a family of two).
As the fight over education funding in the state budget heats up, and criticism of Mitch Daniels' plan continues to mount among local school districts across the state, House Democrats are in the middle of preparing their own budget before the special legislative session gavels in on Thursday.
The "first salvo" of Indiana's special session will be fired today as House Democrats begin to prepare an alternative budget proposal to the one Gov. Mitch Daniels presented to a legislative panel last week.
Citing dissatisfaction chiefly with its treatment of schools, Democratic leaders will craft their own spending plan this week; putting it through the vetting process in the Ways and Means committee
"That's going to be the biggest linchpin, education," said Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster, who serves on Ways and Means. "There is concern on both sides of the aisle about the school funding numbers."
The honeymoon really does appear to be over with Daniels' budget, as schools discover just how bleak things look under the governor's funding scheme. Articles published this morning with this theme appeared in Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, Evansville, and Michigan City.
At this moment, Mitch Daniels is finishing up his remarks before members of the General Assembly on his budget proposal. After sitting on the sidelines for the last few months, it was kind of nice to see the Guv decide to take an interest in the legislative process. I mean, with so much going on, he must be ready to batten down the hatches, put on his game face, and...
[O]n June 3, the day after he releases his proposed budget, the Guv will be in Washington, D.C. at the Hudson Institute's 2009 Bradley symposium, joining U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in "reflecting on ways American conservatism can be made credible once again."
...oh.
As noted by this week's Indiana Legislative Insight -- and confirmed today by Daniels' media office -- our governor just couldn't put his campaign for attention among Washington insiders on hold long enough to spend a full week at home. I mean, what's a fiscal crisis when the East Coast politicos are calling?
And in case you're wondering how the Guv could get away with yet another road trip in the midst of budget negotiations, don't worry -- he'll be attending a Ronald Reagan tribute ceremony while he's out in Washington.
Apparently the first step in restoring American Conservatism is a double-dose of wasteful navel-gazing.
Last night saw Governor Mitch Daniels take to the boob tube in order to unveil his budget proposal to the world, a mere four or five weeks after it would have been constructive for him to, you know, unveil this budget proposal.
In a live TV address Monday night, Gov. Mitch Daniels revealed the broad strokes of a new two-year budget plan that includes increases for public education and spends about $300 million of the state's surplus.
The use of reserves is a major departure for the governor, who has prided himself on spending no more than state coffers take in. This change would clear the way for an unbalanced budget for the first time under Daniels.
But he said overall state spending will be reduced by almost 3 percent.
First of all, while it is nice to see Daniels join the discussion a six months after it started, you kind of have to wonder what the hell happened in the last few weeks to make the guy change his mind on so many key gripes he had with the budget proposal he helped kill at the end of the legislative session.
Just a short while ago, dipping into the state's reserves was a deal-breaker. Now it's the centerpiece of Daniels' much-ballyhooed plan.
Oh, and education spending is going up. Or is it? Word on the street is that the pledge to not cut any school's funding extends only to the per pupil figure, something that could find urban and rural districts losing cash next year while Mitch's friends in the suburbs enjoy double-digit increases.
A lot of potentially fuzzy math, and not a lot of details at this point.
The Republican caucus of the General Assembly apparently has quite a bit of time on their hands despite that whole "couldn't pass a budget" thing. Left to their own devices, the group couldn't help themselves but needlessly weigh in on a national political issue completely beyond their control.
Thirty-one Republican state senators have asked U.S. Sens. Evan Bayh and Dick Lugar to oppose the nomination of an Indiana University law professor nominated by President Barack Obama for a senior position in the U.S. Department of Justice.
In a letter May 15, the state senators said Dawn Johnsen's advocacy of abortion rights "is more than simply pro-choice -- she is pro-choice in an extremely radical way."
[...]
"It's a statement from a very strong pro-life caucus," said Indiana Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne. "It is not based on the fact she is pro-choice, it is based on the fact that she is radically so."
No, it's a statement from a very weak caucus that finds itself all too often being yanked around by its wedge issue overlords.
Ignoring for a moment the fact that Dawn Johnsen is eminently qualified for the position she has been nominated to fill. Putting away for the sake of conversation the bipartisan support she has accumulated -- including both Sens. Bayh and Lugar. All that aside, I can't help but wonder: Shouldn't these GOP state senators have something better to do?
Our state economy is in the shitter, our fiscal solvency is in doubt in many areas, and you yahoos just used your passive-aggressive prowess to land yourself in a special legislative session at the whim of a chief executive who appears to be just as dominating of your caucus as, say, the pro-life activists who ordered you into this little stunt.
Governor Mitch Daniels has to be on cloud nine. His legislative agenda derailed, and the world crumbling around him, all it took was 48-hours of vague veto threats to send the General Assembly toward a special session. And with that special session comes a great opportunity for the Mitch to try and re-market himself as the great steadying force of our state government. Mike Smith of the AP looks at where we stand:
The Senate passed a two-year budget bill on the final day of the regular session, but it was defeated in the narrowly divided House.
Daniels said he would have vetoed it anyway, mostly because he said it would have chewed through the state's reserves and left a $1 billion shortfall at the end of the biennium. He noted that tax collections in April were $255 million below the target set in the fiscal forecast released earlier that month, and he thinks revenue in May and June won't meet the forecast either.
So, he essentially said to lawmakers, go back to the drawing board and pass a budget plan that spends about $1 billion less than the one voted on April 29.
Lawmakers, for their part, appear less than enthusiastic at the prospect of slashing funding on, well, everything. Even the Republican leadership is having a hard time finding their bearings.
[State Sen. Luke] Kenley said that having another revenue forecast conducted was fine, but, "We are never going to crystal ball this enough to give him a comfort level."
Kenley also alluded to the possibility that if a budget can't be concocted to meet Daniels' exacting, inexact standards, a veto-override could be in the cards. With Rep. Brian Bosma leading his House Republicans down the path of "lapdog," though, it would probably take a lot of trauma to present that as an opportunity.
Lest you think the disastrous end to the legislative session was a purely partisan affair, both the Senate Republicans and House Democrats have made it abundantly clear that they have serious problems with the way Governor Mitch Daniels handled himself in the final negotiations. Now, both caucuses are calling for the man downstairs to stop his vague grandstanding and start providing the details needed to find a workable solution.
"I've invited the governor to tell us what his solution is because obviously we haven't met his standards," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville. "We need to hear more from him."
House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, agrees, saying "he needs to come out with a budget - not just vague references. Numbers, numbers, numbers. Then we can work on it from there."
Daniels, meanwhile, has made no decisions on when the special session will happen or the course it will take.
Of course, this was likely Daniels' plan all along -- he had a much better political interest in a special session, anyway, and we can expect to see him continue his tsk-tsking for at least a few more weeks.
I was in and out of internet access all day yesterday, but the news seemed grimmer and grimmer every time I received an update from the statehouse. By the time the bell tolled midnight, it was clear that no budget bill would be landing on Governor Daniels' desk this morning.
Earlier Wednesday, House and Senate Democrats, as well as Senate Republicans, had signed off on a compromise that they believed would clear the chambers. But Bauer told Kenley that Democrats likely could not deliver the needed 51 votes without a lot of support from House Republicans.
Kenley hustled over to Bosma's office and was out in seconds. "He told me he won't give a single vote for it," Kenley said.
In the end, that was accurate, as all 27 "yes" votes in the House came from Democrats.
From their across-the-board "no" vote on fixing the unemployment insurance fund -- which enjoyed significant GOP support in the Senate -- to their stonewalling of the budget bill last night -- admittedly with some vocal opposition from House Democrats -- it is clear that Rep. Brian Bosma and his crew are looking toward next year's election with more energy than they are looking at this year's economic woes.
So who wins in a special session? That's a great question, and one that will begin to be answered in the spin-filled fallout from yesterday's fiasco. I'll keep you updated throughout the day on where people are staking out claims as every caucus rushes to justify the thousands of taxpayer dollars to be spent as the game goes into overtime.
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