Budget to dominate session

During the long session of the Indiana General Assembly, the big issue is typically the state budget.
The 2011 session, which starts Jan. 5, should be no exception.
State Sen. Allen Paul (R-Richmond) and State Rep. Bill Davis (R-Portland) will return to the statehouse this year after both were re-elected to their seats.
Both highlighted the state’s two-year budget as the top item to tackle in the upcoming session, especially since the state funds are expected to be tight again.
After the election earlier this month, Republicans now hold majorities in both wings of the legislature, 37-14 in the Senate and 60-40 in the House.
State Republicans have campaigned on running the state within its means and not deficit spending, while also pledging to not increase state taxes.
“The biggest issue out of all of them will be the budget,” Paul said. “We have to do a two-year budget. Every year the amount of money we work with seems to decrease. It’s done the same this year.”
“Without question, we’ve got three major issues, the first being trying to balance the budget that has 2005 incomes with 2011 expenses,” Davis said. “We promised the taxpayers we’re not going to increase taxes in this economy.”
Paul noted that one major area that will need to be looked at is education, not only to improve the quality of education students are getting, but also because education accounts for around 50 percent of the budget.
“You have a number of initiatives by the governor; he wants to deal with education,” Paul said. “That is something that I know he is talking about — no specifics yet.”
“Certainly education and how we continue to fund education, how we get the very best teachers in front of our students,” Davis said.
Both Paul and Davis also noted that the legislature will need to look at a way to keep higher education affordable so that universities won’t have to hike tuition rates further.
Another area financially that is of some concern for the state is unemployment insurance.
Due to high unemployment across the state in recent years, the state’s unemployment fund ran dry and Indiana has since borrowed about $1.85 billion from the federal government.
“We have a major hurdle to get over with our unemployment compensation and how we fund unemployment going forward and how we pay back debt,” Davis said. “And doing that without raising taxes on employers. It’s a tough, tough issue.
“Unemployment is totally funded by employers,” Davis said. “We need to look at that whole program. Not only how it’s funded, but how the benefits are handled.”
Part of the solution to both issues — lower state tax revenues and high unemployment expenses — is creating more jobs and putting Hoosiers back to work, which is the third big issue Davis highlighted.
“We need to figure out how to put programs in place and taxing policy in place that’s going to create jobs in Indiana,” he said. “Indiana created 7 percent of the nation’s private sector jobs, yet we’re only 2 percent of the population.”
On the local level, both Paul and Davis mentioned that local government reform based on the 2007 Kernan-Shepard report could get some additional consideration under the Republican legislature.
The suggestions have been discussed during prior sessions and several bills based on the report were introduced, but no major reforms were passed. Although the report called for major changes, such as re-aligning county government to more closely represent city government structure, legislators have focused more toward looking at refining or eliminating township government functions.
“This administration has put an emphasis on changing the way we look at local government — how we can make that more efficient, how we can consolidate some of those positions,” Davis said but added, “I don’t believe that you’ll see real dramatic changes for local government.”
Other issues that could have local impact include a look at a statewide smoking ban, a confined feeding moratorium and analysis of the gas tax and infrastructure funding.
“There is talk of a smoking ban again that would be put in,” Paul said. The smoking ban is an issue that has been mulled around for several sessions.
Paul also said he plans to introduce a bill calling for a three-year moratorium on new Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). He authored a bill to that effect during the last session. It was referred to committee, where it died.
“The CAFO issue will probably be discussed again,” Paul said. “I know in your area that is still a hot subject. That will get discussion this next session.”
Davis pointed out that one topic that needs to be looked at will be how to continue to pay for upkeep of infrastructure.
“The gas tax is another one of those situations that has run its course,” Davis said. “It’s volatile. It moves up and down. Right now the income from the gas tax is below where we thought it would be.
“We have looked at the gas tax and funded other programs than just highways … we also pay for state police for the gas tax out of it,” Davis said. “Tough issue, but it’s a very important issue.”
Another issue that has been discussed locally is a increase in the 911 fees for cell phones. Sheriff Ray Newton would like to see the state increase the fee for cell phones from its current rate of 50 cents per month.
The county recently raised the landline phone rate to $2.78 per month to cover shortfalls in the 911 budget for 2011.
Both Paul and Davis noted that a rate increase has been discussed in the past and could be looked at again this year.
“We’ve discussed that in the previous two sessions, Davis said. “Trying to get a handle on the infrastructure to do (911 for cell phones) and fairness to everyone hasn’t increased as much.
“911 has proven itself to be a lifesaver and a program that’s well worth funding,” he said. “We need to continue to look at consolidation in that area. That’s another one of those services that I think we can continue consolidation and become more efficient and still serve taxpayers well. We worked on the last couple sessions and we’ll continue to …”
Paul said the timing would be right to consider an increase due to looming deadlines for emergency responders to obtain new radio equipment.
“That’s a request that’s not out of the question,” he said. “(Newton’s) right in saying that this may be the year.
“We’ll get the word very quickly from the population whether or not they’ll be interested in that (increase),” Paul said. “I would think that’s something we could certainly look at.”
Citizens can e-mail Paul at [email protected] and Davis at [email protected] with questions or concerns for the upcoming legislative session.[[In-content Ad]]