Impact is minimal

The rollout of the Pence administration’s proposals on the business personal property tax could have been smoother, but Rep. Greg Beumer (R-District 33) believes the version passed by the Indiana General Assembly is acceptable.
“The ultimate product as it is today isn’t — I believe — going to hurt units of local government,” Beumer said Wednesday while speaking to the Portland Rotary Club.
Noting that the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns and the Indiana Association of Counties opposed the bill, Beumer indicated that the next session is likely to refine the legislation.
“The overall impact — if nothing changes — is minimal,” said Beumer. “But I can almost guarantee that it will come up again.”
As approved by the legislature, the bill gives local governments broad new authority to cut or eliminate business personal property taxes. But the bill did not provide any system for replacing the tax revenues that would be lost. The issue will be studied by a “blue ribbon” commission and is expected to be revisited.
Beumer, who was elected by a District 33 Republican caucus in November to fill the vacancy created when longtime GOP representative Bill Davis resigned to head the state’s Office of Community and Rural Affairs, said he was surprised by the controversy over allowing guns in school parking lots as long as they are locked in a vehicle and hidden from sight.
He supported the measure and found it to be one of the most controversial of the session.
“Both sides of the issue blew this out of proportion,” Beumer said. “All we were trying to do was to allow people who were legally entitled to carry firearms to do so.”
Asked about concerns over potential environmental issues involving confined animal feeding operations, Beumer said he believes the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has the tools it needs to monitor the situation.
“I’m not here to defend bad actors in agriculture,” he said. “But I am here to defend modern agricultural practices. … I am convinced that there are enough people with camera phones” who can act as “the eyes and ears of IDEM.”
On other issues, Beumer said:
•The question of Sunday liquor sales can be expected to return again the next session. “There are many, many people (in District 33) who didn’t want sales of alcohol at the state fair” let alone on Sunday, he said.
•He is concerned that “the sanctity of the caucus” had been breached during the session, first when information was leaked about House Republican Caucus discussions on the proposed same-sex marriage amendment and then when questions were raised about whether Rep. Eric Turner was lobbying the caucus over a nursing home moratorium bill. Turner and his family are involved in the nursing home business.
“In my opinion,” said Beumer, “Rep. Turner did not do anything wrong in the caucus.”
•Hoosiers continue to be frustrated about public education. “We’ve given the parents the option to vote with their feet” without addressing the core issues, he said.[[In-content Ad]]