Budget tops agenda

When lawmakers meet Tuesday at the Statehouse in Indianapolis to begin the legislative session, the biennial budget will be the key issue they tackle. Education will likely dominate discussions as well.
Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, and Rep. Greg Beumer, R-Modoc, who both represent Jay County, pointed to those issues as key to the 2015 session. Both legislators will visit Portland after the first week of the session at 11 a.m. Jan. 10 at Community Resource Center to discuss issues with area residents at Jay County Chamber of Commerce’s Third House Session.
The state enjoys a $2 billion reserve, Holdman said, and he suspects there will be pressure to spend some of that reserve on funding road work and education.
But lawmakers need to be careful how much of that reserve they spend, he added.
“I have concerns about how much reserve we need to have to make sure we have enough reserves in case we have another 2008 event,” he said of that year’s economic downturn that began The Great Recession. “In our world, things are still pretty fragile in the economy … that reserve would only fund about 51 days of the state budget.”
Legislators will also be looking to continue to improve education in Indiana, said Beumer.
“I would foresee lots of positive changes in the education formula and lots of areas that will try to make Indiana an even better state,” Beumer said.
In December, Gov. Mike Pence announced his education agenda for the legislative session, saying he’ll push for a change to allow the State Board of Education to elect its own chair from among its members. That would strip power from Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, who under current state law serves as the chair.
The change would mimic how the Commission for Higher Education appoints its chair and would be another step in taking politics out of education, Pence said.
He’s also pushing for a pre-kindergarten voucher program for low income families and ways to strengthen charter schools.
Beumer said every member of the Indiana House of Representatives sends out surveys to constituents each year asking specific questions about proposed legislation and this year will be no different. There will be many questions about proposed education reforms, and Beumer plans to wait for those responses to make any decisions regarding whether or not he’ll support Pence’s proposals.
“I’d like to see what the people in my district think about these things,” he said.
Both legislators say business personal property tax won’t be as big of an issue this year as it was last year.
In 2014, legislators considered cutting Indiana’s business personal property tax, which provides about $1 billion annually to schools and local governments. After local government and school officials balked at the proposal, legislators instead gave counties the power to make the decision to cut or keep the tax.
Holdman said lawmakers need to find a balance between helping businesses and local governments, and though discussion about business personal property tax won’t be as in depth as last year, he feels it’s important lawmakers examine the issue.
“We do a lot to attract businesses here, we have a lot of incentives for new companies coming to town,” he said. “I think we need to do a little more for our companies that are already here.
“I realize that no matter what we do when we cut taxes … it’s going to affect the funding for local governments.”
Beumer said he’s heard very little discussion about cutting the tax in meetings with other Republicans. At this point, he also suspects it won’t be a key issue this year.
Another issue both lawmakers believe won’t be discussed this year after being a top item on the agenda in 2014 is banning same-sex marriages.
Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal court ruling that struck down Indiana’s ban on same-sex marriages.
Because of that, the issue likely won’t be discussed this year, Beumer and Holdman agreed.
“We’ve had meetings since that ruling and it has not even been discussed,” Beumer said.
In Holdman’s opinion, the debate is over.
“I’d be surprised if it’s raised in any fashion this year,” he said
Holdman, who is chair of the Insurance and Financial Institution and a ranking member of the rules and legislative procedures and tax and fiscal policy committees, said he’s looking at pushing legislation that would look at gender selection and birth defects as reasons for abortions. He wants to be sure those aren’t the only reason a doctor is performing the procedure.
Beumer, who is working with the division of work force development, plans to push legislation to provide more resources to unemployed Hoosiers. That would involve providing skills assessment tests in order to evaluate what training might be needed for a specific job.
He also foresees ethics for state and local government officials being a key topic this session following scandals involving Rep. Eric Turner (R-Cicero), Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel) and former Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett. He’s considering legislation that would act as a cleanup bill, and wants to work with the State Board of Accounts to deter some elected officials who are “unscrupulous and do not adhere to this code of honor we have as public officials.”