The City of Bloomington filed a lawsuit today that claims legislation that stopped the city's attempt to annex 9,500 acres of property is unconstitutional.
As is procedure in such a suit, Gov. Eric Holcomb is named as the defendant in the case filed in Monroe Circuit Court. The suit says the legislation targets Bloomington and violates the state constitution's prohibition on "special legislation."
“This gross overreach by state government we believe violates our state constitution and undermines the concept of home rule enshrined in our statutes. This lawsuit deals with annexation, but it is fundamentally a broader challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s efforts to terminate a specific community’s legal process. We believe the state’s action is illegal and sets a dangerous precedent," Mayor John Hamilton said in a news release.
Bloomington’s annexation plan was effectively killed last month when the Indiana House approved a biennial budget bill that included an amendment regarding the local annexation plan. The amendment language, placed into the budget bill at the last minute and not debated by the House, blocked any annexation plan started by a municipality in the first part of this year and would prohibit such a municipality from revisiting that annexation plan for five years. Bloomington is the only city that fits that description.
The legislation was passed into law and signed by the governor.
City attorneys Michael Rouker and Thomas Cameron argue in the suit that the section of the law pertaining to Bloomington violates Article IV, Section 23 of the Indiana Constitution, which says laws should be general and not provide a benefit to or impose a burden on one locality and not others; and Article IV, Section 19, which says laws should be about one subject. The lawyers argue that "no rational unity exists" between the budget bill and Bloomington's annexation.
The city wants the court to declare the section of the law unconstitutional and stop the state from enforcing the ban on Bloomington's ability to annex. It also seeks court costs and attorney fees.