Adam Parkhouse, Herald-Argus Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS — Prior to the first half of the state's legislative session, Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, feared a divisive debate on marriage equality would consume lawmakers' time.

House Joint Resolution 3, a measure looking to write a ban on gay marriage into Indiana's constitution, has now passed on to the Senate, but now Pelath says time is being spent on "trivialities."

"We've seen a bill on feral cats and there's a bill on cursive handwriting that will be discussed in the second half," Pelath said Tuesday. "And this is while we've been told we can't have a study on why one in six women in Indiana have been raped or sexually assaulted.

"It's not too late to get (the session) turned right side up, but it's gotta happen soon."

With a March 14 adjournment date looming, Pelath said he'd like to see both him and his colleagues tackle big issues facing the state. One attempt at that has been made, Pelath said, with Governor Mike Pence's proposal to eliminate the business personal property tax. The measure is aimed at attracting more businesses to Indiana.

"It's ill-conceived because there's no evidence that it creates a single job," Pelath said. "But there's a lot of evidence it will cut other things businesses need, which is police to show up and streets to be plowed.

"The business tax is not a problem in Indiana. We have a good business tax climate."

Michigan City Mayor Ron Meer recently called for lawmakers to scrap the bill, or at least provide a viable proposal to replace the funds that would be lost.

"There's been no proposal on how to replace those funds," Pelath said. "The governor says we need to find a way to do it that doesn't hurt homeowners and doesn't harm local units of government, but that hasn't advanced beyond hopeful statements."

Pelath says the impact of the passage of that bill would be a billion dollar loss to local governments or a billion dollar shift to homeowners and workers, or a combination of the two.

"There's no getting around that fact," Pelath said. "We have a top 10 business tax climate in Indiana. Whatever ails us, business taxes are not the problem."

Pelath would like to see the focus shift from the elmination of this tax to how to better improve the lives of workers.

"The conversation needs to shift to how do we invest in the middle class, because they're the economic engine in Indiana," Pelath said. "Investors are important, but we have to have workers and consumers, too. We need to have people be able to train for the jobs of tomorrow without being bankrupt."

In a press release, Pelath said there have been some bipartisan successes in this session. The state exemption provided for families with children was increased, additional funding was provided to help firefighters, police and EMTs purchase the equipment they need to help keep communities safe and both sides of the aisle agreed that the Attorney General needs to keep the public better informed.

"But when you consider what we did, and what we could have done, you cannot say this session has been a success or even done anything except help our haves and lay the groundwork for ugly, divisive debates on the most personal issues," Pelath said.

"And that means this session has been a failure ... so far. We have time to do better. Indiana House Democrats will do our part. I just hope the majorities feel the same way."