By Eric Bradner, Evansville Courier & Press
Just ahead of Wednesday's midnight deadline, state lawmakers approved a plan to fix Indiana's bankrupt unemployment insurance fund, which is paying out hundreds of millions of dollars more than it is taking in.
House Bill 1379 would phase in higher employer taxes and increase oversight to make sure those ineligible for benefits aren't drawing them, but the bill would keep jobless benefits the same as they are now.
Senate Majority Leader David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said after lawmakers adjourned that he expects Gov. Mitch Daniels to sign the plan.
It passed the Senate on a bipartisan 46-3 vote. It then squeaked through the House 52-47 along party lines late Wednesday night, with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans against.
Lawmakers were working to fix Indiana's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which has already borrowed about $800 million from the federal government to remain solvent.
Rep. David Niezgodski, D-South Bend, said the plan would raise more than $600 million in new taxes and at least $300 million more in savings to stabilize the fund.
The bill would increase taxes on employers to between 0.65 percent and 9.5 percent on the first $9,500 of a worker's income in 2010. Those rates would then jump to between 0.75 percent and 10.2 percent on the first $9,500 in 2011.
Both are increases over the current rate - 1.1 percent to 5.6 percent on the first $7,000 an employee earns.
In 2011, the highest tax rate would increase from $392 per year to $969 per year. The lowest tax rate would actually decrease from $77 to $71.25 per employer.
House Majority Leader Russ Stilwell, D-Boonville, said that's the message he'll deliver to small and medium-sized employers who never lay off workers.
"I'm going to tell them they got a tax break because that's exactly what they got," Stilwell said.
House Republicans stringently objected to the bill. They said benefits - currently a maximum of $390 per week and an average of $298 per week - should be cut and eligibility restrictions should be tightened as part of the unemployment fund solution.
Rep. Gerald Torr, R-Carmel, called it a "huge (tax) increase on business owners" and said "this is going to cause people to be unemployed."
Here's a look at how other legislation fared.
BILLS THAT PASSED:
- ARENA TAX: Funding for a new Downtown Evansville arena got a boost as state lawmakers gave legislation that will free up local tax revenue to help pay for the arena final approval.
That legislation's passage was in doubt late Wednesday because the bill in which it was included also contained a controversial plan to bail out the struggling board that runs Indianapolis' professional sports stadiums.
As Southwest Indiana lawmakers scrambled to find the legislation a new home, they did so by amending it into an unrelated bill, House Bill 1514. That passed the House on a 62-35 vote, and the Senate, 47-3.
The legislation would allow Vanderburgh County food and beverage tax revenue not needed to pay debts to go toward the arena. It would also extend by five years a 1 percent innkeeper's tax increase.
- TEEN DRIVERS: Teens would have to wait longer and practice more before obtaining their driver's licenses under legislation that cleared both the House and Senate and now awaits Gov. Mitch Daniels' signature.
The bill, which takes effect July 1, 2010, would increase the minimum age from 16 and one month to 16 and six months for teens who have completed driver's education courses to receive their driver's licenses.
It would mandate 50 hours of driving practice - 10 of which must come at night - and require parents to sign off on those hours. It would also prohibit those under 18 from using cell phones while behind the wheel except in emergencies.
- PUPPY MILLS: Legislation to regulate large-scale dog breeding operations, sometimes called "puppy mills," won final passage and awaits Daniels' signature.
Its author, Democratic Rep. Linda Lawson of Hammond, called it a major step for animal rights in Indiana.
The Senate, led by Republican Brent Steele of Bedford, did water down the legislation. But it still represents a dramatic boost to regulations that in the past were so light that authorities had no recourse even when they found dogs living in squalor.
The bill requires daily exercise and sets other minimum standards of care. It requires commercial dog breeders to register with the state.
The puppy mill legislation would nix any more-stringent local ordinances - a change Lawson opposed but Steele insisted on.
"This bill is a monumental step forward," said Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Elkhart. "This bill will work. We will put these bad actors out of business."
- FETICIDE: Lawmakers passed a proposal to lengthen prison terms for people who murder or attempt to murder a pregnant woman and cause the loss of her pregnancy. The bill was inspired by an Indianapolis bank teller who was five months pregnant with twin girls when she was shot in the abdomen during a robbery. She survived, but the twins did not.
BILLS THAT FAILED:
- STADIUM BAILOUT: A proposal to help the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board out of its $47 million deficit did not come up for a final vote.
Lawmakers were considering a plan that would have siphoned $8 million in sales and income tax that comes from a new Marriott hotel - one they say would never have been built were it not for the venues the CIB runs - away from state coffers and into the CIB.
To get that money, Indianapolis will have to raise at least $8 million through local tax hikes. Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said the plan would allow Indianapolis to raise as much as $14 million by raising local taxes.
But time ran out Wednesday night and lawmakers never voted on that plan.
- ABORTION DOCTORS: Lawmakers did not hash out their differences on legislation that would have required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
Senate Bill 89 originally mirrored a Vanderburgh County ordinance. Supporters, including Vanderburgh County Right to Life, said it would have been a positive step for women's health. Opponents, including Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said it was a thinly-veiled attempt to restrict access to abortions.
But the bill died in conference committee because Republicans wanted to strip out a breast and cervical cancer screening program that would have cost about $28 million per year, and Democrats would not agree to do so.
- OPEN RECORDS: A bill to allow fines against government workers who blatantly violate Indiana's public access laws failed to pass the Legislature.
- LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION: Proposals to revamp county government, eliminate township government and consolidate small school districts all failed to pass.
- PROPERTY TAXES: The Senate approved a proposal that would take a step toward putting limits on property tax bills into the Indiana constitution, but the House didn't act, saying lawmakers should wait until next year. If the measure passed both chambers either this year or next, voters would decide in 2010 if the caps belong in the constitution.
- IMMIGRATION: The Senate approved a bill to revoke business licenses of companies that repeatedly hire illegal immigrants, but the issue went nowhere in the House.
- SMOKING BAN: A bill to ban smoking in enclosed public places failed to pass, even after lawmakers tried to carve out exemptions for casinos.
- NUTRITION: Lawmakers didn't approve a proposal to make certain chain restaurants provide nutritional information such as calories, fat and carbohydrates for every food item sold.