By Bryan Corbin, Evansville Courier & Press
The state Senate has just voted for a bill that would eliminate most township assessors and transfer their duties to county assessors.
Senate Bill 16 passed 29-18.
Among local senators, Republican Vaneta Becker voted yes, while Democrats Lindel Hume, Richard Young and Bob Deig voted no, as did Republican John Waterman.
The bill was modified somewhat from the version originally introduced as a part of Gov. Mitch Daniels' property-tax relief plan.
As introduced, it would have eliminated all 1,008 township-level assessors and transferred their duties to county assessors.
As amended by the Senate, however, 44 of the state's largest townships that have 15,000 parcels or more would continue to retain township assessors. For the rest, their duties would be absorbed by their elected county assessors. The township assessors still in office would serve out their terms through 2010.
The bill also has a provision for removal of township assessors not performing their duties.
Complaints about inconsistent assessment and errors led to the push to shift assessing from the township to the county level, although organizations representing the township-level officials opposed the move.
The bill now moves to the Indiana House.
In other business today:
-The state Senate has approved the same-sex marriage-ban amendment to the state constitution. The amendment, SJR 7, passed 39-9.
Despite passing the Republican-controlled Senate, SJR 7 is expected to be dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Indiana House, since a House committee chairman has said he will not give it a hearing.
SJR 7 would define marriage as being between one man and one woman. Supporters say it is necessary to prevent a state law that already bans gay marriage from being overturned by a court. Critics say the constitutional amendment would undermine domestic-violence protections for unmarried heterosexual couples.
Senators Vaneta Becker, Bob Deig, Lindel Hume, John Waterman and Richard Young all voted yes on SJR 7.
-The so-called "pharmacist's conscience" bill that deadlocked last week on a nonconclusive tie vote was approved today on a re-vote, after six senators who originally voted no voted yes. Senate Bill 3 passed today, 30-18.
The legislation, Senate Bill 3, says that pharmacists would have the option of refusing to fill prescriptions if they believed the drugs would be used to induce abortion, assisted suicide or euthanasia. Critics have complained the bill could be interpreted to deny customers access to contraceptive drugs.
Last week, all five of Southwestern Indiana's state senators - Republicans Vaneta Becker and John Waterman and Democrats Bob Deig, Lindel Hume and Richard Young - voted "no" on Senate Bill 3, and it ended in a non-conclusive 24-24 tie vote.
Since the bill was not defeated, it came back for another vote today. Becker and Deig still voted "no," but Hume, Waterman and Young voted "yes" the second time around.
Hume, D-Princeton, said he had mixed feelings about Senate Bill 3. What changed his mind was wording in the bill that requires the pharmacy to have a backup plan for filling a customer's prescription if the pharmacist raises an objection. That wording balances the rights of the customer with the pharmacist's ethical constraints, Hume said.