BY PATRICK GUINANE, Times of Northwest Indiana
pguinane@nwitimes.com
Both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly will reconvene today for the second half of the legislative session.
The Republican-led Senate will focus on crafting its version of a two-year state budget, while the Democratic-controlled House will tackle home foreclosures, local government reform and other topics sent over by the Senate.
Negotiations between the two chambers will start April 15, with the formation of House-Senate conference committees charged with reaching comprises before the April 29 adjournment deadline.
The Senate passed 194 bills, and the House approved 247 measures in the first half of the session. Here are 10 pieces of legislation to watch going forward.
In the Senate
House Bill 1001 -- The home of the next two-year state budget. Gov. Mitch Daniels proposed a $28.3 billion biennial plan that cut most state agency budgets 8 percent, held school funding at current levels and halted new construction projects. House Democrats approved a $14.5 billion, one-year plan that skimmed $200 million from state reserves, gave schools an average funding boost of 2 percent and delayed debt payments on $750 million in proposed projects. Senate Republicans say they will work toward an affordable plan, and they will have more information on how federal stimulus money can be incorporated.
Lawmakers face a House bill they need to agree on for a more than $400 million mix of employer tax hikes and worker benefit cuts to bail out the state's bankrupt unemployment fund. The House didn't send the Senate a fix, but tax hikes must be contained in House bills, so senators will have to find a bill to rewrite.
House Bill 1607 -- Right now, the legislation would allocate $35 million in federal stimulus money to the South Shore, and authorize -- but not finance -- construction of commuter rail extensions to Lowell and Valparaiso. Watch to see if Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, can find $350 million for the projects,
House Bill 1215 -- Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, wants to add an $18 court fee to 27 traffic fines, including speeding and drunken driving, to generate $10 million a year to subsidize existing trauma care hospitals and bring one to Northwest Indiana. Senate leaders say court costs have reached a tipping point, so watch to see if a compromise financing scheme emerges.
House Bill 1213 -- Statewide smoking bans have been snuffed out early in past legislative sessions. But the compromise measure to ban smoking in restaurants and enclosed workplaces, but not bars or casinos, cleared the House 70-26. A move to make stronger the proposed statewide ban, which is similar to those in Crown Point and Valparaiso, could doom the effort.
In the House
Senate Joint Resolution 1 -- The measure, which cleared the Senate 34-16, would set up a November 2010 referendum allowing voters to place in the Indiana Constitution tiered property tax caps that limit homeowners' bills to 1 percent of assessed value. Democrats say the caps, which deny revenue to local government, are too untested to go in the constitution.
Senate Bill 512 -- Rep. Dan Stevenson, D-Highland, hopes to strengthen the streamlining effort so that it abolishes Indiana's 1,008 townships. The proposal, which might not get a House hearing, is the most contentious of the local government reforms still alive in the Legislature.
Senate Bill 492 -- Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Odgen Dunes, wants lenders to offer nonbinding mediation to troubled mortgage holders. It's one of several foreclosure prevention efforts alive in a Legislature that wants to do something to tackle a pervasive problem.
Senate Bill 389 -- Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, is taking another shot at legalizing red light traffic cameras in Indiana. The legislation cleared the Senate 28-22. The House has sunk similar efforts in the past, but this year it has support from officials in Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis and Lafayette.
Senate Bill 452 -- Co-authored by Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, the legislation would move municipal elections to even-numbered years, move all school board elections to the fall, prohibit public employees from serving elected office within the same governmental unit in which they work and allow all counties to replace precinct polling places with consolidated voting centers.