The upcoming short session of the Indiana General Assembly isn’t deterring Northwest Indiana lawmakers from preparing to bring some of the region’s biggest issues before their peers in January.
Among the revivals, Gary leaders hope to use the possibility of a Chicago casino to sway legislators to approve a land-based casino for the city. Gary Mayor-elect Karen Freeman-Wilson backs the plan.
“Because of the threat that the Illinois gaming expansion presents to the revenue stream for the state of Indiana,” Freeman-Wilson said, “it’s just not about Northwest Indiana or Gary. It’s really about the state’s ability to have steady revenue streams.”
Public transit advocates want lawmakers to give counties and municipalities authority to pass referendums funding local transportation systems. If passed, the initiative could give the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority an avenue to vie for a dedicated funding source.
Lawmakers may also reintroduce a funding mechanism for upkeep of the Little Calumet River levee, as well as address funding shortages counties face in consolidating their emergency dispatch centers by state mandate and a hotel/motel or food and beverage tax for Merrillville.
For this session, time is a factor. Indianapolis hosting the Super Bowl means many legislators may lose their hotel rooms. Local legislators also aren’t sure how proposed right-to-work legislation, the cause of the Democratic walkout last session, will play out. The initiative, supported by a Republican-controlled study committee in October, would allow workers to opt out of joining unions and paying dues to the labor organizations.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, has heard the session’s short timetable — just 10-1/2 weeks rather than 17 weeks — may mean the Legislature will hear a limited number of bills.
“Whether right-to-work is going to happen, who knows? It gets a lot of hype. It gets people a lot of press, but you really get nothing for it,” Soliday said. “You still have to negotiate contracts. You still pay everybody in class and craft the same. It’s a lot of hyperboles to get nothing. So they may do that, they may not. You never know.”
State Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, has heard the make-up of this session won’t allow for controversial bills. As for public transit, Dobis doesn’t expect any bill dealing with taxes to gain ground. The RBA is in a race to find funding to operate its services. Its backer, the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, will stop providing operational funding at the end of this year.
“There will be no tax bills this session. I can just tell you that,” Dobis said. “The make-up of this session is get in and get out with as little damage as possible. Little, if anything, controversial will even have the opportunity to pass.”
However, the cause for public transit gained a boost after Tuesday’s election when Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, a Republican who won a second term, announced he’s talking to lawmakers about the issue.
Indiana Transportation Association Executive Director Kent McDaniel is happy to see Ballard’s involvement.
“What I don’t want to see happen is the Indianapolis area take off on this and do something for themselves,” McDaniel said, “without including the rest of the state.”
Legislators will kick off work on the 2012 session Nov. 22 when the Indiana General Assembly will convene for Organizational Day.