INDIANAPOLIS — When state lawmakers convene today for the ceremonial Organization Day at the Indiana Statehouse, there’s one thing they’ll know for certain: There’s a lot of work to do.
Also for certain: What the end product of that work will look like is nearly impossible to predict.
On Monday, the incoming Speaker of the Indiana House, Republican Brian Bosma, told an Indiana Chamber of Commerce audience that he doesn’t know how some of the most volatile issues will shake out in the next legislative session — even though his party is now in control.
When asked how the legislature will fix the state’s unemployment fund, which went broke two years ago and now owes nearly $2 billion to the federal government, Bosma said: “If anybody tells you they know the answer, even if it’s the speaker of the house, then they don’t know the question.”
Some complicated problems with no easy fixes face lawmakers in the 2011 session, including a biennial budget expected to be out of balance by $1 billion.
That point was made repeatedly at the event, at which Bosma and other legislative leaders offered their crystal-ball visions of what lies ahead when lawmakers reconvene in January.
An example: Among the Chamber’s top legislative priorities is a “right-to-work” law that would prohibit employers from entering into “closed-shop” agreements that make membership in a union a requirement for all employees.
It’s an issue that might be expected to find support among Republicans who tout a pro-business platform and who now control the state House and Senate, as well as the governor’s office.
But as Bosma told the chamber audience, “Them’s fightin’ words.”
“It’s one of the most contentious issues that can come before the General Assembly,” Bosma said.
No one on either side of the partisan aisle would be willing to champion a “right-to-work” bill unless Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels took up the fight, Bosma predicted.
The words “right to work” weren’t on Daniels’ legislative priority list unveiled two weeks ago. But these words were: “Protect the paycheck of every state employee by prohibiting mandatory dues payments.”
Also high on the chamber’s legislative priority list is local government reform — specifically the elimination of township government. That’s on Daniels’ list, too, since he considers it an outdated form of government that’s too costly.
But as Rep. Linda Lawson, the new minority floor leader for the House Democrats, told the chamber audience, getting rid of township government may be opposed by both urban Democrats and rural Republicans who find value in the services delivered at the township level.
There is one certainty that Democrats and Republicans agreed on at the chamber event: Money is tight so every source of state spending will be under scrutiny.
Said Bosma, “There are no sacred cows.”
© 2011 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.