By ERIC BRADNER and BRYAN CORBIN, Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS - The state Legislature today is voting on dozens of bills, struggling to meet tonight's midnight deadline to amend bills and Wednesday night's deadline to pass bills out of the House and Senate and send them on to the other chamber.
Here is a look at today's legislative action:
- Senators voted to remove obstacles to a planned coal-to-gas plant that would potential bring a $2 billion investment in Spencer County. Senate Bill 423, which passed unanimously, would have a state agency, the Indiana Financing Authority, act as a go-between for the plant and utility companies. The bill's supporters say it will clear the path for the plant's developer, Indiana Gasification LLC, to line up federal loan guarantees that allow it to obtain financing and begin construction of the plant near Rockport, Ind.
- If the state takes in excess of 10 percent more tax dollars into its tax coffers than it spends, then that money would automatically go back to taxpayers under Senate Bill 470. The amount taxpayers get back would be based on how much they paid in under the bill. The automatic tax refund passed the Republican-dominated Senate, 34-16, but will face tougher opposition in the House, which Democrats control.
- The Senate unanimously passed a bill to strengthen open records laws. Senate Bill 232 requires public agencies to give interested members of the public 48-hour notice of meetings by email, if requested, or by posting the meeting notice on the agency's Web site.
It also would impose fines on public officials or public agencies who flout the law and refuse to release public records to the public. They could face fines of between $100 and $500 for nondisclosure.
- Senators voted to increase jail terms for those convicted of feticide. Senate Bill 236 is inspired by the case of Katherin Shuffield, a pregnant Indianapolis bank teller who was shot by a bank robber and survived, but lost the twins she was carrying. The bill boosts feticide from a Class C felony to a Class B felony and increases prison sentences from the current two- to eight-year range to six to 20 years. The bill passed the Senate, 40-9.
- Indiana's animal cruelty laws currently make torturing and mutilating a live domestic animal a Class D felony, but fail to specify penalties for deliberately killing a domestic animal without the consent of the owner. Senate Bill 222, which passed 48-1, boosts that act to a Class D felony as well. The bill is inspired by the case of a draft horse named "Ben" who was shot between the eyes for no apparent reason by intruders. The two men implicated for killing Ben couldn't be prosecuted on animal cruelty charges, even though they could have if Ben had survived, bill author Sen. Jim Arnold said.
During Senate debate on the bill today, Arnold, D-LaPorte, held up a large photograph of the golden horse with a white stripe down its nose. "If there's ever been a need for (increased penalties) for the killing of domestic animals, right here is the poster child," Arnold said. The bill would not apply to the normal slaughter of livestock or normal hunting of wild game.
The Senate also passed Senate Bill 238, which its sponsor, Sen. James Merritt, R-Indianapolis, said would close loopholes for those responsible for badly injuring animals.
Later today, the Indiana House is scheduled to vote on bills dealing with mortgage reform, crime-victims' rights, welfare modernization and dozens of other issues.
The House must pass its House bills and the Senate must pass Senate bills by Wednesday night. Each chamber of the Legislature will then trade bills, kicking off the session's second half. The deadline for lawmakers to pass a budget and adjourn is April 29.