INDIANAPOLIS — Republican leaders in the Statehouse were hoping a combination of public pressure, daily fines and condemnation from their colleagues would bring House Democrats back from their out-of-state flight.
But as one of the longest legislative walkouts in U.S. history surpasses the 30-day mark, there are more ideas emerging for how to wrench 39 missing Indiana lawmakers back to duty.
One of those ideas went public in a big way Tuesday when the organization supporting a controversial bill that triggered the walkout kicked off a $100,000 ad campaign demanding the missing Democrats be “forced” back to work to vote on the bill.
At a press conference in Indianapolis, the head of the Virginia-based National Right to Work Committee said Gov. Mitch Daniels and House Speaker Brian Bosma should “use their authority” to force the 39 Democrats to return by imposing $10,000-a-day fines on the missing lawmakers and levying liens on their personal property.
Committee President Mark Mix said it was time for Bosma and Daniels to “show some backbone” by forcing Democrats to return to the Statehouse.
Neither Bosma nor Daniels seemed inclined Tuesday to follow Mix’s directive. Daniels said that while “hot-headed words may be in order,” they won’t do any good.
That’s because Republican leaders have already promised the Democrats that the so-called “right to work” bill is off the table for this legislative session and instead will be taken up by a legislative summer study committee for review.
The bill would outlaw labor agreements that make union membership or fees a condition of employment. The bill was cited by Democrats as part of what they call a “radical” anti-labor agenda.
But another reason why the push to use “force” may fall on deaf ears has to do with the authority to execute such force. Both Daniels and Bosma say they have limited power to force the Democrats to do anything.
When 39 of the 40 House Democrats fled the state for a hotel in Urbana, Ill., they said they did so because they feared Daniels would dispatch state police to forcibly bring them back to the Statehouse.
Daniels said he wouldn’t do that and his general counsel, David Pippen, said he couldn’t do that. Pippen researched the law and found the state constitution doesn’t give the governor the authority.
Joel Schumm, who teaches constitutional law at the Indiana University law school in Indianapolis concurs.
“I don’t think the governor has the authority, based on the constitution or statute, to have the state police arrest or detain legislators who do not show up for work,” Schumm said.
The missing lawmakers may be testing the patience of their colleagues, but they’re not violating any criminal law, Schumm said. And even if they were, they have some immunity from prosecution. That’s because according to the state constitution, lawmakers can’t be arrested during session, “except for a felony, treason or breach of peace.”
As House Speaker, Bosma does have power to verbally “compel” legislators to return and he’s levied daily fines on missing members for their failure to show. Those fines went from $250 a day to $350 a day Monday.
Schumm said he didn’t think the law would allow Daniels or Bosma to place liens on missing lawmakers’ property. He said a court order would be needed to do that; a court order would also be needed to garnish wages.
So that means collecting the fines on the missing lawmakers isn’t easy. They’re still receiving their paychecks, though without their $155 per-diem-allowances. But because of the way their paychecks are issued and House rules that automatically included per-diem allowances in those paychecks, House Democrats did get a week’s worth of $155 per-diem allowances during the first week they were out.
The House Democrats who left the state promised to repay those per diems — at about $1,085 each — but as of Tuesday, no repayments had been made.
Late Tuesday, Democratic Minority Leader Patrick Bauer issued a statement saying House Democrats had no immediate plans to return to the Statehouse.
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