Hoosier legislators to return to Statehouse in May 2018; could last three days

"Many of these items were on their way to passage and I would have signed them all," Gov. Eric Holcomb said Monday. "This will be an effort to put some time back on the clock, get our business done, get here and then get back home."

He said he would encourage legislators "to stay focused on what's urgent."

The special session, which could last three days, will cost an estimated $30,000 a day; the 150 legislators receive a $173 per diem, officials said.

The session might be timed to the legislators' one-day annual gathering to make technical corrections to bills they recently passed.

"Whatever the cost is, is dwarfed by the cost of inaction," Holcomb said.

Among five special session issues cited, Holcomb wants a $5 million increase now and in 2019 for safety grants issued through the Indiana Secured School Fund as well as allowing school districts to be able to obtain funding for school security equipment.

"We were hopeful to get some of that money to help offset some of the costs that our schools are telling us that they need for school safety, some of the resources they needed. Obviously that didn't go," Indiana Schools Superintendent Jennifer McCormick said Monday.

Holcomb also wants to inject a one-time $12 million loan for the financially troubled Muncie Community Schools.

Also slated for the special session will be making changes to conform with IRS rules on taxpayer protections and revising Indiana tax code to conform with federal changes. It is one change urged by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, which noted that state taxes are based on the federal gross income tax.

Without the change, Indiana businesses will have to calculate their federal adjusted gross income tax twice in order to comply with state and federal laws, according to the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

"This bad situation had to be fixed, and the Chamber applauds Gov. Holcomb for making the tough, but correct, decision to call a special session," Indiana Chamber president and CEO Kevin Brinegar said in a statement.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Fort Wayne, agreed that a special session should be held. Both chambers were still considering key legislation when the deadline expired.

Last Wednesday, Senate leadership asked Holcomb to extend the session an hour. He wrote a directive and delivered it personally to the Senate with four minutes to spare.

On Monday he acknowledged, "In short I was trying to help."

However, both leaders began questioning whether they could break the mandated deadline and asked for adjournment by 12:15 a.m. Thursday.

He added, "We were seconds away and we should not bring new items to the table in a special session."

House minority leader Terry Goodin, D-Austin, said a special session should look at problems inside the Indiana Department of Child Services. The DCS is undergoing a Holcomb-authorized review by a private consultant; a final report is due in June.

“Even though the consultant already has found problems in both staffing and computerization at DCS that should be addressed, we are told that we should wait to do anything until next year," Goodin said.

“So the needs of at-risk children will be set aside … again. The school safety concerns addressed by the governor can be handled administratively," Goodin said.

Holcomb said the special session would not address legislation regulating autonomous vehicle research in Indiana. The bill ran into stiff opposition from auto manufacturers who didn't want restrictions placed on their research.

Holcomb said he might rectify the autonomous vehicle research issue with an executive order.

"This effort is all about making sure that Indiana remains a welcoming state in terms of research and development, innovation and balancing at the same time all the safety concerns. There are no level 4 or 5 autonomous vehicles out there right now so again this was getting ahead of the industry," Holcomb said.

Holcomb, speaking in a conference room at his north side Indianapolis residence, said the legislature addressed nine of 10 topics in his Next Level agenda.

They were: exempting sales tax from software; workforce development; mandating a computer science course in every school; increasing penalties for drug dealing resulting in death; mandatory use of the state's prescription-monitoring INSPECT system by physicians; more extensive reporting by coroners on drug overdose deaths; adding nine opioid treatment centers in the state; and certifying levels of care for at-risk mothers.

Also making the list of accomplishments was legislation making the Say's firefly the state insect, a years-long pursuit by students at Cumberland Elementary School in West Lafayette.

"Because of their dogged perseverance, because of their leadership and their citizenship approach, we got it done," Holcomb said.