INDIANAPOLIS - Big decisions are ahead this week for the Indiana General Assembly as lawmakers plow through dozens of proposals dealing with health, business and taxes.
Indiana House members are facing deadlines to pass bills and send them to the state Senate, while senators are under a similar rush to finish bills and send them to the House.
Last week the Democratic-controlled House passed a one-year, $14.5 billion state budget bill that restored many of Gov. Mitch Daniels' proposed funding cuts; now it goes to the Republican-controlled Senate.
Three of the Kernan-Shepard Commission's government streamlining proposals Daniels is advocating suffered big setbacks.
Senate Bill 512 was gutted when wording that would have eliminated township trustees was deleted. The small school system consolidation bill, Senate Bill 521, didn't get a vote in committee and appears dead for the session. And a proposed constitutional amendment to make some county elected offices appointees, Senate Joint Resolution 7, was defeated outright.
Two other Kernan-Shepard proposals, Senate Bill 452, dealing with municipal elections, and Senate Bill 506, the county-executive referendum plan, are still alive after senators modified them. The bills face an uphill battle in the House, where Democratic Speaker Patrick Bauer has said government restructuring is not a priority this session.
Here is a roundup of other legislative action:
Smoking: The proposed statewide workplace smoking ban, House Bill 1213, was watered down before it passed in the House 70-26. Casinos and most bars were excluded from the ban after the gaming and tavern industries complained. That means Casino Aztar, the French Lick resort and other gambling facilities still could allow patrons to smoke indoors. But the bill was changed to allow local communities - such as Evansville and Vanderburgh County - to pass their own local smoking ban ordinances tougher than state law.
Immigration: The original "three strikes" immigration bill, Senate Bill 580, was loosened in the Senate Pensions and Labor Committee. Employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants would face the loss of their license to do business in Indiana after four violations, instead of three. Critics complained the immigration bill now is so lax that it would be difficult for all but the most blatant violators to trigger it. Bill author Sen. Mike Delph did not want "four strikes" and said he will try to amend Senate Bill 580 on the floor of the Senate this week to restore the original three-violations threshold.
Warrick County development: A bill to jump-start a Warrick County tourism development was approved by the House last week 69-35. House Bill 1718 creates a funding stream for the proposed Village Earth educational-entertainment destination off Boonville-New Harmony Road on mine reclamation land in northwestern Warrick County. The bill creates a Warrick County "sales tax-increment financing" district, whereby any sales taxes collected from retail purchases within the tourist attraction would be captured, 20 percent would be remitted to the state, but the other 80 percent would be used to back the bond bonds issued to finance the project.
Boonville businessman Jeffrey M. Phillips of Hoosier Heritage Youth Foundation, one of the project's partners, said Village Earth would have a nonprofit core consisting of a museum-theater-educational complex, surrounded by for-profit retail development, such as restaurants and shops. He said he has a letter of intent from a Chicago developer, and if the bill goes through, construction could start in 2010 with the goal of opening two years later, Phillips said.
It would take the Legislature's approval to create the sales tax district for Warrick County so the Village Earth project can advance. House Bill 1718 goes next to the state Senate.
Cancer treatment: Senate Bill 554, authored by Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, would allow more low-income and uninsured Hoosiers to receive coverage through Medicaid for cervical and breast cancer treatments. Currently, low-income Hoosiers are eligible for Medicaid for screenings only if they are screened through a federal program administered by the State Department of Health, but 32 counties don't have participating screening facilities, Becker said. The bill, which would extend Medicaid coverage, passed 50-0 and moves to the House.
Minority- and women-owned businesses: A bill authored by Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville, would require more of an effort be made to recruit minority- and women-owned contractors to bid whenever the state issues contracts or local governments do so using state grant money. House Bill 1172 passed the House 89-6 and moves to the state Senate.
Puppy mills: Squalid conditions at large-scale, unregulated "puppy mills" in Indiana led the House to vote 80-14 to pass tighter restrictions on commercial dog breeders. House Bill 1468 requires breeders whose dogs produce 10 or more litters a year to provide sanitary conditions and exercise to their animals. Breeders would be limited to owning 30 adult dogs that are not spayed or neutered. The bill is supported by animal-rights advocates, and it moves next to the Senate.
Evansville Courier & Press correspondent Eric Bradner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.