INDIANAPOLIS - INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana House late Monday exempted casinos from a proposed ban on workplace smoking. Meanwhile, the Senate approved the first of the Kernan-Shepard proposals to revamp local government.
State lawmakers worked late Monday evening as deadlines approached to pass bills out of the House and Senate and move them to the other chamber. Here are the highlights:
Smoking ban: Casinos would be exempt from a proposed workplace smoking ban under an amendment approved to House Bill 1213. Previously, the bill said casinos such as Aztar and the French Lick, Ind., resort have to designate 20 percent of their gaming positions as nonsmoking, but House members voted to take that wording out late Monday.
The Indiana Casino Association argued a statewide smoking ban would cut into their business and result in job losses. Anti-smoking advocates last week criticized the revisions, citing a study showing casino workers are subjected to unsafe levels of secondhand smoke. The modified smoking ban is eligible for a final House vote later this week.
Local government: The Senate voted 32-18 to pass the first of the Kernan-Shepard local government restructuring proposals, Senate Bill 452, which makes several changes to city government elections.
The bill would move municipal elections from odd-numbered years to nonpresidential even-numbered years and move school board elections from the May primary to the November general election.
The bill also disallows police and firefighters from being elected to councils in the city or town that employs them. It would give counties the option of holding their elections in regional "vote centers." Senate Bill 452 now moves to the House.
A series of Senate bills advocated by Gov. Mitch Daniels is based on the report of a commission co-chaired by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard. They recommended streamlining county offices, reassigning township duties to the county level and consolidating the smallest school districts.
Another of the Kernan-Shepard bills was changed substantially Monday. Senate Bill 506 originally would have converted the three county commissioners to a single elected county executive. But senators Monday approved an amendment that instead would set up a complicated multistep referendum process for reorganizing county government. Senate Bill 506 now is eligible for a final "third reading" vote before the Senate later this week.
Unemployment trust fund: The House was scheduled to vote late Monday on a bill to help fix the state's insolvent unemployment trust fund. House Bill 1721 would raise taxes on employers to help balance the fund, which now is paying out millions of dollars more than it collects while relying on a federal loan to subsidize unemployment checks for jobless Hoosiers.
After lengthy debate of House Republicans criticizing the bill's provisions, sponsor Rep. David Niezgodski, D-South Bend, withdrew the bill, although he could bring it back later.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.