State budget cuts techology program's funding in half

The IBJ

Technology interests got half of what they wanted in a state budget passed yesterday by the Indiana General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

The 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, the state's showcase program for investing in fledgling high-tech firms, said it would receive $35 million in the two-year budget, short of the $70 million it had expected.

State legislators created the 21st Century Fund in 1999 and have provided it as much as $75 million in the typical two-year budget cycle.

Democrats who control the Indiana House of Representatives did not include any money for the fund in their unsuccessful budget proposal.

The General Assembly passed the two-year state budget yesterday, narrowly averting a large-scale state government shutdown that would have begun just after midnight.

The Democrat-led House voted 62-37 for the $28.7 billion budget late in the afternoon, and the Republican-ruled Senate passed it 34-16 about two hours later. The bill was quickly signed into law by Daniels.