At a glance

The General Assembly is not the only institution of state government looking at what's ahead in 2010. Gov. Mitch Daniels also has a few things he'd like to see happen this year.

The Times spoke with the Republican governor in December and asked him to share his opinion on specific issues facing the state. Excerpts of that conversation follow below.

On merging local governments:

"There's hundreds of places across Indiana: some very low income, some very prosperous. They still ought to be looking at the same thing because you stretch dollars and save on overhead and serve people better."

On corruption in Northwest Indiana:

"I happen to think that things are better. There's a certain stereotype there. But it's very, very important that citizens there take a zero tolerance attitude."

On the size of state government:

"This is not some little temporary interlude and we'll be right back to the levels and size of government, scope of government that had built up before the recession hit and the bubble burst. ...You're going to see a step back."

On redistricting reform:

"Keep the politics out. All sorts of other adjustments, like minority community boundaries, ought to be in the decision process. I'm going to try to see that we don't have another situation where the parties cook it up in the back room."

On canceling welfare privatization:

"What looks good on paper may not be in the messy real world. ...We'll learn from those mistakes. It's important to notice there were certain design changes that did work. Fraud, which was rampant before, appears to have been minimized. So we'll keep the parts that work well."

On national health reform:

"This is the most anti-citizen, anti-consumer, anti-taxpayer, and incidentally, anti-Indiana bill I've ever seen. ...It is a disaster as health care policy. It's going to make health care harder to get and more expensive with less choice and it's going to raise taxes...It's an embarrassment to the country that such a bill could happen, let alone in such a sleazy process."

By Dan Carden, Times of Northwest Indiana

dan.carden@nwi.com

INDIANAPOLIS | Indiana lawmakers return to the Statehouse on Tuesday for a 10-week session with an eye toward reforming state government.

A House committee already approved legislation changing the reporting requirements for lobbyist donations, mandating Indiana workers be employed on public works projects, banning further outsourcing of state welfare programs and putting property tax rate caps into the state constitution.

The Democratic-controlled House could act on any of these measures shortly after convening.

A committee in the Republican-controlled Senate also has forwarded the property tax caps amendment. If passed by both House and Senate, Indiana voters would decide in November whether to constitutionally set maximum property tax rates of 1 percent for homestead property, 2 percent for rental property and 3 percent for business and industrial property.

The legislative session is expected to be long on reform because the state is short on money.

A December revenue forecast estimated Indiana would spend $1.8 billion more than it takes in through June 2011. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has ruled out increasing taxes to cover the deficit and has ordered $800 million in budget cuts to state agencies, local schools and colleges and universities. Daniels also will spend the state's $1 billion reserve fund to cover the budget gap.

All four legislative leaders have told their members not to introduce legislation that costs the state new money.

State Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, will propose moving Gary's lakefront casinos to a single land-based location in the Steel City. That would lead to new economic development in Gary and bring the state an estimated $11 million in new wagering tax revenues, Rogers said.

"The Gaming Study Committee was asked to consider the impact of new casinos in neighboring states, and it found that we could make changes to help keep our riverboats and casinos competitive," Rogers said. "My bill will put those changes into law and protect the 15,000 Hoosier jobs in the casino industry."

Also slated to be on the legislative docket is a ban on texting while driving, a statewide indoor smoking ban and proposals to reform the redistricting process, among others.

The Legislature is required by state law to adjourn no later than March 14.
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