Legislative conference committee rejects Indiana House jobs plan

INDIANAPOLIS | A legislative conference committee has scuttled a House jobs plan that would have given state tax credits to employers that add unemployed workers or veterans to their payrolls.

State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said the House erred when it added the tax benefits to Senate Bill 396, legislation adjusting the base rate for assessment of agricultural land. Kenley said state Sen. David Long, R-Fort Wayne, president of the Republican-controlled Senate, ruled the House amendment was not germane to the underlying legislation and had to come out.

"The president of the Senate is merely acting in compliance with the constitution as he sees it," Kenley said.

The Indiana Constitution mandates legislation be confined to a single subject. Leadership in the Democratic-controlled House ruled the jobs package was germane.

House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said he didn't expect Long to say that the jobs package had to go.

"We all seem to be interested in creating jobs and that was at least 60,000 jobs that we think would be created in that bill," Bauer said.

The House approved the legislation 99-0 last Wednesday.

Bauer said he can't believe that Long would want to kill the House jobs package during a recession.

"I don't think that would be his intent in these dire times," Bauer said. "I'm sure he'll find another home very quickly for it."

State lawmakers meet in conference committees to come up with revised versions of legislation that was approved separately by each chamber of the General Assembly. Both the House and the Senate must agree to the new legislative language before a proposal can go to the governor.