By JENNIFER WHITSON, Evansville Courier & Press Indianapolis Bureau whitsonj@courierpress.com
INDIANAPOLIS - The Senate will get its first crack at two consolidation bills at a Wednesday afternoon hearing, and an Evansville state senator said she'll be asking for some changes to the Vanderburgh County-specific legislation.
The Senate Governmental Affairs and Interstate Cooperation Committee will hear both the Vanderburgh County legislation, House Bill 1344, and the general statewide consolidation framework bill, House Bill 1362, on Wednesday.
The meeting, which will include testimony from the public, starts at 1:30 p.m. in the Senate chambers.
Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, is the main sponsor for House Bill 1344 in the Senate and Sen. Larry Lutz, D-Evansville, is the co-sponsor.
The bill as written would hold a countywide referendum in 2006 on whether to proceed with consolidation talks. The votes would be in two distinct groups - city residents and county, noncity residents. A majority of both groups must give approval for the plan to move ahead.
If the 2006 referendum succeeds, a commission with 12 voting members and six advisors would be formed to develop a detailed plan and forward it to the legislature with the intent of getting approval for another referendum in 2008.
Becker said she would like to alter the makeup of the commission to add state legislators. She said adding lawmakers in the mix would help address concerns raised by Rep. Dennis Avery, D-Evansville, about the balance between Democrat and Republican appointees.
"Just because you're a Republican or Democrat doesn't mean for you're for or against consolidation, but I'm trying to be as fair as possible," Becker said.
Under House Bill 1362, two or more local units of government could merge. Talks would be triggered by a petition drive or if the legislative bodies of both units passed resolutions. Then a commission would draft a detailed merger plan including what happens to debts, assets and employees. The legislative bodies must approve the plans.
In the final step, it would go before voters as a ballot question. If one unit is contained in the second - such as the city of Evansville in Vanderburgh County - the voters would be counted separately as under House Bill 1344.