INDIANAPOLIS - A Senate committee killed a consolidation bill specifically for Vanderburgh County on Wednesday.
The same committee, however, also amended a bill that creates a statewide merger format that would make a potential Vanderburgh County-Evansville unification much easier, one that could require a simple majority vote of all county residents. The Senate Governmental Affairs and Interstate Cooperation Committee did not vote on House Bill 1344, meaning the bill will not be passed by the committee by today's deadline for committee work.
Committee Chairman Sen. Marvin Reigsecker, R-Goshen, said he decided not to give House Bill 1344 a vote because he thinks local consolidation backers had their needs met with the statewide bill.
"It's a little bit of a setback for Vanderburgh County, but there was no consensus there either," he said. The bill is dead for this session, but because the House passed the language, it is eligible to be added into other legislation in the last-minute bill shuffle at the end of session.
Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, carried House Bill 1344 in the Senate. "The fact that we had a statewide bill probably hurt our chances for a Vanderburgh County bill," Becker said. She said its outlook also took a hit when even consolidation backers testified against the bill last week.
She said local discussions still could move forward under the House Bill 1362 framework, if that passes, but that it would probably take unification proponents "a lot longer."
The committee also made some major changes to House Bill 1362, the statewide consolidation framework, that apply only to large-population counties.
House Bill 1362 allows a petition, signed by 10 percent of registered voters, or resolutions from the local legislative bodies to trigger consolidation talks. The legislative bodies of both units then appoint members of a committee to draft a detailed plan.
Both legislative bodies must approve the plan that would then go before the voters as a ballot question. Under the bill, a majority of city residents and a majority of noncity residents each must pass the plan for it to go into effect.
On Wednesday, the committee altered the bill to make the process more likely to lead to consolidation in counties with a population of more than 170,000, which would include Vanderburgh and about five other counties.
Under the amendment, offered by Sen. David Long, R-Fort Wayne, the petition to begin the process would require the signatures of only 5 percent of registered voters.
Also, once a plan is adopted by the legislative bodies, a simple majority vote of all county voters would be necessary to put the plan into place. Long's changes also would bar any consolidation plan from requiring rural residents from assuming city bond payments and debts as part of a consolidation.
Long said city residents are also county residents and pay county taxes, so they should have an equal say in whether to consolidate.
"To separate my (city resident) vote out and say my vote doesn't count when dealing with a county issue is a mistake, I think" he said.
But four committee members voted against the amendment, arguing a countywide vote would mean a majority of city residents would rule the entire county, steamrolling any concerns of the rural county residents.
The committee passed Long's amendment and then the bill.
Sen. Larry Lutz, D-Evansville, is the only area lawmaker on the committee. He voted no on the amendment and the bill, saying he proposed a compromise in House Bill 1344 that would have had a countywide vote count on the first referendum and a separated vote count on the approval of the detailed plan. He said that resolution, not the changes made in House Bill 1362, would have brought consensus.
Local consolidation backers hailed the changes.
"With the amendment, House Bill 1362 is preferable to our local bill," said Steve Schaefer with the Metropolitan Evansville Chamber of Commerce.
Opponents said the requirement for a majority of a countywide vote isn't fair.
"Basically, you're putting the city form of government on the rural areas without them having a say," said Armstrong Township Assessor Randy Kron. "They can just be out-voted by city residents."
Long's changes to House Bill 1362 may not survive even if the full Senate passes the bill. Rep. Jim Buck, R-Kokomo, carried the bill in the House and said he will take it to a conference committee, where two House and two Senate members draw up a compromise.
"I'm disappointed that they turned a nonhostile bill into a hostile bill," Buck said. "The bulk of the House is not for hostile takeovers."
He said that if Long wanted to set up a separate consolidation framework for Allen County, he should have sponsored an Allen County consolidation bill in the Senate instead of adding the changes to House Bill 1362.