It’s Time to Decide RTW Issue

Indiana House Democrats are correct: Right-to-work (or any important legislation) deserves comprehensive consideration before it is voted upon and potentially enacted.

But the House D’s own web site acknowledges that the issue has been thoroughly debated already.

• Numerous meetings conducted earlier this year by the Interim Study Committee on Employment provided overwhelming proof that making Indiana a “right-to-work” state …

 “Even though months of testimony provided no proof that ‘right-to-work’ would bring new jobs to Indiana …

"Numerous meetings" and "months of testimony" qualify as comprehensive consideration. It’s time for the issue to be decided before the full General Assembly, starting with the joint committee hearing scheduled for Friday morning.

Hoosiers want their representatives to do the jobs they were elected to do, not play games or use delaying tactics. Whether Indiana becomes the 23rd right-to-work state needs to be decided on its own merits.

Let the debate — not the games — continue.  And if you need more facts to help you decide where you stand on the issue, check out our web site.

Final Takeaways on New State Budget

Great, we have a state budget for the next two years, but what’s to make of it?

Foremost, the budget sticks to Gov. Daniels’ request to maintain a $1 billion surplus in the state’s reserve funds.   According to Indiana Chamber tax lobbyist Bill Waltz, this prudent amount is significant and important for the state to stay on track financially.

“With the revenue stream being so incredibly uncertain in the coming months and the federal stimulus dollars that are built into the two-year budget going away in 2012, it is critical that we not just cross our fingers and simply hope for the revenue stream to return.  Because if the economy fails to rebound or falters only slightly longer than the revenue projections, we will be in a hole at the end of the budget cycle.

“And then the only way to avoid a tax increase of some kind would be to utilize the surplus balance as that final bridge out of the troubled economy. In other words, it is at that time – not now or next year – that we (the state of Indiana) may want to use those funds,” he explains.

Waltz also believes the budget strikes a good balance between “spending desires and reasonable fiscal constraint on many issues (not just in the education area).”

A number of positive provisions that fell by the wayside via the regular session budget collapse had better fortune this time around.  Among them, the bulk of what was House Bill 1447, an all-inclusive piece of tax legislation, and a multi-million-dollar financial rescue for Indianapolis’ Capital Improvement Board (CIB).

The CIB situation simply had to be dealt with, Waltz says.

“Many from outside the Central Indiana area are reluctant to acknowledge the economic contribution that the CIB facilities (the convention center, Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse and Victory Field) make to the state’s economic vitality and coffers. Indiana, not Indianapolis, could not afford to see these operations and the tax revenue that their attractions bring be put in jeopardy,” he asserts.

Indiana Chamber education lobbyist Derek Redelman believes the budget bill also produced one of the best sets of education reform in the state’s history.

Heading that list of accomplishments is the new K-12 school funding formula that gives greater focus to students, rather than school districts, than any previous budget of the last couple decades. 

“The bill also included a scholarship tax credit that will generate private donations to help low- and moderate-income families to attend the schools of their choice – while also saving money for the state.  It also eliminated a longstanding statute that had prohibited schools from using the results of state tests to evaluate teachers,” Redelman notes.

“This budget avoided caps and other controls on charter schools, despite a session-long full-court press by Indianapolis Public Schools, House Democrats, teacher unions, school administrators and other charter school opponents.  Plus, it will allow virtual charter schools to finally get started, after a two-year moratorium created by the 2007 state budget.” 

Correction: The budget passed the Republican-controlled Senate 34-16.  A total of 30 of the 33 Republicans voted for the bill and were joined by four Democrats (Hume, Young, Arnold and Mrvan). Republican no votes were from Leising, Delph and Becker.

Statehouse Leaves One Searching for the Right Words

I’ve been doing this writing thing for publication for more than 30 years now (must have started from the crib, right?) and rarely experience trouble expressing myself. The problem here is not the dreaded writer’s block, but what not to say following a long, long day at the Indiana Statehouse on Wednesday.

(Indiana Chamber members can get the full story directly from ICC president Kevin Brinegar on Friday from 9:30-10:30 a.m. ET in our monthly Policy Issue Conference Call. Kevin has just about seen it all in his nearly 30 years around the Statehouse, but Wednesday’s developments had him joining others in shaking his head. Remember, this is for members only. Registration is required).

I’ll try to be brief. First key point: At a time when economic fortunes are low and unemployment is high, legislators pass an unemployment insurance trust fund bill that practically guarantees additional job losses. Figure that one out. Second, a state budget proposal (the lone requirement for the nearly four-month session) fails in the House (71-27) and that is the good news. The "compromise" would have started the steady climb up the "cliff" that everyone said needed to be avoided (in other words, relied too heavily on stimulus funds and set the stage for big tax hikes two years from now or sooner) and took several steps in reverse on education policy.

I’ve come to learn in 11 years at the Chamber that negotiations in the final days of the session produce the ultimate final bills on the major issues. I’m not a big fan of that, but I’ve come to accept it as reality. The products of these conference committees, however, seemed to evolve from one-sided negotiations. House Republicans and Senate Democrats, the minorities, talked of being shut out. Senate Republicans unfortunately seemed to be missing in action based on the conference committee outcomes.

Just a few details. The unemployment "solution" was termed a $685 million tax increase on employers over two years. Econ 101, or maybe freshman common sense, tells you struggling employers faced with monumental tax increases will have to cut costs in other ways — quite likely in personnel. Passionate speeches aside from both caucuses, the bill passed the House 52-47 (party line vote) after 96-3 passage in the Senate.

The budget proposal: Too much spending ($28.1 billion over two years when the state doesn’t have that much money to spend). A message that we’re still not serious about education. No scholarship tax credit. A cap on charter schools at a time when everyone from President Obama on down is calling for more school choice. House Minority Leader Brian Bosma said this move would have jeopardized $275 million in education stimulus funding and disqualified the state from Obama’s $5 billion Race to the Top education grant fund.

I’ll stop there. There will be plenty more to come as those two dreaded words — special session — are now reality.