The Speaker is Coming, the Speaker is Coming!

What does all this legislative activity (all indications are lawmakers will complete their work on time today) mean for companies, employees and citizens throughout the state? The Indiana Chamber will have some answers during its May 13 Policy Issue Conference Call for members.

Providing some of the analysis will be none other than House Speaker Brian Bosma, who weathered the five-week Demcorat walkout and has helped orchestrate what will go down as one of the most successful General Assembly sessions in quite some time.

Chamber members, you don’t want to miss this one. Sign up today!

You Choose ‘You’ as Walkout ‘Losers’

Before moving on to what will happen in the remainder of the legislative session, we paused over the last week to ask your viewpoint on one question. That was:

Who was the biggest "loser" as the result of little legislative activity over five weeks? You voted this way:

  • 63%, taxpayers/Indiana citizens
  • 26%, House Democrats
  • 5%, House Republicans
  • 5%, Gov. Daniels

The results, of course, are unscientific — but interesting nevertheless.

We now have a new question: A Senate bill would lower Indiana’s corporate income tax rate from 8.5% to 6.5%. How important (1 being the least; 5 the most) would this reduction be to your organization?

As background, about 23,000 Indiana companies have chosen to organize as C-corporations under federal law. Who these companies are is a private matter, but the best estimates are that more than 20,000 of these businesses have fewer than 100 employees. That’s who would benefit from this change.

The bill would not reduce state revenues because it is coupled with other provisions to tighten up various quirks in Indiana’s tax laws. The net result will be a neutral fiscal impact. The opportunity to boost Indiana’s economy, however, is significant.

Register your vote in the poll found on the top right of this page.

Results Available; New Poll Seeks ‘Loser’

We’ve been asking you poll questions related to this year’s legislative session, but not reporting back on the final results. What’s up with that? I could offer a variety of excuses, but none would really suffice.

Below are the outcomes of your votes. We’ll do better in the future. And check out the current poll, which asks you to select the "loser" as the result of the recently concluded House Democrat walkout.

  • Do you support an Arizona-style immigration law for Indiana? 53% yes; 47% no
  • Should the responsibilities of Indiana townships be transferred to the county level? 68% yes; 32% no
  • Did you support House Democrats leaving the state in an attempt to kill legislation they opposed? 75% no; 25% yes
  • Do you believe that K-12 education dollars should follow the child — allowing parents to send their children to the school of their choice? 64% yes; 36% no
  • And last week we asked: How do you think this legislative session will end? Gov. Daniels calls special session(s), 47%; Democrats return at end to vote on budget, 29%; key bills revised and House Democrats return, 12%; and Other, 12%

That special session could — but hopefully not — still come into play. As we’ve said multiple times, it’s time for legislators to complete the job they were elected to do.