玩球!

法例更新档案

棒球赛季本周开始了, but at the General Assembly there’s already a playoff atmosphere: With third reading deadlines behind us, next week starts conference committees (where appointed conferees reconcile differences between House and Senate versions of bills)…so lawmakers will be urging one another to play ball and make bargains on a whole litany of issues.

There are still fairly significant divisions between the House and Senate on key bills; so like the dedicated Indians fans shivering at Victory Field Thursday night, we anticipate that some of the upcoming committee sessions will be pretty chilly as the conferees feel each other out. 但首先，从过去一周的比分来看:

审议预算案:
就像本周早些时候立法者享受的免费墨西哥卷饼一样, 周四参议院以39票对9票通过的预算法案中包含了很多内容.

我们描述了主要的区别 的版本之间 HB1001 that emerged from Appropriations and the original House plan last week: Positive investments in the Regional Cities initiative, 支持国际航班衔接, 稍微增加公共交通基金, 并继续致力于印第安纳州生物科学研究中心, 21世纪基金, 及技能提升基金.

感激欺骗情:
参议院还为高等教育和K-12教育拨款更多, with a $2M appropriation to support more effective STEM education and a funding formula that could benefit urban and rural districts alike. 但学前教育仍然令人失望, with increased pilot program resources slashed from modest (in the House) to almost negligible. 以下是最新消息:

An attempt on the floor to restore the original $20M annual appropriation – doubling the pilot – was defeated in a party-line vote that saw Senate Democrats more in tune with the House GOP.
州长霍尔科姆也主张2000万美元的支出水平, but shifted his focus this week to asking legislators to find a way to double the number of children in the pilot; while he may have been signaling flexibility on details, 早期教育专家计算，将学生人数增加一倍需要31美元.24M!
记住这一点, 我们继续在全州范围内为早期教育投资5000万美元, noting that the Governor’s recent comments bring him even closer to this mark than the existing Senate plan.
We’re further seeking a conference committee amendment to protect the pilot funding (at current levels) in participating counties; by slightly increasing the program budget and opening it to more counties, the Senate bill could actually lead to deep cuts in current programs; we’re also asking that in-kind services count towards county match requirements in the pilot, 允许当地的灵活性.

我们仍然相信，全州学前教育是雄心勃勃的，但可以实现的, 考虑到投资回报率，这是可以承受的. 这让我想起了一句古老的格言:“如果你认为教育的代价很昂贵, 尝试其他选择.“长期以来，印第安纳州的经济在替代方案的负担下表现不佳.

焦油在我们的肺里，而不是在路上?
参议院的另一个重大转变是没有增加香烟税. Its prospects aren’t stellar: Speaker Bosma already seemed resigned to a smaller increase, and 上周晚些时候，州长霍尔科姆 accepted Senator Kenley’s premise that a cigarette hike should be reserved as a hedge against future Medicaid needs.

我们现在继续支持提高香烟税, 以帮助控制医疗成本，提高工作效率, and to add a revenue stream that frees up gasoline sales tax collections for roads and highways.

想象我在舞动
今天(周五), Tupac Shakur will be inducted as the first solo rap artist into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So here’s a callback to his celebratory anthem about driving through LA: We can still picture a long-term infrastructure bill that keeps Hoosiers rollin’ over good roads – and drives our logistics economy forward, 太. 但我们在此之前还有一些工作要做.

修订后的 HB1002 在参议院以34票对13票通过，并做了一些修改 我们在上次更新中也详细介绍了:降低汽油税，增加新的轮胎费，并敦促更多地依赖过路费. 没有新的香烟收入, gas sales taxes stay in the general fund – so the ‘infrastructure deficit’ isn’t fully closed – but at least there’s a commitment to a long-term plan with new revenue options.

但我们不能满足于四分之三的解决方案. We need a strategy to fully-fund infrastructure needs (roughly a billion dollars in added annual spending) with sustainable revenue (we continue to think a cigarette tax increase is a solid candidate to close the gap).

当地人失去?
整体收入不足, 与此同时，对道路融资公式进行了技术调整, 也在参议院批准的基础设施法案中亏待了地方政府;

A Senate amendment links local road-funding distributions only to inflation – tying future increases to a baseline year (2017) with no regard for population growth, 交通流量或其他标准;
This could slash funds flowing to cities and counties from the Motor Vehicle Highway Account by nearly two-thirds, 根据一项初步估计;
印第地区, which accounts for nearly 70% of the state’s population growth – and is the epicenter of its logistics sector – this could be a massive blow;
我们必须保护地区优先权——印度已经是国家税收的“捐赠”地区, and drives 40% of Indiana’s economic output; our local needs have a statewide impact.

(Let’s take another lesson from Tupac and urge give-and-take on the details with a final goal in mind – we don’t need an East Coast-West Coast style beef between the House and Senate in conference.)

使我
There’s no spring break at the Statehouse, but legislators were also focused on schools this week. 除了K-12的预算和拨款方案，参议院还通过了几项法案:

HB1005 continued its remarkable revival (with Chamber support); plans to convert the Superintendent of Public Instruction to an appointed office passed 28-20;
HB1003, 用新的ILEARN学生评估取代ISTEP, 还获得了及格分数(23-16);
放宽了接受学券学生的私立学校的问责标准;
SB182, limiting school district liability on superintendent contracts (curbing early buy-out options and other contract terms) passed third reading in the House;
House lawmakers also moved forward plans to take over management of Gary and Muncie public schools;
至于技术和职业教育，众议院也通过了 SB198 (97-0); with HB1008 上个星期, the House and Senate now have to reconcile their views on coordination among the Department of Workforce Development, 高等教育委员会, Ivy Tech and Department of Education in identifying and supporting high-demand career programs, 成人教育和其他劳动力努力(由雇主需求驱动).

三振出局或滑入本垒?
我们将在本周晚些时候完成最后一次活动时添加此列表,but here’s what we know about the third-reading fate of other bills of interest to the Chamber agenda:

HB1036, 提供无党派的, 马里昂县法官的择优选拔程序, 在参议院以33票对15票通过了刑事司法和政府改革的又一次胜利;
SB242 (住房优先计划)众议院全票通过(未经修改), paving the way for housing and support for Hoosiers suffering mental illness or chemical dependency;
HB1470, 我们支持的开放数据提案带来了创新, 从我们的科技界到公共部门的基于证据的解决方案, 参议院以43票对14票通过, but faces concerns about privacy and security in conference committee (and has no current funding attached to its proposed Management Performance Hub).