With just three weeks remaining in this legislative session, we have begun to finalize bills. Once a bill has passed the House of Representatives or Senate, it goes to the opposite chamber for further consideration. If it makes it through the committee process and another floor vote with no changes, it is sent to the governor to be considered for a new law. If the other chamber makes amendments, the author of the bill must decide to agree or disagree with the changes. If the author concurs or agrees, and the majority of the bill’s originating chamber supports the amendments, it goes to the governor to either be signed into law or vetoed.
However, if the author disagrees with the other chamber’s changes, the author then files a motion to dissent. Once this happens, the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate appoint four legislators to a conference committee, which typically includes one Republican and one Democrat from each chamber. Additional advisors may also be appointed to assist as well. The conference committee then meets and works out any differences in the bill. Once the conference committee agrees on the bill’s language, a conference committee report is created, which must receive a majority vote in both chambers again. Finally, the bill would go the governor for action.
So far, I have asked Speaker Bosma to appoint me to three conference committees to continue working on legislation I authored or sponsored to make sure it reaches the finish line. One is House Bill 1056, which would streamline property tax deduction appeal. This bill was amended in the Senate at my request, but has some other changes that need to be made. The others are Senate Bill 2, concerning school bus safety, and Senate Bill 258, which would prevent sex offenders from working with children. Both these bills aim to protect Hoosier children, so it is imperative we get them right.
It has been a successful second half of session so far. Both bills I authored that passed through the House have also been supported by the Senate. The House has supported over half the Senate bills I sponsored. It is rewarding to see the work I have put into representing our community is bearing fruit.
Good news is also coming directly to our area. Recently, Gov. Holcomb and the Indiana Department of Transportation announced the recipients of the 2019 Community Crossings Grants. The Community Crossings Program was established several years ago to provide matching grants through state funding for local road and bridge projects. I was fortunate to see the impact of these grants from the ground level when I served on the Miami County Council, and we applied the first year these funds were available. Miami, Cass and Fulton counties in District 23 received close to $1 million each. Together, with additional funds that Logansport and Bunker Hill received, local communities were granted a total of almost $4 million in extra state funding to improve our infrastructure. Our local officials have done a great job taking the initiative to apply to this competitive process and receive these funds.
That’s all for this week. Remember, it’s your state government, so participate in it!
-30-
Rep. Ethan Manning (R-Denver) represents House District 23, which includes portions of Cass, Fulton and Miami counties.
Click here to download a high-resolution photo.
