There are going to be many important issues brought to the table this year. Most members will be filing their bills on Wednesday and it will certainly be interesting to see the topics and issues that will come forward. As Majority Caucus Chair this year, some of my duties and responsibilities have changed. My office will have the responsibility for scheduling all of the committee meetings and providing the members with their bill packets for the committee. Working with and helping to show our 19 new members the ropes and continue to help them get settled into their new roles has been a real pleasure. I have enjoyed working them over the past 2 months and know we will spend a lot of time together as the session proceeds. Of course, I could not fulfill my responsibilities without the help of my wonderful Leadership Assistant, Cheryl Bruns. She is a tremendous support to me and the entire Republican Caucus. Cheryl has worked for the Indiana House of Representatives for 23 years and provides a great amount of guidance and institutional knowledge. My two other key staff members are Lex Fay and Sara Jones both are from Indianapolis. Lex serves as my Legislative Assistant; he is a 2010 graduate from IU and served as an intern for me during the 2009 session. Lex will also be working with Rep Burton from Greenwood and Rep. Heaton from Terre Haute. Sara will be my Press Secretary and is a 2010 graduate of the University of Kentucky. She will be working for Rep. Behning, Rep. Brown, Rep. Lutz, Rep. Morris, Rep. McMillin, Rep. McNamara and Rep. Smith. They both started working for the House in December and have come at a very interesting time. They both will play major roles in helping me with my constituent work and keeping you informed of things going on at the Statehouse. I can't emphasize enough the importance of this session and the work that will go into this budget year. I cannot think of a more crucial time when a fiscally responsible budget is needed. As I am sure you all have budgeted your own household and have found ways to cutback that is what we will be continuing to do here at the Statehouse. The other issue that I will be spending a great deal of my time on is the redistricting process. Creating fair districts is what we will be doing. The census numbers will be coming soon and then the work will begin. Every 10 years after the census is completed, units of government must look at their districts and make sure they are in balance with the new population numbers. We will start the process at the statehouse and then it will continue over the next year at the local level when cities, towns and counties will be looking at their district and population numbers as well to make sure they, too are in balance. So here we are ready to go, January 5th is the official kickoff day. We will all take our seats, which have already been assigned. I sit on the inside aisle and on my left is my long time friend Rep. Bob Behning from Indianapolis. Rep Behning is the chairman of the Education Committee and will have a lot of work ahead of him this session as education reform will be discussed. Speaker Brian Bosma will hit the gavel at 1:30 to begin the session. The first day will be about handing down bill lists, announcing committee meetings and hearing agenda speeches. Speaker Bosma laid out his agenda on Organization Day and Wednesday, we will hear the Democrat's agenda. Indiana is a great place to live and I feel privileged to represent the 29th district. It is a position that I do not take lightly. As we get started and if you have any questions or concerns during session please do not hesitate to email or call. My email is h29@IN.gov my phone number is 317-232-9620 and my website is www.in.gov/h29. Cheryl, Lex, Sara and I are ready to help you in any way we can! Go Colts! -30-
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