With the Super Bowl only days away, the legislators in the Indiana House worked overtime this week to meet the deadlines for House bills. We’ve reached the Legislative Session halftime where all of the legislation passed by the House goes to the Senate for their consideration, and vice versa. We passed several important bills this week to help Hoosiers, reduce nepotism, and increase government efficiency. House Bill (HB) 1376, one of the most significant bills to pass the House, would double the amount of compensation available to the victims and families of the State Fair tragedy from $5 million to $10 million. The bill would also nearly double the funding for full-day kindergarten with an influx of about $80 million. In addition, if state reserve funds exceed $20 million, Indiana residents would receive an automatic refund of a minimum of $50. Finally, a portion of the excess reserves would go towards paying the state’s obligations to the Pension Stabilization Fund. I’m pleased to see this legislation move forward. It will help many Hoosiers in the future in a significant way. An issue that has received a lot of positive support statewide is prohibiting nepotism and conflict of interest in local government. In that light, and following the recommendations of former Gov. Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard’s report on local government reform, HB 1005 would reduce nepotism in county, city, and township governments. The bill states that local officials in the future would be prohibited from hiring their relatives. Also, conflicts of interest are avoided by requiring local government employees to resign if they are elected to the local executive or legislative body that controls the budget. To work towards a more efficient government, I authored HB 1003 to allow members of government boards to attend meetings electronically as long as they comply with the Open Door Laws. This common sense approach takes advantage of new technologies to facilitate greater participation and ease of communication among board members. To ensure transparency at each meeting, at least two board members must be physically present to conduct business, and each member must physically attend at least one meeting per year. Ultimately, this would help cut costs by boards and agencies not having to pay their members per diem to attend meetings. Another measure I coauthored would phase-out the inheritance tax, also known as the ‘death tax’. Over the next 10 years, HB 1199 would reduce the rate of the ‘death tax’ by about 9 percent each year until it stops completely. Because Indiana is one of only a few states that still have a death tax, many seniors leave the state to avoid it. Our goal is to make Indiana the most attractive place in the country to work, live, and raise a family, but the death tax is counterproductive to that goal. While mopeds are an effective, economical means of transportation, they are not currently required to register with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). Because law enforcement officials informed us this would help with tasks such as locating stolen mopeds, HB 1197 provides for registration for mopeds with the BMV. A portion of the registration fee would go to the Motorcycle Operator Safety Education Fund to increase awareness of moped safety. Operators of mopeds would also be required to carry either a driver’s license or identification card. Another bill of interest that passed this session includes a bill that would allow those who receive state-funded assistance to be randomly drug tested by Family Social Services Administration. An amendment to this bill also requires legislators to consent to random drug testing. If an individual who is receiving state-funded assistance fails a drug test or refuses to consent to a drug test under reasonable suspicion, then they would lose their assistance for 6 months. We want to ensure that the money they are receiving is going towards food and clothing for their families and not illegal substances. Hopefully this bill will help in that endeavor. Finally, I authored HB 1211 that would give patients a better idea of the options they have available to them for long-term care, as well as home health care. It would direct Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), nursing homes, and hospitals to distribute AAA contact information and information on local long-term care services, including home health care. Each of these bills passed the House and will now move on to the Senate to be considered. Likewise, when the House returns next week, we will begin working on the bills passed by the Senate. If you would like to share your thoughts with me on any of the issues facing Hoosiers, I can be reached by phone at 317-232-9769 or by email at h78@in.gov. Enjoy the big game and have a safe Super Bowl weekend!
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