Hard at work keeping our state on the right track After a five-week walkout, all representatives were at the Statehouse and we have finally been able to get on the right track to have a productive session. The House was able to pass a $28 billion state budget for the next two years after many proposed amendments and much debate. The budget, which manifests itself in House Bill 1001, has now moved to the Senate for further discussion. In the meantime, as Vice Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee that is responsible for creating the budget, I wanted to give you an update on what the budget contains as it passed out of the House. The goal of the proposed budget is to have the state live within its means, just as Hoosiers have been doing. We promised to create a balanced budget with no tax increases and we have lived up to that promise. These tough times call for tough decisions to keep our state financially stable. Most state agencies are receiving 15 percent less over the next two years. Some items in the budget, however, cannot be cut, including Medicaid, the Indiana Comprehensive Health Insurance Association, and pensions. Without agency cuts, the state would be spending more than it would be taking in resulting in a budget that was structurally unbalanced. K-12 education is not receiving cuts, either. K-12 education funding has been flat lined, and the proposed budget will simply adjust how the money is distributed across the schools. The education funding formula in the budget aims to have school funding follow the child. The formula removes the "deghoster", a mechanism that was used in the past to pay schools for students that were no longer there. In this time of tight resources, we need to encourage schools to spend money efficiently, so we want to ensure that the funding they receive is proportionate to their actual enrollment. I take great pride in the fact that our proposed budget would be structurally balanced by the end of FY 2013. When that happens, the state will be able to afford more funding for programs as the state's reserve slowly increases. We do not want to burden our already struggling Hoosier families with higher taxes, and Indiana is unique in being able to balance our budget without tax hikes. Recent reports show that our state's economy is slowly but surely improving. It is important that our budget promotes our state's economic growth rather than hinder it, and I believe our proposed budget does exactly that and keeps our state on track for recovery. Meanwhile, my legislative colleagues over in the Senate have been hard at work throughout this session, and two more of the bills that I have authored were passed out of Senate committees on Thursday this week. One bill would set up a study committee for this summer to study child solicitation and child trafficking in the state. The other would have the Family and Social Services Administration's Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services streamline the audit process for providers freeing up money to better serve the disabled. Those two bills are now on their way to the Senate floor to be debated and voted on by the entire Senate. I'll be sure to keep you updated on the progress of these bills as well as the other bills I have authored or sponsored. I want to thank everyone again for the feedback that they provide me with, and I encourage everyone to continue providing me with input as we remain hard at work for this last month of session. -30- State Rep. Suzanne Crouch (R-Evansville) |
