Statehouse Dispatch

FEIGENBAUM: Constitutional question derails right-to-work dealmakingRestricted Content

January 21, 2012
Ed Feigenbaum
Even before the first full month of the year has passed, every conceivable metaphor for the importance of the right-to-work issue in the 2012 legislative session has been (ab)used.
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FEIGENBAUM: Right-to-work just one of big stories brewing in '12Restricted Content

January 7, 2012
Ed Feigenbaum
Hoosiers may never have started a January with the likely litany of top 10 stories of the year lined up quite as transparently as they seem for 2012.
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FEIGENBAUM: Chief justice's retirement puts court at crossroadsRestricted Content

December 31, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
You cannot overstate the positive impact Indiana’s longest-serving Supreme Court chief justice, Randall T. Shepard, has had on the state and local judiciary in Indiana (and nationally, where he is the longest-serving court leader).
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FEIGENBAUM: Passage of Daniels' agenda will spawn sweeping change

May 7, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
You shouldn’t have much trouble discerning the immediate winners from the 2011 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
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FEIGENBAUM: Lessons learned from an unconventional session

April 30, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Hoosiers were on notice headed into the session that they would not see four months marked by a “business as usual” attitude.
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FEIGENBAUM: Conference committees may offer fewer fireworks

April 23, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Given the historical context, it would not be unexpected that there wouldn’t be much left to argue about as the 2011 legislative session approaches its scheduled April 29 conclusion.
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FEIGENBAUM: New legislative maps matter over the long term

April 16, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
District lines largely will guide the partisan composition of the Indiana House of Representatives and the delegation we send to Congress for the next decade.
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FEIGENBAUM: Wrangling over budget takes center stage in Legislature

April 9, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Budget cuts became more painful in the past several years as the national recession drew the fiscal noose tighter on Indiana government income.
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FEIGENBAUM: Fallout from Democrats' walkout will affect fall elections

April 2, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Following five weeks in a chain hotel in Illinois, House Democrats marched back into the Statehouse—literally—on March 28, escorted by union leaders along Capitol Street and up the east steps in an event made for media. So who wins?
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FEIGENBAUM: Right-to-work issue still alive and kicking

March 26, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Legislative observers wonder whether this session’s unique nature may convince Senate leaders to be a bit more flexible in ruling on germaneness.
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FEIGENBAUM: Thoughts turn to truncated state budget process

March 19, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
As the legislative standoff continued, those who were concerned about policy turned their attention to the budget process.
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FEIGENBAUM: Will Democrats hold out until some warm April day?

March 12, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Indiana House Democrats largely remain bunkered en masse in Urbana, Ill., save occasional individual appearances back at town hall events in their respective districts.
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FEIGENBAUM: Prepare for a history-making budget process

March 5, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Hoosier Democrats may find that their solon sojourn in Illinois invokes Newton’s law of political physics: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
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FEIGENBAUM: Freshmen legislators' green is showing

February 26, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
The “new kids in the bloc” failed to heed their elders, and got a bit greedy too quickly, goading Democrats into the only recourse open to them.
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FEIGENBAUM: Gambling and guns create legislative fireworks

February 19, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
At least one Indianapolis legislator has quietly investigated allowing casinos to collaborate on a temporary downtown facility, and Republican Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has publicly not ruled it out.
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FEIGENBAUM: Governor focuses on the big issues, just as Reagan did

February 12, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
That “think big” attitude seems to be carrying over to lawmakers, who this month focused on major issues.
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FEIGENBAUM: Unemployment insurance bill's path surprisingly smooth

February 5, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Once in a legislative blue moon, a bill will zip through the labyrinthine process with alacrity.
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FEIGENBAUM: Lawmakers wrestle with when and how to regulate

January 29, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
What may be appropriate regulatory reform to one person or industry may be anathema to another.
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FEIGENBAUM: Daniels experiences pushback even from Republicans

January 22, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Assorted issues advanced by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels are confronting political pushback—from his Republican legislative majority.
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FEIGENBAUM: Right-to-work debate could create sparks in Legislature

January 15, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
The bulk of legislative Democrats, allied with organized labor, are vehemently opposed to having Indiana join almost two dozen other states with right-to-work laws, labeling them as discriminatory against minorities and women, and contending that such laws will do little more than reduce wages and lower the living standards of many Hoosiers.
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FEIGENBAUM: Here's what to expect from State of the State Address

January 8, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
State of the State Address can help outline priorities for a given session, and governors have used them to dramatically draw a line in the proverbial sand, directly delivering a message to the individual members and leaders of the legislative branch—and over their heads to the voters—as to what they expect, will tolerate, and hope for.
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FEIGENBAUM: Session to test lawmakers' views on small government

January 1, 2011
Ed Feigenbaum
Many new House and Senate members won election in part on platforms of reducing government regulation and minimizing government in the lives of Hoosiers.
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FEIGENBAUM: Short session succeeded in doing no harmRestricted Content

March 20, 2010
Ed Feigenbaum
The 2010 legislative session ended strangely: ahead of deadline, yet a week beyond the expected schedule, and the last full day saw more mood swings among lawmakers than Indianapolis Colts fans experienced during the Super Bowl.
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FEIGENBAUM: Legislature heads toward bumpy conclusionRestricted Content

March 13, 2010
Ed Feigenbaum
OK, I admit that I’m still wincing about last week’s column about a peaceful, easy feeling in the General Assembly as it approached the leadership-targeted early-adjournment date.
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FEIGENBAUM: Session heads toward early, quiet completion

March 6, 2010
Ed Feigenbaum
The buzz as the days ran out suggested that nothing on the agenda was “must-pass” legislation, leaving Democrats and Republicans, the House and the Senate, and the governor and the General Assembly with little leverage to exert.
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