An Indiana House committee has dealt a serious blow to local government reorganization efforts. The Democrat-controlled Government and Regulatory Reform committee voted today to fold several local government provisions proposed by Gov. Mitch Daniels into a single bill. The panel then voted to reject the bill, with one Republican joining six Democrats in voting against […]
U.S. House Republican leader John Boehner said yesterday he doesn’t support handing over more federal money to keep General Motors Corp. afloat unless the automaker develops a viable and long-term business model and can pay back government loans. “Anything short of that is just throwing good money after bad,” Boehner said on CBS’s “Face the […]
Gov. Mitch Daniels and Indiana House Speaker Patrick Bauer have more in common than they might think. Both are headstrong politicians who wield tremendous power. And both have a way with words, especially when they aren’t getting what they want. So it’s no surprise that the Republican governor and the Democratic speaker are once again […]
The key legislative item at this point remains House Bill 1001, the budget bill.
How we feel individually about the economy is often at odds with how the economy is performing.
Imagine racking up nearly $3 million in debt every day. That’s more than $100,000 an hour, or about $2,000 a minute. Indiana is diving deeper into debt as it struggles to pay jobless benefits from its bankrupt unemployment insurance fund, which is paying out hundreds of millions more than it collects in taxes from employers. […]
In this space last week, I wrote that the Great Depression ended in 1937. Several readers reminded me that for those who lived through it, the Great Depression did not feel over until much later. For some, hardship and denial did not end until well after World War II. Others failed to see significant improvement […]
A leading state senator wants to rely on money from the federal stimulus package to give a slight spending increase to Indiana’s public schools. Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) said yesterday that he is still developing his proposal. But he wants to use $683 million in stimulus money in hopes of increasing basic funding […]
A leading state senator wants to rely on money from the federal stimulus package to give a slight spending increase to Indiana’s public schools. Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) said yesterday that he is still developing his proposal. But he wants to use $683 million in stimulus money in hopes of increasing basic funding […]
A top state senator is developing a proposal for fixing Indiana’s bankrupt unemployment insurance fund that he said yesterday is likely to include higher taxes on employers and cutting benefits paid out to the jobless. Republican Sen. Dennis Kruse of Auburn, chairman of the Senate Pensions and Labor Committee, is taking the lead on the […]
Democrats and Republicans in the Indiana General Assembly carved out some wide, partisan divides on several big issues during the first two months of the 2009 legislative session, setting the stage for a second-half rumble. Lawmakers reached the session midpoint – when bills passed by the House and Senate are taken up by the opposite […]
Leaders on both sides of the aisle have called for streamlining township government, and it’s time to demand that our legislators
make those changes.
The state’s two biggest pension funds are poised to combine into one Indiana Public Retirement System, with a single executive
director and board.
Most Hoosiers fall under the jurisdiction of 26 separate local government officials. Indiana has 239 library districts, 293 school districts, 886 “special” districts, 1,008 townships and 10,300 local officials. What is it going to take for us to peel off some of these unnecessary layers, which are clogging up government and eating up precious tax […]
The state’s two biggest pension funds are poised to combine into one Indiana Public Retirement System, with a single executive director and board. And they’ll need only one tourniquet to stem their bleeding. Over the last 15 months, the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund and Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund have hemorrhaged a combined $8 billion. […]
Political sparring in the narrowly divided Indiana House has sidelined legislation to help fix the state’s bankrupt unemployment insurance fund – but lawmakers say the critical issue will be revived. The proposal would have significantly raised taxes on employers to help balance the fund. The account pays out millions of dollars more than it collects […]
The state’s casinos would get tax breaks under a bill approved yesterday by the Indiana House. The bill would lower tax rates for casinos at the state’s pari-mutuel tracks in Anderson and Shelbyville. They’re struggling to pay debts they took on to pay $250 million each in slot machine licensing fees. The bill would also […]
Political sparring in the narrowly divided Indiana House has sidelined legislation to help fix the state’s bankrupt unemployment insurance fund – but lawmakers say the critical issue will be revived. The proposal would have significantly raised taxes on employers to help balance the fund. The account pays out millions of dollars more than it collects […]
Indiana lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were quick to react to President Barack Obama’s address to Congress last night. Democratic Congressman Andre Carson of Indianapolis released a statement calling the presidential agenda “ambitious,” adding that the president will “continue to rise above typical Washington politics.” On the Republican side, Indiana Rep. Dan Burton […]
The Indiana Senate has passed a bill that would give taxpayers a break if the state’s surplus is at least 10 percent of the budget. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels supports the proposal, and the GOP-led Senate approved it 34-16 yesterday. But don’t expect tax credits any time soon. Indiana is struggling to keep its budget […]
