FEIGENBAUM: General Assembly is Senate-centric this term
Cynics might suggest the General Assembly really hasn’t accomplished much since convening in January. While that’s a tad unfair, the session does seem unusual.
Statehouse Dispatch
Articles
FEIGENBAUM: Battles yet to be fought over handful of divisive bills
We’ve made it halfway through the 2013 legislative session with much less in the way of figurative fisticuffs than in the last several sessions—for which the participants and observers seem grateful.
FEIGENBAUM: Pence, lawmakers of both parties have played nice so far
As the General Assembly passes its first major milestone in the 2013 session—the final round of committee hearings in a bill’s chamber of origin—we’re picking up a few insights into the dynamics that likely will guide the remaining two months.
FEIGENBAUM: Budget negotiations will center on education, health care
You’ve heard the talk that the bottom-line reason for the General Assembly to meet this year is to fashion a two-year budget that will carry the state through June 30, 2015.
FEIGENBAUM: Pence quietly departing from Daniels’ playbook
One month into the administration of Republican Gov. Mike Pence, you can hold one truth to be self-evident: He’s not the second coming of his predecessor, Mitch Daniels.
FEIGENBAUM: Key issues still taking shape in Legislature
Legislative events aren’t proceeding according to a recognizable formula so far, leaving the coming months difficult to predict.
FEIGENBAUM: Key issues not illuminated in Pence address
Many lawmakers and other observers had expected this year’s State of the State speech to add key details to Gov. Mike Pence’s roadmap—effectively serving as a GPS of sorts for lawmakers seeking to divine the route taken and the destinations visited on the journey promised on inauguration day.
FEIGENBAUM: Range of non-fiscal issues may take center stage
While taxes and spending (and related work-force and economic development matters) will consume the bulk of legislative attention in coming months, several other major issues will dot—or blot—the agenda, and should bear your attention.
FEIGENBAUM: Budget issues will drive almost every legislative debate
Now that you are no longer distracted by an Indianapolis Colts playoff drive (sigh), it’s time to get up to speed on the key issues the Indiana General Assembly will confront over the next four months.
FEIGENBAUM: What does the 2013 session have in store for you?
The 2012 elections brought us a new Republican governor, a GOP House and Senate super-majority for the first time in a generation, and the first Democrat elected to a state office other than governor since 2000.
FEIGENBAUM: Lawmakers did much more than pass right to work
While some editorial writers suggest legislators accomplished little of consequence this session, and House Democrats lament lost opportunities to restore education funding and fix child services programs, we actually experienced a remarkably productive final four weeks.
FEIGENBAUM: Costly transportation projects may spawn taxpayer road rage
Even many lawmakers expected the Major Moves transportation fund would obviate the need to find large amounts of state dollars for critical projects.
FEIGENBAUM: Fiscal issues to dominate waning days of the session
This year, with the right-to-work debate having sucked all the air out of the session—and largely all the fight out of House Democrats—before the Super Bowl, the final weeks of the session are less intriguing than usual.
FEIGENBAUM: Maneuvering already under way for 2013 session
It may seem the next few weeks will be devoid of major public policy debates you’re accustomed to expect as sessions wind down, but rest assured that activity below the surface is already paving the way for intriguing major action in 2013.
FEIGENBAUM: State not coming to grips with slide in gambling taxes
You might be surprised to learn that Indiana’s casinos have passed the $10 billion mark in wagering and admissions taxes paid to the state and their respective host cities.
FEIGENBAUM: Lots of bills still in play as session nears home stretch
Many issues that address daily commerce, business relationships, education policy, and the internal functions of state and local government remain to be addressed.
FEIGENBAUM: Right-to-work resolution opens floodgates for other bills
House Democrats and Republicans, who had been bickering like Patriots and Giants fans, suddenly seemed to drop all political pretenses, and returned to conducting the people’s business.
FEIGENBAUM: Democrats’ end game difficult to decipher
While the end game sought by House Democrats was elusive as they tried to halt the right-to-work bill advocated by all but a handful of House Republicans, the Jan. 25 passage of the legislation in the House doesn’t necessarily offer new certainty.
FEIGENBAUM: Constitutional question derails right-to-work dealmaking
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.
FEIGENBAUM: Democrats must assess strategy as right-to-work advances
On the evening of the New Hampshire presidential primary, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels delivered his eighth and final State of the State address to the Indiana General Assembly and Hoosiers at home in the television audience.