Masson's Blog
Introduced Version, House Bill 1262 Increases a person’s property exemption in cases of bankruptcy or judgment enforcement actions from $7,500 to $15,000 for their homestead; from $4,000 to $8,000 for personal property and non-homestead real property; and from $100 to $300 for intangible property (primarily cash and deposit accounts.)
This is probably realistic, but as an attorney who does a lot of collections, I’m against it on general principle.
Introduced Version, House Bill 1193 – Provides a mechanism for a county executive to increase its size from 3 to 5 and from 5 to 3. I don’t really see the point. You want the executive to be more flexible I think, and an increase in the number of members decreases flexibility.
Introduced Version, House Bill 1161 This bill seems to allow the County Auditor to publish a summary of the claims in the newspaper and provide a notice of the website where more detailed information can be obtained and a statement that a person can get a copy mailed to them upon request. Looks like it was heard in committee today, not sure the outcome. In my experience, bills introduced in committee either get passed or tabled. Rarely does anything get a vote if it’s going to fail.
7 environmental officials leave in Daniels’ shake-up Well, whaddaya know. Daniels isn’t going after FSSA first. Nope, his first target is the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management.
Six top Indiana Department of Environmental Management administrators resigned and one was fired this week in a shake-up by Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has criticized the agency for impeding economic development. . . . He said environmental protection and public health are important, but “a poor Indiana will not be a green Indiana.”
Guess what. A polluted Indiana will not be a rich Indiana. I hope Daniels isn’t comfortable with companies in other states treating Indiana like a third-world nation, dumping toxins in our water and our air; paying our citizens subsistence wages, then leaving. Because early signs don’t suggest Daniels thinks much of protecting our workers or our environment. Now it could be that Daniels is committed to the creation of high-paying, skilled jobs with companies that are responsible stewards of the land, thereby making the middle class prosperous even if the upper class don’t realize dramatic gains. But his very first actions in office show what is most important to him, and the signs aren’t pointing in that direction. Hopefully the real Hoosier Republicans out there can put a leash on this guy if he gets out of hand.
Howey Political Report
Brian Howey has his top 50 most influential Hoosier politicians up. The Top 10:
1. Gov. Mitch Daniels
2. Indy Mayor Bart Peterson
3. Sen. Lugar
4. Sen. Bayh
5. Senate President Robert Garton
6. House Speaker Brian Bosma
7. Ways & Means Chair Jeff Espich
8. U.S. Rep. Mike Pence
9. Daniels Budget Director Charles Schalliol
10. Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman
For each he has explanations for his ranking. Worth checking out.
Daniels ends union pacts for 25,000
According to this article, Daniels feels that collective bargaining might get in his way, so he’s ending it. Hopefully, he makes changing FSSA a priority as the article indicates he will. Rather than focusing on the drunken snow plow operator, this article has Daniels explaining his decision as follows: “Daniels, a Republican, said he was ending bargaining rights partly to form a separate agency to handle child welfare and child support without having to consult with union officials.” Based pretty much purely on my purely anectdotal experiences I have no love for the FSSA and suspect drastic changes are necessary. We’ll see what his priorities are based on whether he goes after FSSA first or chooses to go after environmental protections by targeting DNR first.
This just feeds my impression that Daniels is a guy who likes to cut corners and can’t be bothered with details. He’s one of those dreaded “idea men.” Or, he simply doesn’t like anything that gets in the way of his personal power.
Journal and Courier Online – Letters to the Editor One Monon resident with a long memory weighed in on the Daylight Saving Time debate in a Journal & Courier letter to the editor:
Let’s revisit state’s history of time zones
Our governor continues to tell us what a great help to our economy going on daylight-saving time will be, with promises to detail the reasons.
The most interesting part is that it doesn’t matter to him whether it is Central or Eastern, just so we change the time. He was leaning toward Central time, now it seems Eastern. I would like to remind everyone that we have “been there and done that.”
At 82, I remember Central time when the line was at the Indiana/-Ohio border. We had a referendum where “we the people” voted against daylight-saving time (after trying it for awhile). The next thing I knew we were on Eastern time. And then it was daylight-saving, which was actually “double fast,” and now we are on Eastern time straight — what a relief.
I do not believe our legislature should be pushed to act in haste, nor should Congress become involved until our time history is studied.
It should be quite interesting for everyone to see it laid out as to how we arrived at the present time — perhaps we’ll even see the reasons some didn’t work.
Margery Owens, Monon
Introduced Version, House Bill 1212 I’m guessing this bill will never see the light of day, but it would allocate Indiana’s Presidential Electors based on the percentage of the vote a candidate received. Based on the formula in the bill. Bush, with 59.9% of the popular vote would’ve gotten 7 of Indiana’s 11 electoral votes while Kerry, with 39.2% of the popular vote would’ve gotten the remaining 4.
Introduced Version, Senate Bill 0322 – Would not allow a unit of government to pay for the defense expenses of an officer or employee charged with a crime. If the alleged crime was related to activity associated with the officer or employee’s duties and the officer or employee is acquitted or the charges dismissed, the officer or employee could apply to the fiscal body for reimbursement of reasonable expenses.
Introduced Version, Senate Bill 0328 This bill would allow a civil penalty to be imposed against a public official who took part in a meeting despite knowing it violated the open door law. Maximum penalty of $1,000 which would be deposited in the state general fund. Allows attorney’s fees and costs for the plaintiff if the plaintiff prevails; allows attorney’s fees and costs for the defendant only if the action is found by the court to be “frivolous and vexatious.”