SB 387 establishes the Office of Minority Health within the State Department of Health. It requires the State Health Commissioner to appoint a director of the Office of Minority Health. That office is tasked with performing the duties previously assigned to the Health Department generally in conjunction with the Indiana Minority Health Coalition, Inc., including implementation of the Minority Health Initiatives already set forth in IC 16-46-11.

I don’t know. I know I’m a white guy. And, I know minority groups have their own health issues; cultural, economic, and otherwise. But, creating a new Office seems like a small increase in bureaucracy that likely won’t accomplish very much. According to the fiscal impact statement (pdf), it will be funded with appropriations from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

SB 252 has been signed by the Governor. It permits a school to accept a transfer student without charging tuition. It also extends from 2010 to 2011 the time by which the Department of Education is required to set standards for sign language interpreters who provide services to children with disabilities in an educational setting.

Legislators finally reached a deal that primarily involved the Unemployment Insurance Fund and schools. The deal means about $500 million for businesses and give schools some flexibility to deal with about $300 million in cut state funding.

On the business end of things, legislation will delay implementation of a 2009 deal raising unemployment insurance obligations of businesses. This will require the state to borrow about $360 million more to fund unemployment insurance than it otherwise would have and to pay an additional $150 in interest.

On the education side of things, schools had to deal with a $300 million cut in state funding that arose, at least in part, from the decision a couple of years ago to fund schools with sales and income taxes at the state level instead of from property taxes at the local level. This legislation would allow schools to mitigate the loss of money by using funds normally dedicated to transportation and building projects to fund operating expenses. Obviously, this isn’t a long term solution. But, I guess the hope is that the state funding shortfall isn’t a long term problem either.

Specifically action took place yesterday on the following bills:

SB 23 – Unemployment insurance and economic development. Passed the Senate 50 – 0, House 85 – 12. This was the unemployment insurance bill. It also has a number of provisions related to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, including creation of a small business ombudsman and monitoring to determine whether businesses are complying with requirements of incentive packages they receive. It provides for emergency TANF funding and allows the Department of Workforce Development to implement a subsidized employment program. Requires the Department of Labor to develop guidelines and procedures for investigating questions and complaints concerning employee classification and make recommendations concerning necessary legislation. It makes some changes to the unemployment benefits process. For example, an ALJ making determinations on unemployment benefits has to be a licensed attorney. If an employer gets an initial determination in favor of an employee reversed but the reversal is based on information the employer didn’t provide initially, the employer’s UI account can still be charged a percentage of the benefits paid out.

HB 1367 – Education. Passed the Senate 50-0, House 97-0. It makes changes concerning school participation in the state employee health plan. Requires additional information concerning ISTEP performance and student retention be included on a school corporation’s annual performance report. Requires schools to prioritize allocation of resources going to remediating kids with trouble reading in grades K-3. If remediation efforts have a fiscal impact, school superintendents have to come to the General Assembly for an appropriation; if not, they can implement them following a public hearing. Beginning in 2012-2013, school years have to start after Labor Day and end before June 10. Grants an exception for schools that are year round or that coordinate schedules with a college. Allows transfer of up to 10% of capital projects funds to operating funds if teachers aren’t getting raises in 2010-2011.

HB 1086 – State and local administration. Passed the Senate 50-0, House 89-7. This is a grab bag of stuff. Youth advisory council; boxing regulations; property tax assessment procedures; library administration; golf course and aircraft taxes; veteran’s home eligibility; and ballot language for proposed property tax Constitutional Amendment.

HB 1336 – Mortgages and public deposits. Passed the Senate 50-0; House 95-0. Allows for voluntary participation in a five star mortgage program which, it looks like, would involve people with good equity in their homes, a fixed interest rate, and a 30 year term. Basically, it looks like it creates a level of trust that it’s a basic mortgage, with more or less creditworthy borrowers, from a more or less trustworthy lender. Allows PERF and TERF to engage in some joint management of their funds. Allows local government to make certain investments. And it changes some other financial regulations I don’t have time, inclination, or probably knowledge to comment on.

SB 396 – Assessment of agricultural land. Passed the Senate 50-0; House 97-1. For the assessment of agricultural land, it requires the DLGF that uses a 6 year average with the highest year thrown out. (If you’re using this approach, shouldn’t you also throw out the lowest year too to avoid artificially lowering the assessed value of agricultural land to the detriment of other property tax payers?)

SB 46 has gone to the Governor and is ready for passage. It allows 16 year olds to donate blood with written parental permission.

Abdul is reporting that Rep. Fry (D-Mishawaka) is out of town at Spring Training, the result being that the House Democrats (also missing the sick Dennie Oxley Sr.) can’t get to 51 on the proposed compromises the House Democrats have worked out with the Senate Republicans.

The fact that these compromises can, apparently, get the votes of a majority of the Republicans in the Senate suggests that House Republicans are just being obstinate if a few of them can’t be persuaded to join their Senate brethren in voting on these things.

Should be interesting to get the story on this one and see if Abdul’s sources hold up.

Update The South Bend Tribune reports that it’s the health of Rep. Fry’s father that has him in Florida.

Rep. Craig Fry, D-Mishawaka, is in Florida with his 81-year-old father, who is experiencing serious health problems, Fry said in a phone interview this morning.

“I’m here because he has a health-related issue and it’s been getting worse,” Fry said of his father. “My family and my father’s health are more important than anything.”
. . .
Fry said he and his father went to two games earlier in the week during the House’s five-day break, but he would have been willing to return to Indianapolis on Wednesday or Thursday if Democrats needed him to be the 51st vote.

Eric Bradner has an article in the Evansville Courier Press that sums up what legislators have on their plate to end the session. The biggest issue is unemployment insurance. The UI fund was ignored for years and went bankrupt. The Republican Senate and the Democratic House agreed on a fix in 2009. Part of the solution involved higher taxes on the employers. The Senate Republicans, at the urging of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, I believe, sought to undo that fix – at least temporarily. The House did them one better and proposed a bill that undid the compromise altogether. The UI fund continues to be empty and Indiana is paying its unemployed benefits by borrowing from the federal government. If legislators don’t come to an agreement, the 2009 fix will go into effect.

House Democrats are looking for some of the following to go along with the Republican version:

Topping that list is enhanced enforcement and harsher penalties on businesses that misclassify regular employees as independent contractors in order to skip out on payroll and unemployment taxes.

Democrats also want to remove the requirement that jobless benefit recipients apply for one job per week. The want to increase unemployment benefits in order to receive $148 million in federal stimulus funds. They’re seeking “claw-back” methods to recoup incentives given to businesses that fail to live up to their job-creation promises.

They’re also asking for items such as a tax credit that would give businesses that employ fewer than 150 people a $3,000 credit for each worker they hire through 2012, up to a maximum of $100,000; directions for the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to focus its attention on counties stung the worst by job loss; the allowance of businesses that employ fewer than 35 workers to qualify for certain tax credits; a tax credit for new businesses; and more.

Caught up in these negotiations are some other bills, most importantly to my local situation, one that would allow schools flexibility to use other funds to cover operating expenses – this would mitigate the need to cut so many teachers which has arisen due to the earlier decision to fund schools with the more volatile sales & income taxes instead of property taxes.

Bauer was particularly emphatic that House Bill 1367, to help schools cope with the budget crunch most are facing, should pass.

“That bill ought to go forward, period,” Bauer said. “We should continue to work on the unemployment bill if we can. If we can get a compromise, that’d be good. If we can’t, at least we’ve solved two or three problems and not leave two or three on the table because someone is upset about one not being solved — the unemployment bill.”

Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said Republicans are concerned that if other issues are voted upon first, there is nothing to keep Democrats at the bargaining table to negotiate the unemployment bill.

“We’re going to try to reach an agreement on all those things and reach resolution on all of the issues,” Kenley said. “But we want to do it together.”

The Senate rejected, 20 – 21, a conference committee report for SB 171 which addresses penalties for motor vehicle accidents resulting in death. It would have made it a Class D felony to kill a law enforcement animal if you were driving while intoxicated. It also would have made resisting law enforcement while operating a vehicle a Class A Felony if it resulted in the death of a law enforcement officer while the officer was in the course of his or her official duties.

This conference committee report is a departure from the bill as it left the House in that it removes the increased penalties for failing to stop after a traffic accident in which a person was injured or died.

I was impressed by how little information was contained in an Indy Star article about the “Bring Your Gun to Work” bill. It was just a series of reactions from people whose knowledge base about the issue was never revealed.

Person 1: “When I come out at night, I don’t know who is going to be in that parking lot. Responsible gun owners know how to take care of the situation. It’s the idiots who aren’t careful that will have the law sidelined.”

Person 2: “I don’t see much risk as long as it’s locked and somehow disabled. If you can carry a gun on your person, then I don’t see why people shouldn’t be able to keep it in their car. I’d rather people leave them in their car than walk around with a gun.”

Person 3: “People are always attacking guns one way or another.”

Person 4: “I don’t think anyone should bring a gun to work. You never know a person’s attitude or what they go through on a daily basis.”

Person 5: “”If someone gets upset, you never know what could happen. They could easily go to the car, grab a gun and start shooting. There are a lot of people injured in shootings, and this bill could help protect them. But there’s too much risk. I disagree with the bill.”

Person 6: “My cat’s breath smells like cat food.”

O.k., I added that last one. It was Ralph Wiggum. I’m surprised that Dept. of Workforce Development employee shooting didn’t find it’s way into this “what people are thinking” story.

The Lafayette Journal & Courier has an editorial pleading with the General Assembly not to let the vote center pilot program expire. Tippecanoe County, along with Wayne and Cass Counties, was allowed to create voting centers where anyone in the county could vote, regardless of the voter’s precinct of residence. The person was given a ballot specific to their precinct.

Personally, I like them because they’re very convenient. For example, I can vote downtown during the day when I’m at work. The Journal & Courier editorial tells me it’s also less expensive. However, legislation to extend the program is apparently tangled up with other proposals before the General Assembly and the voting centers may expire. I hope they don’t. But, that’s big time politics for you.