I guess I need to take back my earlier statement about Sen. Jackman’s bills being herniated and accomplishing little. This one is short and makes a substantive change. Engrossed Version, Senate Bill 0267 Agricultural nuisance actions.

This amends a section of the code apparently designed to protect agricultural areas from nuisance suits when suburbia moves into the agricultral area. Under current law, an agricultural or industrial operation is not a nuisance if: 1) it has been in continuous operation for at least a year; 2) there is no significant change in the hours of operation; 3) there is no significant change in the type of operation; and 4) the operation would not have been a nuisance at the time the operation began at the locality.

Senator Jackman’s amendment to the law repeals the requirement that the hours remain substantially the same and defines the “no significant change” requirement so that a change in the size, ownership, or to a different type of agricultural use does not constitute a “significant change”. So, presumably under the new law, converting from a small, locally owned, odor-free agricultural operation in business between 8 and 5 to a huge operation owned by an out of state corporation belching out noxious odors 24 hours per day would not consitute a “significant change”. Nice. Passed 55-40.

A couple of probation related Senate bills passed the House: Senate Bill 0098 Probation revocation. Permits a judge to order execution of all or part
of a probationer’s suspended sentence if the probationer violates a condition of probation. (Current law only permits the court to order execution of all of the probationer’s suspended sentence.) Passed 95-1.

Meanwhile, SB 101 regarding modification of the terms of probation also passed 95-1. Permits a court to hold a new probation hearing and modify a probationer’s conditions of probation at any time during the probationary period. Requires the court to notify the probationer of the hearing.

For those of you keeping score, Representative Fry (D-Mishawaka) voted “nay” on both of them for some reason.

Engrossed Version, Senate Bill 0089 Agricultural Equipment. Maybe I’m misremembering and being unfair, but it seems to me that Sen. Jackman’s bills have a tendency to be a hundred sections long and accomplish very little. I think maybe it’s not him but some folks over at one of the agriculture groups for whom he carries water. Thinking back 7 years ago or so, I recall a bill that was drafted up by the group — wish I could remember who it was — but I kept calling over to the contact people I’d been given and telling them the many ways in which their proposed draft sucked and telling them what needed to be changed. (Not dictating policy mind you, just telling them how to clean up the language.) Problem was, they didn’t have me dealing with a decision maker. Just a person who took my call and hemmed and hawed and wouldn’t authorize changes because she didn’t understand the legislation and, from her perspective, it was cast in stone just the way the lobbyists had drafted it.

Anyway, I couldn’t say whether this bill evolved in the same way. It’s long and it’s boring and it tinkers with a lot of definitions for reasons that aren’t obvious to me and it passed the House 98-0.

According to the Indy Star, Rep. Bauer is back after surgery and hospitalization for diverticulosis. Looks like he’s not exactly trying to mend fences:

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels lashed out at House Democrats following their floor boycott, saying they had “car bombed” Indiana’s drive for growth and reform for political reasons. He mostly blamed Bauer, calling him a “throwback politician” who had put party over jobs and reform.

Daniels has not apologized for the remarks, but Bauer said today that he forgave him anyway.

“It’s a freshman saying that, and I think when you’re a freshman you sometimes overreact,” Bauer said, adding that the prolonged boycott might have been prevented had Daniels talked to Bauer that day.

“But I’ll tell you what. I’ve got a greater understanding of prayer, and it’s good to forgive and I forgive him,” Bauer said. “But I do think that kind of language doesn’t belong in a deliberative setting, because people actually die in car bombs.”

In an editorial entitled, Desperately seeking home rule, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette complains about the lack of home rule (i.e. local control over local government) in Indiana.

State legislators, in fact, keep local officials on the tightest of leashes, particularly when it comes to financing local government. Counties do have the power to enact a local income tax, for example, but only a maximum of 1 percent, and then by a convoluted voting procedure. When the City Council asked the legislature to give the council the power to add additional members, the state lawmakers refused to even consider the idea because the council had voted “only” 6-3 to seek the change.

The point out that legislation introduced by Sen. Kenley would allow counties that must raises taxes the option of raising property or income taxes. They also point out that, in seeking home rule, local politicians are constrained in how vocal they can be precisely because of the short leash they’re straining against. If they are too vocal, the state legislators have the ability to yank their chain, so to speak. The editorial goes on to praise SB 638 that would allow counties to consolidate townships. It also endorses SB 242 as a necessary measure if the legislature insists on passing the Voter ID bill. SB 242 would require all full-serve state license branches to be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the day before Election Day to issue driver’s licenses and state ID cards. The editorial describes SB 483, the voter ID bill, as “unnecessary legislation meant to solve an unproven problem that will discourage some people from voting.”

This is kind of old news, published on March 19, but I missed it. The Muncie Star Press had an article entitled: Rush County judge named to Saunders case. According to the article, the Henry County judges recused themselves because of their relationship with Representative Tom Saunders, father of Andrew Saunders, who is charged with leaving the scene of a hit & run accident that resulted in the death of Thomas Jackman. Rush Circuit Court Judge Barbara Arnold Harcourt will preside.

Other information I had not seen before was in the article.

Jackman, 56 and an avid walker, died Feb. 5 after he was struck by a vehicle while walking in front of the Marsh supermarket on South 14th Street in New Castle. Court reports indicate Jackman’s body was found 47 feet south of the point of impact. He was alive when another motorist noticed him next to the road. He died hours after the crash at an Indianapolis hospital.

Andrew Saunders was at the Elks Lodge in New Castle the evening of Feb. 4, and authorities have reviewed a videotape from the bar that allegedly shows him consuming 10 drinks during his almost-eight-hour stay at the bar. He also ate dinner at the lodge that night.

The Lafayette Journal & Courier, in an editorial, is beginning to see that Democratic complaints about Gov. Daniels penchant for power grabs are more than mere bellyaching from the minority party. The subject of this editorial is Daniels’ effort to fire all of Ivy Tech’s trustees so that Daniels can replace them with his own people. This hits close to home, I suspect, because folks on the editorial board have personal knowledge of one of the trustees, Joe Bumbleburg. Regardless of what his politics may or may not be, I suspect they know him to be a man of integrity and an effective and unfailing advocate for Ivy Tech. So, when Mitch Daniels goes out of his way to try to fire Joe without articulating a reason, it starts looking more and more like a power grab.

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an editorial on prison privatization entitled Pulling profits from a cell. This editorial seems to be pretty well in line with the opinions I offered in a previous entry. The Journal Gazette argues:

The state has a responsibility to operate a correction system in a manner that is safest for its citizens and meets constitutional requirements. To cede the job to a private contractor as a money-saving tactic is a wholesale abandonment of one the state’s most important functions.

The editorial points out that in Florida, 200 employees of state-run juvenile detention centers who were fired for abuse and incompetence were later hired by privately run juvenile centers. In Kentucky, a private prison contractor faced a state fine for having only 7 guards trained to respond to a riot instead of the 20 that were needed.

They say that it’s irresponsible to consider only the economics of the matter. I would suggest that once the lawsuits accusing the state of constitutional violations start falling fast and furious, even the economics of the matter won’t necessarily justify the change.

Matthew Tully and Barb Berggoetz for the Indy Star have an article entitled Some blacks are wary of effect of voter ID bill. The thought is that the bill is intended to and will have the effect of depressing voter turnout in the black community because of difficulty obtaining IDs, a reluctance to obtain IDs because of distrust of the government, and a disinclination to jump through yet another hoop to participate in a system of government that doesn’t work for them. Supporters of the bill say that it is necessary to fight voter fraud. However, detractors of the bill point out: 1. There is no evidence of voter fraud at the polls to start with; and 2. The bill does not address absentee ballots with which there actually have been problems (but which historically break in favor of Republicans.)

Update Taking Down Words has some commentary on what he dubs as the “Voter Intimidation Bill” here and here. In the Agora has some contrary commentary here.

I, of course, have commented previously on this matter here, here, here, and here.

The Indy Star has an article on DST entitled Running out of time. In it, I think we see what’s really at the heart of the desperate desire to change clocks twice per year on the parts of some of those who live in Indiana:

It’s long past time Indiana come in line with 47 other states that already observe DST.

There you have it. They want to be like everybody else. Presumably they’d want Indiana to jump off a bridge if everyone else was doing it. It’s part of the McDonaldization of America where one strip mall looks much like another. Of course, real Hoosiers don’t care much what other people think. For a Hoosier, if it works, keep it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Oh, and the opinion suggests that the DST language could be attached reasonably to any bill dealing with economic development or transportation issues. Gee, why not put it in any bill that has to do with the environment. Because DST has to do with our daily relationship to the sun. That’s kind of environmental, right? Or maybe they could put it in with a healthcare bill because our daily relationship with the sun impacts our health. Or maybe they could jam it in with the voter ID bill because it will affect the time of day voters get to the polls. Hell, put it with the Poet Laureate bill. Poets write about the sun don’t they? The possibilities are endless if one is willing to call that much of a stretch “reasonable.”