Indiana General Assembly Maybe the links on this page will work later tonight, but as of 8:50 p.m., I can’t get any House or Senate calendar information. The House Calendar just gives me a pdf document with “bad date” up in the corner and no information on the page. The link to the Senate Calendar has been taken down. (I’d like to think the link was taken down because of my prior post indicating that the Senate Calendar showed a date of March 1, 2004, but that’s probably just me being full of myself.)

Senate Committee Hearings
The Senate Committee Calendar, Tuesday has the matters listed in my my prior post.
Wednesday (1/12) will have:
Judiciary
SB 0002 Parenting time.
SB 0008 Arbitration in family law.
SB 0049 Jurisdiction and venue of computer crimes.

Health and Provider Services
SB 0197 Reciprocity for dentists.
SB 0222 Preexisting condition waivers.
SB 0224 Home health care services and hospice services council.
SB 0225 Office based sedation standards.

Education and Career Development
SB 0053 Technology training for state employees.
SB 0112 Academic honors diploma awards.
SB 0229 School for the Blind.

House Committee Schedule for (1/11)
Public Safety and Homeland Security
HB 1022 Military base protection act.
HB 1025 Public safety protection fees.

Public Health
HB 1069 Home and community based services.
HB 1056 Food handler exemption.

House Bill 1004, the tax amnesty bill passed Second Reading with a couple of amendments. One provision of the bill stated that the amnesty was not available to tax liabilities that had been reduced to judgment. Rep. Turner’s Amendment changes the provision to say that the liability has to have been decided by the tax court and denied transfer to the Supreme Court (which makes me wonder what would happen in the case where transfer was granted by the Supreme Court which in turn decided against the taxpayer.) Rep. Welch’s Amendment provides that a taxpayer taking advantage of the tax amnesty has to agree that he, she, or it is not eligible to take advantage of a similar tax amnesty program for the same type of tax that may be instituted in the future.

Kernan aides deny claims by Daniels’ camp:

Did you know Indiana keeps some public retirees’ pension records in a shoebox?

Neither did the outgoing administration of Gov. Joe Kernan, which says that allegation and several others made in a pamphlet promoting Gov.-elect Mitch Daniels’ legislative agenda just aren’t true.

This kind of nonsense reminds me of the incoming Bush administration when they lied about “missing ‘W’s” on their keyboards and a vandalized White House. Remember all the media coverage when we found out those claims were a pack of lies? Me neither.

Mitch, unlike your former master, you won the job fair & square. Now get serious. Forget about propaganda, leave the D.C. beltway GOP shenanigans behind you, and get to work. Consult Bob Garton, the state’s Republican leader. He knows what being a responsible Hoosier Republican is about. If you do, maybe I’ll forget what happened to the federal budget while you were Bush’s budget man.

Daniels response to the claims: “Daniels defended using the campaignlike jabs, saying they were included for “readability” and to keep the momentum for change in Indiana strong.” Translation: “Tell the rubes some outrageous lies, and they’ll do what you tell ’em.”

Introduced Version, House Bill 1100 Thanks to PSoTD for cluing me into this one. This is one of the silliest bills I’ve seen introduced to date: “Changes the statutory description of the state seal to provide that the sun is rising instead of setting.”

It doesn’t actually alter how the State Seal looks, mind you. It just amends the statute to refer to the sun behind the hills as “rising” instead of “setting.” I imagine that Reps. Messer & Bischoff have some sort of indication of Hoosier optimism in mind. (I love Hoosiers for many of their characteristics, but I haven’t noticed optimism as one of the defining characteristics of the state. Ask a Hoosier about the weather some fine, sunny day. Like as not, they’ll tell you we’re going to pay for it with some nasty weather in the future.)

Introduced Version, House Bill 1004: The tax amnesty bill (discussed here) passed out of Ways & Means last week and is up for second reading on Monday. The speed on that bill is surprising.

According to the House Calendar, Monday’s agenda on the floor of the House also includes:

HB 1003, Gov. Daniels’ pet economic development corporation project. (I just can’t help feeling like this bill puts the governor in a better position to put pork in the pockets of his friends. But, the bill is also so lengthy that I can’t be bothered to read the thing in its entirety to make sure that’s true. Clever politics!)

HB 1083 which repeals a provision that would have terminated the earned income tax credit.

HB 1021 which makes a change that appears to be technical in nature. Specifies that its a lender’s violation of the Federal Truth in Lending act that gives a homeowner the right of recission in certain circumstances where before it was the violation of “law”.

According to the Senate Calendar, it is still March 1, 2004. The Senate Energy & Environmental Affairs Committee is considering SB 44 which “Makes the environmental quality service council (EQSC) permanent. Repeals the compliance advisory panel and reestablishes the panel as a committee of the EQSC.”

Corrections, Criminal Matters, and Civil Matters has:
SB 47 – Counterfeiting
SB 92 – Internet gambling
SB 98 – Probation revocation
SB 117 – Undisclosed transport of dangerous devices
SB 163 – Goods made by offenders (Specifically furniture)

Homeland Security has:
SB 81 – National Guard tuition supplement grant
SB 165 – Law enforcement training
SB 193 – War Memorial Foundation
SB 196 – Licensing and permits for boxing
SB 304 – Tuition exemption for National Guard dependents

Education and Career Development has:
SB 53 – Technology training for state employees
SB 112 – Academic honors diploma awards
SB 229 – School for the Blind (and Visually Impaired)

Links to the text of the bills can be found here.

PunchtheBag has a good entry about Daniels’ decision to appoint a Kentucky man to head up Indiana’s prison system. I think it’s probably a prelude to privatization. As PunchtheBag puts it:

So for fresh ideas we go to Kentucky? It’s bad enough that Kentucky has reduced the IU Hoosiers to nothing more than a scrimmage opponent, but why not raid Maine, Vermont, or even North Dakota for jail expertise? According to this ranking, those states barely have shoplifters.

Introduced Version, House Bill 1081 Phases out inheritance taxes between now and 2009. More or less a duplicate of SB 10. Shouldn’t we just phase out income tax or sales tax instead?

Introduced Version, House Bill 1076 States that only a named insured or someone seeking insured status can bring an action for declaration of coverage prior to judgment being entered on the underlying claim.

Can’t say I like this one very much. This would apparently stop someone who has been injured by a tortfeasor from obtaining a determination of whether the tortfeasor has any insurance coverage. So, let’s say someone blows a red light, T-bones your car, and causes you a whole lot of injuries. Maybe the driver’s insurer says that the latest premium was received a day or two late and there’s no coverage. The driver says he paid it on time. The insurer defends the driver under a reservation of rights. So, to obtain your judgment, you have to fight through the insurer-paid attorneys, but at the end of the day, there might not be any money to pay your judgment. Knowing whether your judgment is worthless or not could very well affect how much you put into your case, paying experts, taking depositions, etc.

Contrast that with a potentially much cheaper action against the insurer for determination of the question of whether they cover the driver or not. You lose that one, and you probably cut your losses, figuring a judgment against the driver is worthless. You win that one and you expend whatever resources you can afford and your injuries justify.

Daniels ponders sale of ‘extra’ state items

An Indianapolis Star article about Gov. Daniels’ proposal to sell off government assets and allow naming rights. I certainly have no problem with selling assets that the state doesn’t need. But there is also talk of selling the toll road (I-80/90) to private interests. I’m against selling critical infrastructure to non-government entities. (I’m generally against toll-roads themselves, for what it’s worth. Roads are a common good and should be paid for as such and accessed by the public as such.) But don’t get into the business of turning capital costs into operating costs by selling stuff you need to private interests and then leasing from them.

Introduced Version, House Bill 1073 Representative Don Lehe introduced a bill that would withdraw the BMV’s discretion to withhold the identity of someone who contacts the BMV regarding a person’s ability to operate a vehicle safely. Don’t know that this is a good or a bad idea, it’s just kind of trivial. That probably means there is a specific story behind it. I wonder if Lehe or one of his constitutents in particular wants to know who has been looking at their BMV records.

It is surprising how much legislation, especially the minor nit-picky stuff, is designed, at least initially, to address a particular individual’s experience.