On Second Reading, the House accepted Speaker Bosma’s Amendment to SB 18 – the inspector general bill. The basic structure of the Inspector General bill remains the same. However, with Speaker Bosma’s amendment (crafted by Rep. VanHaaften), the appellate court judge who reviews the Governor’s petition to have the IG appointed special prosecutor has the option of appointing an elected prosecuting attorney instead. However, the elected prosecuting attorney can’t be from the county in which the alleged crime was committed (because the elected Prosecutor has already reviewed the case at the IG’s request and decided not to prosecute.)
Representative Day’s Amendment was narrowly defeated 46-49. It would have left all of the beneficial aspects of the Inspector General Bill in place with the only change being that the Inspector General would be appointed by an appointment committee consisting of: the deans of the Schools of Law at Bloomington, Indianapolis, Valpo, and Notre Dame, along with the president of the Indiana State Bar Association, the executive director of the Indiana prosecuting attorney’s council, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. So, it’s pretty clear that proponents of the bill want the IG to be directly under the thumb of the Governor. And that is really questionable, out of recognition that maintaining a separation of powers is critical to limiting the potential for abuse by any one branch of government. It’s also questionable in that the IG cannot be a force to counter corruption in the Governor’s office should it ever arise.
Update: The Indiana Law Blog has more.
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