The Evansville Courier Press offers its opinion on this session of the General Assembly at the half way mark.
The editorial suggests that, without any extra money to fight over, prospects of a special session are limited. Legislators have agreed on some lobbying limitations – most prominently a year cooling off period between legislator and lobbyist and some additional limitations on gifts.
Local government reform is only mostly dead. Some bills that would eliminate township advisory boards, either directly or by referendum, are still limping along.
Redistricting proposals are still in play. My personal opinion is that you’re never going to get the politics out of election districts – you’re just going to hide the politics to a greater or lesser degree.
Apparently Gov. Daniels’ proposal to more strictly hold back 3rd graders if they don’t meet reading standards has been gutted – which is just as well since Gov. Daniels somehow had this magical idea that an extra year of school for these kids wouldn’t cost anything.
There are more, such as the bill to require that school begin after Labor Day; the bill to ban texting while driving, which lawmakers say needs more work; or the statewide smoking ban.
Leave a Reply