A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Masson's Blog

SB 99 – Gold and Silver as Legal Currency

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Disturbingly, more of my political philosophies probably derive from Frank Herbert’s Dune series than the classes I took earning a degree in political science. One line I remember from the Dune was “Control the coinage and the courts, let the rabble have the rest.” It seems that Sen. Banks’ SB 99 might be straying from that aphorism.

Specifies that gold and silver coins issued by the United States government are legal tender in Indiana. Provides that a person may not compel another person to tender or accept gold or silver coins that are issued by the United States government, except as agreed upon by contract. Provides that the sale or other exchange of gold or silver coins issued by the United States government is exempt from state gross retail tax and use tax. Specifies that capital gains incurred on a sale or exchange of gold or silver coins issued by the United States government are not included in adjusted gross income for purposes of the state adjusted gross income tax.

But, I’m not sure if it does stray because I’m not sure what it’s actually intended to accomplish. It’s apparently a tea party initiative (see also) – and, my guess, it has something to do with Ron Paul’s distrust of the federal reserve system. I’m guessing the people who advertise silver and gold on AM radio stations also support such initiatives.

SB 36 – Amending the D.C. Swampland Indemnity Assistant Law

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Senators Banks, Kruse, and Yoder are proposing to amend a venerable piece of law. Senate Bill 36 would amend IC 4-6-7 which appears to have been on the books in its current form since at least 1905. It permits the attorney general to employ an assistant residing in D.C. “to assist him in the presentation and prosecution of claims of the state against the United States, pertaining to swamplands, or swampland indemnity.” As compensation, that assistant can be paid up to 25% of the money he recovers and turns over to the state.

SB 37 would basically gut that law and allow the Attorney General to employ a deputy in the D.C. area to monitor federal legislation and regulations and lobby on behalf of the attorney general with respect to legislation or regulations that might affect Indiana.

I have no idea what impact this would have on the vital swampland indemnity program.

SB 32 – Establishment of county executive meeting dates

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Sen. Holdman has introduced SB 32 concerning the requirement that the County Board of Commissioners establish a schedule of regular meeting dates on the first meeting in January of each year. Instead, the provision would be amended to simply say, “The executive shall hold a regular meeting at least once each month and at other times as needed to conduct all necessary business.”

I don’t suppose there is anything magic about the first meeting in January. I know that a lot of organizational stuff has to get jammed into that first meeting or two and maybe it would be good to give the Commissioners flexibility to take care of such business in the manner that best suits their needs.

SB 23 – Lord’s Prayer in School

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Bishop Senator Kruse has introduced SB 23 which would allow schools to require the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each school day. If it decides to impose this requirement, the school board is directed to select the version it wants recited.

Students are generously allowed to draw attention to themselves by not participating if they or their parents decide they don’t want the student to participate.

On the one hand, this is clearly unconstitutional and would burden a participating school with court mandated legal fees. On the other hand, Mike Huckabee has said, “We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?” So, maybe proponents of this legislation envision that the legal fees would be offset by reduced security costs.

SB 97 – Firearms on State Property

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Sen. Banks and Tomes have introduced SB 97 which expands work done last session to allow the public to carry firearms on government property. Currently IC 35-47-11.1 restricts the ability of local government to prohibit members of the public from carrying firearms on local government property.

SB 97 would extend this restriction to state government and its agencies. I note, however, that firearms could still be restricted at the State House because there is an exception for “the enactment or enforcement of a provision prohibiting or restricting the possession of a firearm in any building that contains a courtroom used by the supreme court, court of appeals, or tax court.” I can’t remember if the tax court is there, but “any building that contains a courtroom used by the supreme court” means the State House.

I don’t think firearms would be permitted in either of the Indiana Government Center buildings either, under section 5(6) because they use metal detectors, are staffed by law enforcement officers, and require the inspection of each individual and their bags.

So, this would seem to be meaningless for a huge chunk of state government operations.

SB 5 – Hospital and Ambulance Liens

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Less than a day after I complained about the bills not being available online, they appeared. Is my power just that vast or was it just a happy coincidence?

Anyway, the first one that catches my eye is SB 5, introduced by Sen. Steele concerning hospital and ambulance liens under IC 32-33-4 and 32-33-5. Those chapters set forth procedures by which ambulance companies and hospitals can assert a lien against a patient’s personal injury claim.

Sen. Steele’s bill would repeal those chapters but preserve the lien rights of those who already have liens. I don’t know his motivation, but these lien procedures seem to be relatively unused and cause problems for insurers of defendants when they are used. (Seems like Parkview Hospital out of Fort Wayne came up in the case reports as a frequent user of the hospital lien procedure.) Maybe there is a better way, but when you are settling a personal injury claim, I got into the habit of calling the Indiana Department of Insurance. If I recall correctly, the call got routed to the Medical Malpractice section even though the hospital liens aren’t limited to medical malpractice claims. It almost seemed like the people there had to fire up a separate computer to check their list for a lien against a particular personal injury plaintiff.

I have not personally come up against issues involving ambulance liens; I suspect because they tend to be a few hundred bucks versus hospital liens which can be quite significant. In the case of hospital liens, there are other notice provisions and a defense insurer who finds itself on the hook paying a hospital lien usually at least theoretically has recourse against a personal injury plaintiff it paid but who didn’t satisfy his or her obligation to the hospital. But personal injury settlement money can evaporate awfully fast, and that recourse might not amount to much.

I think Rep. Steele’s bill raises an interesting question about whether hospitals and ambulance companies really ought to have a priority claim against personal injury claims not available to other sorts of creditors. I don’t have any strong opinions on that one.

Group Members and Plausible Deniability

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Fred Clark has an article entitled The push-back against the push-back begins: ‘Mainstream’ evangelicals criticize critics of the religious right. It discusses how prominent in the evangelical community are the hateful people who suggested that the Newtown shootings were caused by, for example, God being excluded from the public square. Are guys like Mike Huckabee prominent or fringe?

This is a dynamic that probably goes on with any group to one extent or another. But, I notice it most with the socially conservative, politically active wing of Christianity. The question of whether and to what extent a person is speaking for “Christians” becomes important because that’s generally where the person’s influence comes from. If he were just a dude condemning birth control on some street corner, his public reception is a whole lot different than if he is speaking on television due to his association with a Christian group — even if the content of the speech is exactly the same.

Christians, like most other groups, are not monolithic. Everybody is not going to agree with everybody else. But, it’s difficult to determine whether the views of guys like Dobson or Huckabee represent anything like the consensus of the group or if they’re more like street corner ranters who found their way into a radio studio. The test, I suppose, is if they are readily welcomed back into the fold and by whom after they say something as objectionable as Huckabee’s statement about the Newtown shootings.

2013 Bills Not Yet Available

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I’ve been a little bummed this year that the bills for the 2013 General Assembly haven’t been available as early as they have been in years past. Usually, it seems like I can start getting a look at them the last week of December. This year, it’s starting to look like they won’t be available until the General Assembly convenes on January 7. Which would make some sense, since I don’t think bills are technically “introduced” until then. Still, I enjoy having some time to browse before the hustle and bustle of the session gets everything moving quickly.

The Interstates are Remarkable

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I just returned from a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina where family tradition has us gather for Christmas every couple of years. I know they aren’t perfect, and there are not necessarily an unmitigated good, but I wanted to take a moment to appreciate our Interstate highway system. What a remarkable piece of work. That a sleep-deprived schmuck like me can barrel across a third of the continent while my family snoozes at my side is kind of breathtaking when you really stop to think about it. And I more or less take it for granted.

I’ll let Louis CK speak to this phenomenon (salty language):

Thinking Local and Long Term Media Viability

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Mike Kole has a pair of good posts on our evolving media and the progression of two outlets that are going from dying to dead. Newsweek is dead, and WXNT is dying.

For me, the wildcard is knowing the economics of these efforts. Are they entirely unprofitable or are the profits just lower than they have been traditionally? Kole’s description of WXNT, in particular, reminds me of the progression I’ve seen in local newspapers. They are confronted with the increasing fluidity of the Internet mediascape. And, by this, I don’t just mean that things change more quickly. I also mean that, since media has become digitized, content behaves more like a liquid than a solid. When something was fixed in a book, you had to labor to copy and/or transport it. Now, content can mostly just flow from place to place.

Confronted with this new challenge, it seems to me that newspapers have reacted in exactly the wrong way; and WXNT seems to be doing the same. Rather than focusing on the content least likely to be outsourced, they let that content go and offer the content that looks most like a commodity. They let go of the local content that requires shoe leather and effort and, instead, offer opinion, wire services, and – in WXNT’s case – nationally syndicated talk shows. (Now nationally syndicated sports shows, apparently).

The profit margins may well be better for that easy to produce, easy to obtain content in the short term. But, in the long term, you’re going to get undercut time after time with that stuff. Someone will offer it for less (or free), and margins will continue dropping. The locally produced stuff may be slower and more expensive, but it’s less replaceable. I don’t know whether you can make a profit producing that kind of content, but I have a strong suspicion it’s the only real bet for long term viability of our local papers and radio stations.