A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

The Fort Wayne News Sentinel has an article entitled Tax idea cuts at Daniels’ image. Would the news folks quit pushing the idea that Daniels’ nickname as “The Blade” was somehow merited by federal spending cuts while he was in the Bush administration. Under Bush and Daniels, deficits exploded to an unprecedented degree. So far, I’m cautiously optimistic about Daniels’ approach to Indiana’s fiscal health. (Certainly, he strikes me as more sensible than the folks in the House who think they can limit Medicaid growth to 3%, Education growth to 0.75%, and flatline prison spending.) The federal government over the past 4 years has been fiscally reckless. So spare me “the blade” nonsense.

In any case, Daniels is taking some heat from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board and the Grover Norquist/Americans for Tax Reform crowd. I’m glad that Governor Daniels appears to be more pragmatic than Norquist, ATR, the WSJ Editorial Board, and their ivory tower cohorts. (Obscure reference, but when I think of Norquist & Co., I always think of Phil Hartman doing Frankentstein, “MMMM TAXES BADDDDD MMMM”.

The South Bend Tribune has an article entitled SouthBendTribune.com: A call for do-not-call — which discusses the Consumer Bankers Association attempts to have the FCC rule that the federal Do Not Call list preempts the state do not call list and prohibits Indiana’s more stringent do not call requirements. It mentions that local banks supporting the action include KeyBank, National City, Wells Fargo, Bank One and Fifth Third.

I loved this brilliant nonresponse by National City Bank to complaints from its customers:

National City spokeswoman Terri Wilson said Tuesday a relatively small number of customers had contacted the bank to express concern.

The bank answered the concerns with assurances National City respects their privacy and will comply with all applicable telemarketing laws, said Wilson.

Well thank you very much Terri Wilson! That’s the *&$^% point. Hoosiers want Indiana law to be the applicable telemarketing laws. By supporting the CBA position, you’re saying that you do not in fact respect privacy since you want the applicable telemarketing law to be the more permissive federal law that will allow National City Bank and its ilk to call me to peddle its crap while I’m eating or spending some quality time with my child.

House Bill 1008 Dept. of Agriculture:

Provides that the lieutenant governor is the secretary of agriculture and rural development. Establishes the office of rural affairs. Establishes the department of agriculture. Transfers the functions of various state agencies relating to agriculture to the department of agriculture.

Passed the House 97 – 0. Looks like this is a pretty popular bill, but to my way of thinking, Indiana has been doing agriculture for longer than it’s been a state. Agriculture is less important to the state now than it has been in the past. So, if we’ve gotten along without a Dept. of Agriculture for this long, maybe the middle of a crippling budget crisis isn’t the time to be creating a new Department of Agriculture.

PunchtheBag has a good entry which takes a look at an Indy Star point/counter-point on Governor Daniels reasons for proposing a tax increase and Grover Norquist and the “Americans for Tax Reform” no tax purity. Punch The Bag points out that Norquist doesn’t delve into any specific cuts but only scolds the Governor for not trying harder. Governor Daniels refers to the ATR crowd as ivory tower academics who are useful but who he wouldn’t trust to manage a baseball concession stand. He also points out that one of Reagan’s first acts as Governor was to raise taxes in the face of a bankrupt state and a Constitutional duty.

Another Indy Star article on DST entitled House ready to vote on daylight-saving bill

Not a great deal of new information. There was a disingenuous quote by Rep. Torr: “Torr argued that the issues [Daylight Saving Time and Time Zones] were separate. Hoosiers who live near Cincinnati or Louisville, and adjust their clocks to stay in sync with those Eastern zone cities, are never going to agree with those who live near Illinois and want to stay on Central time year-round, he said.”

No way are the issues separate. The folks in Covington (Fountain County, next to Danville, IL) are essentially going to be on what they refer to as “double fast” time. The sun will be up way too late in the summer and rise way too late in April. By doing nothing, the legislature is expressing a preference and forcing the people on the western border, not already in the Central Time Zone, to observe Eastern Daylight Time and synch their clocks with New York City. That’s a choice the legislature can make, but calling the issues separate is absurd.

Also, the sidebar to the article notes pros & cons. Two “cons” the sidebar doesn’t mention are: 1. The fact that we’ll have to deal with an extra hour of darkness on April mornings; and 2. The cost to Hoosier businesses of reprogramming their computers and overhauling scheduling software already in place.

An extensive article entitled Just plain, ol’ Mitch? by Matthew Tully for the Indianapolis Star (my link is to the Feb. 20, 2005 Muncie Star Press where I found it.) This article is fun reading if not, ultimately, very important to the future of the state. It examines Mitch Daniels as a rich guy running in the nation’s most elite circles and his laid-back, down home Hoosier persona.

When you get down to it, I don’t really care if he bathes in Perrier Water in a Carmel Mansion or refuses to shower while drinking Drummond Brothers in a Greenwood apartment. What really matters are the actions he takes while governing.

Writing for the Indianapolis Star, Michele McNeil has an article on HB 1001 (The Budget Bill) entitledHouse OKs state budget: $23.8 billion, no tax hike

House Republicans stuck together Monday and approved a $23.8 billion two-year state budget that gives some schools more money, allows the state to hire more child welfare caseworkers and sets aside more money for college students. All without a general tax increase.

The budget plan increases public school funding by 0.75% per year; holds annual growth in Medicaid spending to 3% per year; and flat-lines prison spending. The article provides some good quotes on public school funding and Medicaid spending. What floors me is flat-lining prison spending. You’re going to have sick, broke, uneducated people and while keeping the “tough on crime” laws on the books. I hope the Attorney General’s office is getting a few more lawyers to fight the 8th Amendment lawsuits that will be coming down the pike when prisoners file their Cruel and Unusual Punishment claims against the Department of Correction. Who knows, if the prison can’t hire enough good guards or supervisors, maybe they’ll even get nailed with a 56 million dollar wrongful death action. Hopefully my concerns are unfounded and the legislature is taking steps to flat-line the Dept. of Corrections’ need for money.

House Bill 1777 Judicial Compensation. Raises the compensation of trial court judges from $90,000 to $121,122; appellate court judges from $110,000 to $139,951; and supreme court justices from $115,000 to $143,195 (plus benefits and whatnot, I presume). Jacks up small claims filing fees an additional $15 and plenary filing fees an additional $22 to pay for it. Passed second reading.

Should be interesting to see if this one gets hung up again this year. Seems like the judges have been stiffed on a raise every year for the past decade. This should’ve been passed back in the late 90s when the State was flush with cash. It’s kind of hard to tell the average Joe that a judge can’t make it on $90k when teachers are being fired and Medicaid benefits are getting axed.

House Bill 1063

Eminent domain for commercial uses. Provides that the state or a political subdivision may not use eminent domain to acquire property for public use to transfer any interest in property to another person for commercial use unless the property owner has rejected an offer from the state or a political subdivision that is equal to at least the
higher of 150% of the property’s assessed value or the average of 3 appraisals of the property.

Passed the House 67 – 29.

If I’m not mistaken, this was the subject of a case the Supreme Court recently heard entitled Kelo v. New London. The Indiana Law Blog has good coverage of the case.

This bill seems to be a decent solution. I would suggest strengthening the bill a bit by requiring not only that the property owner have rejected an offer of 150% but also require that if eminent domain is exercised that the political subdivision actually have to pay at least 150%. (Maybe the eminent domain statute requires that the compensation be at least as much as the highest offer or somesuch. I have not read that statute in quite awhile.)

House Bill 1034 Daylight Savings Time. Repeals IC 1-1-8.1 which is the chapter of the Indiana Code that exempts Indiana from observation of “advanced time”. It is effective upon passage, so, if the bill were to pass after the first Sunday in April, Hoosiers would have to switch their clocks as soon as the Governor signed the bill.

This bill passed Second reading with only Representative Van Haaften’s Amendment having been added to the bill by a vote of 50 to 47. That bill requires the Dept. of Transportation to put up time zone signs on state highways, interstate highways, and the toll road when you cross from Central to Eastern Time. (I wonder if U.S. highways that aren’t Interstates are included in the provision.)

Amendments that failed were:

Rep. Crooks’ Amendment to urge Gov. Daniels to petition the U.S. Dept. of Transportation to put most of Indiana in the Central Time Zone (failed 46-48);

Rep. Crooks’ Amendment to have a referendum on whether most of Indiana should be put in the Central Time Zone (failed 47-51);

Rep. Grubb’s Amendment to support any county executive seeking to change the county’s time zone (failed 43-54);

Rep. Grubb’s Amendment for a referendum on the question of whether most counties should be put in the Central Time Zone (failed 44-53); and

Rep. Grubb’s Amendment that would keep Standard Time in place for those counties in the Eastern Time Zone except the counties around Cincinnati and Louisville (failed 44-53).

I had a couple of prior entries that looked at the nuts & bolts of the laws governing Daylight Savings Time here and here.