Introduced Version, Senate Bill 0322 – Would not allow a unit of government to pay for the defense expenses of an officer or employee charged with a crime. If the alleged crime was related to activity associated with the officer or employee’s duties and the officer or employee is acquitted or the charges dismissed, the officer or employee could apply to the fiscal body for reimbursement of reasonable expenses.
SB 328 – Civil Penalties for Open Door Violations
Introduced Version, Senate Bill 0328 This bill would allow a civil penalty to be imposed against a public official who took part in a meeting despite knowing it violated the open door law. Maximum penalty of $1,000 which would be deposited in the state general fund. Allows attorney’s fees and costs for the plaintiff if the plaintiff prevails; allows attorney’s fees and costs for the defendant only if the action is found by the court to be “frivolous and vexatious.”
Daniels to State Employees: Suck It!
Daniels Rescinds Collective Bargaining for State Employees WISHTV 8 is reporting that Daniels is rescinding collective bargaining agreements with state employees:
The new Republican governor ended a practice that began under Governor Evan Bayh because, he says, rules created under collective bargaining would have slowed changes that he intends to make in state government. The rules gave union employees power to negotiate pay and benefits and work rules, among other things.
About 25,000 state employees are covered by bargaining agreements. Daniels says it will now be easier to fire some of those employees.
“Let me just say I think it will be a lot harder, for instance, for an employee who has found to have failed multiple drug tests to get back on a snow plow – which is a real world example.”
I wonder if Mitch’s “real world example” comes from the same reality where PERF pension records are supposedly kept in a shoebox and an ALJ was paid $100,000 for never hearing a case. (Daniels made these claims and others. The Indy Star discovered the claims to be false.)
Be a Snitch for Mitch!
A letter to state employees from Mitch Daniels essentially accuses state employees of slothfulness and wastefulness and encourages snitches to call the Governor’s office directly. Tattlers will be “celebrated and rewarded.” He phrased it a bit differently, but that was the general message.
Are there senseless practices, or even wrongdoing, where you work? Now, right now, is the time to tell us about it. People who step forward to alert us to problems will be celebrated and rewarded, not punished, for their honesty.
. . .
We will expect state workers to treat their fellow citizens not as subjects or adversaries but as customers. Where practical, we intend to measure how pleased our customers are with our work, and reward those workers whose fellow citizens rate them highly.
. . .
The organizing objective of our administration will be higher personal income for Hoosiers, meaning more money, after taxes, in each worker’s pocket. Almost every part of state government can do something, or do it faster, or maybe stop doing something, to improve the chances of economic growth in our state. Be prepared to help identify what your area can do, to keep track of it, and to be held accountable for progress or the lack of it.Among 35,000 employees, inevitably there will be a few who will misunderstand these basics. There may even be a few who think there is some right to a job at their fellow taxpayers’ expense, or who think that it is fine to give less than an honest day’s work, or to go along from year to year without improving. Those few will find life more difficult during our administration; in fact, they will need to look for different employment.
First of all, this is a shortsighted and ignorant approach. That he feels a need to bring up hard work in his first letter to all state employees betrays an ignorance of state government. State employees, by and large, work very hard. I don’t think there is any evidence of slothfulness in the population of state employees than in the population of the workforce at large. Either he’s ignorant or he’s setting up an excuse to make room in state government to dole out some patronage to his supporters.
Second, a government is not a store. Going back to high school civics for a second, the Governor’s job and, by extension, state agencies under the Governor’s authority, is to execute the laws. Proper execution of the law is not always going to make you popular. Equating citizens with customers drives me nuts in that it diminishes and trivializes a citizen’s proper role in society. Proper execution of the law also may not serve to leave more money in a citizen’s pocket. Mitch Daniels may not understand this, but I want the Department of Natural Resources to be deeply unpopular with those who are polluting our air and water. I want the DNR to cause such people to lose a lot of money. The same goes for the Department of Revenue and tax cheats as well as for the BMV and those who should not be allowed to drive.
Creating an adversarial relationship with state employees before any cause has been given cannot be a good way to start one’s tenure. Maybe Daniels believes his own propaganda about how dysfunctional state government is. He should remember that the first secret of being a successful cult leader: never drink your own Kool-Aid.
Review of Jared Diamond’s “Collapse”
Wired Reviews Jared Diamond’s “Collapse” — This caught my eye because I very much enjoyed Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel. In Collapse,
[Diamond’s] subject . . . is the demise of whole societies, especially where collapse is sudden and total, contrasted with the ingenious survival of other societies that faced the same dangers.
. . .
Diamond identifies five major causes of societal collapse: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, loss of trade partners, and stupidity. Any one or two plus stupidity will do.
(Guns, Germs, & Steel identified geographic reasons for certain societies dominating the world while others never progressed. If I recall correctly, societies had a much easier time where they were located on a continent with an east-west access and had loads of domesticable animals.)
PunchTheBag can sleep easy
Rushville couple claim $15.7 million jackpot
Ryan and Mary Beth Emerson, of Rushville, on Monday claimed the $15.7 million prize from the Dec. 29 Hoosier Lotto drawing. Ryan Emerson bought the ticket Dec. 28 at a Rushville Speedway station but didn’t check the ticket until last week.
PunchTheBag commented on this story earlier.
Compliant Dem coalition allow GOP to take Control of Indy Council
Council votes to oust Boyd as president
A coalition of Republicans sided with four Democrats on Monday to topple the leadership of the City-County Council — an unprecedented move that could affect a number of important city initiatives this year.
An 18-11 vote to make Democrat Steve Talley council president pushed aside Rozelle Boyd, who last year became the council’s first Democratic president in more than three decades.
The writer of the story opines that the rancor displayed during the vote could call into question the fate of big Indy projects like the Colts’ new stadium. Could be interesting though. A Republican chairman and a Democratic majority on the council. Presumably the chair has some powers that allow him to guide the course of the council, but the Dems will have enough votes to vote him down if he gets out of control. I’m probably being naive in thinking this could lead to some sort of bipartisanship. But, there’s always hope.
HB 1126 – Immunity for 501(c)(3) organization
Introduced Version, House Bill 1126 Per the LSA digest:
Provides that employees, volunteers, and volunteer directors of: (1) certain community mental retardation and other developmental disabilities centers; (2) certain rehabilitation centers; and (3) nonprofit organizations; are immune from civil liability arising from the performance of the duties of the employee, volunteer, or volunteer director if the employee, volunteer, or volunteer director exercises reasonable care in the performance of those duties.
My problem with this bill (and it’s more a problem with existing law than anything added by this bill) is that it conditions the immunity on the individual having exercised reasonable care in the performance of the individual’s duties. This really does nothing to help a person defend themselves against a negligence suit. The key question in a negligence question is whether a person exercised reasonable care while performing a duty. If you did, you’re not negligent. If you’re not negligent, you’re not liable. So, I suppose the bill could theoretically be defending the person against strict liability or vicarious liability or some of the more exotic actions, but I doubt that’s the intent.
Looks like the bill was up for committee hearing today, but I couldn’t find whatever action may have been taken.
House & Senate Calendar for 1/11/05
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.
HB 1004 (Jan. 7, 2005 printing) – Tax Amnesty Bill
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.
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