A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Introduced Version, House Bill 1076 States that only a named insured or someone seeking insured status can bring an action for declaration of coverage prior to judgment being entered on the underlying claim.

Can’t say I like this one very much. This would apparently stop someone who has been injured by a tortfeasor from obtaining a determination of whether the tortfeasor has any insurance coverage. So, let’s say someone blows a red light, T-bones your car, and causes you a whole lot of injuries. Maybe the driver’s insurer says that the latest premium was received a day or two late and there’s no coverage. The driver says he paid it on time. The insurer defends the driver under a reservation of rights. So, to obtain your judgment, you have to fight through the insurer-paid attorneys, but at the end of the day, there might not be any money to pay your judgment. Knowing whether your judgment is worthless or not could very well affect how much you put into your case, paying experts, taking depositions, etc.

Contrast that with a potentially much cheaper action against the insurer for determination of the question of whether they cover the driver or not. You lose that one, and you probably cut your losses, figuring a judgment against the driver is worthless. You win that one and you expend whatever resources you can afford and your injuries justify.

Daniels ponders sale of ‘extra’ state items

An Indianapolis Star article about Gov. Daniels’ proposal to sell off government assets and allow naming rights. I certainly have no problem with selling assets that the state doesn’t need. But there is also talk of selling the toll road (I-80/90) to private interests. I’m against selling critical infrastructure to non-government entities. (I’m generally against toll-roads themselves, for what it’s worth. Roads are a common good and should be paid for as such and accessed by the public as such.) But don’t get into the business of turning capital costs into operating costs by selling stuff you need to private interests and then leasing from them.

Introduced Version, House Bill 1073 Representative Don Lehe introduced a bill that would withdraw the BMV’s discretion to withhold the identity of someone who contacts the BMV regarding a person’s ability to operate a vehicle safely. Don’t know that this is a good or a bad idea, it’s just kind of trivial. That probably means there is a specific story behind it. I wonder if Lehe or one of his constitutents in particular wants to know who has been looking at their BMV records.

It is surprising how much legislation, especially the minor nit-picky stuff, is designed, at least initially, to address a particular individual’s experience.

Introduced Version, House Bill 1063 This bill prohibits the use of eminent domain to acquire property for commercial purposes. This is an interesting issue. Currently, I think eminent domain can be used by the government to take private property if it is done for the “public good”. I honestly don’t know if the question has been definitively settled under current Indiana law. But, the argument would go that taking your corn field and selling it or even giving it to some commercial or industrial interest will create jobs, generate tax revenues, and therefore be for the public good. That makes some sense, though it doesn’t feel right that Crony County (fictitious), Indiana should be able to take the property that’s been in your family for almost 200 years since they fought the Pottowatomis for it, shove a bargain basement “fair market value” down your throat, and turn the property over to Acme Co. to throw up a strip mall.

If such a law had been in place in Texas back when George W. Bush was with the Rangers, I believe it would have prevented him from making a good chunk of his fortune with the Rangers stadium deal, for example. (I wonder if anyone currently owns property in jeopardy of eminent domain from the new Colts stadium?)

Introduced Version, House Bill 1058 Allows minors 14-18 years old to operate snow mobiles and off road vehicles only on their parents’ property. Requires anyone under 18 to be wearing a helmet.

Introduced Version, House Bill 1025 is up for hearing today before the Public and Homeland Security Committee. I covered this a bit earlier and Rep. Koch as well. He also wants to require the DNR to make payments in lieu of taxes to counties in which its acreage is located. The payments come from the state general fund. So, it would basically be a matter of transferring wealth from counties without DNR land to counties with it.

Daniels taps pair to fill jobs posts

Ron Stiver, a brand strategy and sales manager for Eli Lilly and Co., will be commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development, which handles unemployment claims, keeps statistics on Indiana’s work force and spearheads worker retraining efforts.

To be fair, he also appointed a Columbus corporate attorney, Miguel Rivera, to the Dept. of Labor. So, while it’s still the business community, it’s a good 35+ miles south of I-465.