A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

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.

State tax amnesty bill sent to House: Rep. Eric Turner has introduced a “tax amnesty” bill that gives tax debtors an as yet to be determined 8 week period to pay taxes without penalty or interest charges. Proponents say “we need the money”. Detractors say, “it’s a cheater’s rights bill.”

As written currently, HB 1004 would also double the penalty against a debtor who has the opportunity pay under the tax amnesty program but fails to do so.

This kind of makes me wonder what the current practice is with regard to tax collection efforts currently in litigation. I wonder if the State will cut a deal with debtors to settle in full if they pay a lump sum equal to their principal debt, waiving the extras. If they do that kind of thing already, I wouldn’t have any problem with this bill. If not, I have mixed feelings.

Introduced Version, Senate Bill 0217 It never passes, but Sen. Server has introduced a bill to raise the speed limit on Interstates from 65 to 70 mph.

(Maybe they could play up the economic development angle. When given an option, I chose a route that was a few miles longer because it was primarily through states with 70 mph speed limits.)

Introduced Version, Senate Bill 0178

Provides that a consumer may prevent access to the consumer’s credit report by requesting that the consumer reporting agency place a security freeze on the consumer’s credit report.

This one seems riddled with potential problems. If an individual requests a “security freeze” on their credit report, the reporting agency is then only allowed to give the information to government and law enforcement entities, creditors of the individual for use in collecting on the debt, and the consumer. (I have some vague recollection that it is currently not entirely appropriate for creditors to use credit reporting information to collect a debt.)

It allows the reporting agency to disregard the request if it’s based on “false information” even though the individual isn’t required to provide any reason for the freeze. It also seems like there would be First Amendment and federal preemption issues involved. Maybe the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I also get the feeling that the genie is already out of the bottle with regard to dissemination of our personal information. At this late date, I don’t think you can ever be certain that someone isn’t privy to your personal information.