Assembly to discuss issues
for year
By Heather Mangold
City
Editor
The biggest issue facing the General Assembly during
this session will be the budget, said Sen. Ronnie Alting. This year's
legislative session will be challenging for lawmakers because the economy
is taking a negative turn and the outcome is not expected to be pleasant,
said Alting.
Indiana's government is facing one of the smallest
budgets within the last decade. Legislators are looking to tap into
gambling revenue, taking $400 million from it. Other legislators are
considering desperate measures going into the tobacco settling money
for general budget needs. Alting is not in favor of this use for the
money.
"This was never the intention for that money,"
said Alting.
Another issue facing the General Assembly this
session will be abortion. According to Planned Parenthood spokesperson
Sylvia Johnson, 58 percent of the House and 68 percent of the Senate
in Indiana are pro-life. Planned Parenthood's goal is to persuade legislators
to make Indiana a more equitable state for women.
As well as trying to persuade legislators to vote
in favor of pro-choice bills, business groups are pushing legislators
to institute daylight savings time in Indiana. Indiana is one of two
states in the entire nation that do not participate in daylights savings
time.
While schools foresee safety benefits from daylight-saving
time, they predict benefits for children with the institution of full-day
kindergarten. Gov. Frank O'Bannon's push to enforce it will be another
issue to come before the assembly.
The necessity for legislators to vote on new district
lines in Indiana will be an issue faced by lawmakers this session. One
Purdue professor said that because the state has a large number of Democratic
leaders, there is a good chance that lines will be drawn to break up
those counties that have a great deal of Republican voters.
On Thursday the Public Policy Committee announced
that a bill concerning gambling will be brought before the General Assembly
for the first time in years, said Scholer. The bill will be presented
in the ballroom of the Indianapolis Convention Center, where no bill
has ever been reviewed before. According to Scholer, Democrats plan
to move the bill.
Budget
The dominating topic coming before the General
Assembly will be the budget itself, according to Alting.
"It's because it affects every citizen in the state
of Indiana," said Alting.
This year's legislative session will be challenging
for budget issues because the economy is turning and the forecast is
bleak, said Alting. Scholer agreed with Alting. She said that the likely
outcome for greater funding for education and higher education is not
a good one. Alting said that the surplus that the state government has
to work with during this session is less than half of the surplus two
years ago.
"We are starting off with an amount of zero dollars
because so much was spent last session," said Alting.
Dealing with the budget is going to be challenging
and state leaders are going to have to get creative to fund things like
education for K-12, said Alting.
Alting said that he would also like to increase
funding for services at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Scholer said, "We certainly need a second branch
of the organization in Tippecanoe County."
Commissioner Gary Gibson made a presentation on
Wednesday morning to the Ways and Means Committee requesting additional
funding for the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
"The problem is that there is a lot of room for
improvements," said Scholer.
In the past there have not been many improvements
with what funding that the Bureau of Motor Vehicles already had, according
to Scholer.
She said there is no question that the organization
needs funding but speculated that there is a question about whether
the funds allocated will be used to the best ability.
Scholer mentioned the possibility of allowing car
dealerships to share some of the work with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
She suggested that Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles should model itself
after other Bureau of Motor Vehicle branches from throughout the nation.
Abortion
"We need to have children not be created unless
they are wanted and loved," said Scholer. She said that the problem
young women face starts long before abortion is even a question.
Scholer believes that abortion is not an issue
that can be solved legislatively and that it has no place in the government.
When asked what position she took on the abortion
issue, Scholer said that she was both pro-choice and pro-life. Last
session Scholer supported the ban on partial birth abortions.
Sylvia Johnson, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood,
said as members of the legislative session, Planned Parenthood prepares
a reproductive health agenda that will make Indiana a more equitable
state for women.
Planned Parenthood is focusing on three main issues
during this session. Insurance coverage for contraceptives, medically
accurate health education and defeat of onerous abortions are the issues
that Planned Parenthood is pushing.
Johnson defined medically accurate health education
as being age appropriate and that it should be enforced in public schools.
She said currently, schools are emphasizing that abstinence is the only
choice. This is inaccurate, according to Johnson.
"Planned Parenthood's goal is to work with elected
officials to protect, provide and promote reproductive health care,"
said Johnson.
Johnson said that Planned Parenthood uses grassroots
activities to try to persuade legislators to enforce insurance coverage
for contraceptives, medically accurate health education and defeat of
onerous abortions. These grassroots activities are put in place by encouraging
clinic advocacy in different clinics throughout the state, encouraging
patients of Planned Parenthood to contact legislators about their concerns
and using an e-mail network to encourage people to send e-mails to legislators.
Daylight-saving Time
Implementing daylight-saving time has come before
the assembly in the years past, according to Scholer.
Scholer said she has always been supportive of
daylight-saving time and does not see any reason to withdraw her support
now.
"There are pros and cons for daylight-saving time,"
said Scholer.
Some of the advantages she mentioned were that
Indiana would not use as many resources for lighting. Scholer also said
that Hoosiers can see safety benefits that come from daylight savings
time.
Some schools in Indiana have a negative view towards
daylight-saving time, according to Scholer.
"For some, it's just a simple resistance to change.
Many just don’t want to change time twice a year," Scholer said.
The farming community has been opposed to it in
the past. They did not feel that it was beneficial to them in their
operation of business, she said.
Mayor Sonya Margerum said she's in favor of daylight-saving
time.
Margerum thought it would be a great move for the
summer.
"I would like to see Indiana get in line with other
states," said Margerum.
She said that anyone interested in enforcing daylight-saving
time should pass their opinion along to their legislator.
Alting said, "We are hearing from the business
community that we need to examine that for high-tech jobs for overall
economic growth in the nation."
High-tech businesses are supportive of the change
because a large amount of their investors that are based on the East
Coast which already has daylight-saving time.
Education
Gov. Frank O'Bannon is presenting the idea to create
a pilot program for full-day kindergarten. The program would serve as
a model for legislators to consider implementing full-day kindergarten
in all public schools throughout Indiana.
According to Alting, there are 66 school corporations
in Indiana that already have full-day kindergarten and it would be unnecessary
to use taxpayers' money to create the pilot program.
Scholer agreed that several schools already have
full-day kindergarten and added that most kindergarten teachers in those
schools only get paid for half of a day.
Scholer is in favor of block granting for schools
that would allow the schools themselves to determine what to do with
the sums of money from the state whether it be for increased teacher
pay or new books.
The problem with implementing full-day kindergarten
is that it requires new physical space, according to Scholer. She said
these costs are the problem.
Alting is in favor of full-day kindergarten only
when parents are given a choice and can decide if the child is mature
enough to begin school.
Alting said that a new enrollment date for kindergartners
is going to be brought before the assembly this session.
"We are sending the oldest children to school over
all other states," said Alting.
Gambling
On Wednesday, a bill concerning gambling in Indiana
will be brought before the General Assembly. The bill itself consists
of clean up language that people who run gambling in Indiana thought
was necessary.
"The word is that this will be the bill that will
move and anyone who has concerns regarding gaming should be ready to
participate," said Scholer.
Bills concerning gambling issues in Indiana have
been brought before the assembly in years past, but nothing has moved
in the past three or four years, said Scholer.
"An extremely large amount of people are expected
to attend," said Scholer.
There has never been a bill that has required the
use of the ballroom at the Indianapolis Convention Center.
"Thousands of issues such as legalizing dockside
gambling in Indiana will be included in the hearings for the bill,"
said Scholer.
Currently gambling boats are only allowed to board
customers every 90 minutes. Dockside gambling would allow constant boarding
of gamblers.
Lawmakers and riverboat owners will push the efforts
to legalize dockside gambling.
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