Ind. lawmakers hope to finish session early

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February 28, 2010

Anonymous The Washington Times-Herald Sun Feb 28, 2010, 08:18 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana legislative leaders hope to wrap up the 2010 session next week, days before a March 14 deadline.

But a few major issues have yet to be resolved, including a key sticking point on whether to delay or repeal unemployment insurance tax increases and make other changes to the jobless benefit system.

Democrats and Republicans also are at odds over how to help schools offset $300 million in budget cuts that Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered. And the fate of a job-creation package passed by the Democrat-controlled House is uncertain. Leaders of the Republican-ruled Senate have only said they will take a look at it.

But it seems very likely that legislation to tighten ethics and lobbying rules will pass. And House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said Friday that he was hopeful that compromises on the other issues could be reached and lawmakers could adjourn as early as Thursday.

"I want to get out because it saves money," Bauer said. "I think the issues have been vetted thoroughly on both sides and we should just sit down, do it and leave."

Lawmakers will spend the coming days in House-Senate conference committees, where compromises on differing versions of bills passed by each chamber will be sought. Some bills that originated in one chamber and were changed in the other might pass without going through the conference process.

Those could include the ethics and lobbying bill.

That measure would bar lawmakers from becoming lobbyists for one year after their terms expire and require lobbyists to report any gifts worth $50 or more — including meals, drinks and tickets to events — instead of the current $100 limit. It also prohibits incumbents or candidates for statewide office from raising campaign funds during budget-writing legislative sessions.

Bauer was the bill's original author, and he could ask the House to simply agree to changes the Senate made and send the measure to Gov. Mitch Daniels.

But Bauer has not said he would concur with the Senate changes. He is disappointed that the Senate removed "pay-to-play" language that would prohibit vendors holding or seeking state contracts worth $100,000 or more per year from donating to the campaigns of candidates seeking state office.

House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said Bauer should let the House vote on the bill in its current form rather than go to conference, where Bosma said "nefarious things can happen or it could be used for leverage for other bills."

However, the unemployment insurance bill is headed for a conference committee.

Senate Republicans passed a bill that would delay for one year an increase in taxes that employers pay into the state's unemployment insurance fund. The tax increase, which to take effect later this year, was approved last year to help shore up the bankrupt fund, which has borrowed $1.6 billion from the federal government so far to remain solvent.

Senate Republicans wanted a one-year delay, saying the tax increase would force employers to lay off workers in a still-struggling economy.

But the House voted to repeal the increase altogether, and its bill includes provisions added by House Democrats that Republicans dislike. They include an expansion of eligibility for jobless benefits and an increase in the maximum weekly benefit.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said those provisions would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Both chambers passed bills that would allow schools to shift money from dedicated accounts funded by property taxes to general operating expenses to help offset budget cuts and avoid teacher layoffs.

But the Senate version would only allow schools to do that if school employees, including teachers, wouldn't get pay raises in the next academic year. There would be a couple of exceptions, such as teachers who get advanced higher education degrees.

Democrats oppose that requirement because it would force many school districts to renegotiate contracts that contain pay raises.

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