Mary Beth Schneider has an article in the Indy Star entitled, House panel OKs budget with no plan to raise taxes. The headline covers the jist of the story. The story mentions that Governor Daniels proposal to impose a one-time additional tax on those making more than $100k may not be dead, it may come up in the Senate. Rep. Bill Crawford was also described as deadset against the budget bill, on which he voted no, because of cuts to school funding. The House Ways & Means Committee passed the bill on a party line vote 15 to 10.
House Bills for 2/15/05
Allows a person registering a vehicle to donate at least $1 to be placed in a special account for grants to units of local governments to purchase fire equipment for volunteer fire departments. Provides that an emergency medical dispatch agency does not have to be certified by the emergency medical services commission as an emergency medical dispatch agency until July 1, 2006.
Requires state and local law enforcement agencies to issue annually to their retired law enforcement officers a photographic identification. Allows a retiring member of the arson division of the office of the state fire marshal to retain the member’s service weapon and requires the office to issue the retiring member a badge and an identification card. Requires a retired law enforcement officer who carries a concealed firearm under federal law to obtain annually, at the officer’s expense, an endorsement or certification that the officer meets the training and qualification standards to carry that type of firearm. Provides that an entity that provides the endorsement or certification is immune from civil or criminal liability for providing the endorsement or certification.
Prohibits a private employer from disciplining an employee who is a volunteer firefighter or a member of a volunteer emergency medical services association for being late to work when the employee is responding to a fire or an emergency call. Authorizes a private employer to: (1) request proof that the employee was engaged in fire or emergency activity when absent; and (2) require the employee to notify the employer of the expected absence before the scheduled start time. Provides that an employer other than the state is not required to pay salary or wages for volunteer firefighting time away from employment, although other accrued benefit remuneration may be paid. Provides that an employer may designate an employee as an essential employee and reject the employee’s notification of expected absence. Specifies that the agent of a public employer other than the state who has authorized an absence for volunteer firefighting purposes has not committed ghost employment. Makes a conforming change regarding the statute of limitations for an action brought by a volunteer firefighter against a political subdivision employer disciplined for being absent from employment while responding to an emergency.
Suspends enforcement by the fire prevention and building safety commission of, and requires the office of the state fire marshal to recommend amendments to, certain sections of the international fire code concerning tents and cooking and open flames.
Allows a private university to purchase coverage from the special death benefit fund for all firefighters employed by the university, including firefighters employed by the university who died in the line of duty after June 30, 2004, and before July 1, 2005. Allows a private university, college, or junior college to purchase coverage from the special death benefit fund for all police officers appointed by the university, college, or junior college. including police officers employed by the university, college, or junior college who died in the line of duty after June 30, 2004, and before July 1, 2005. Imposes a $5 fee on each bail bond and deposits the fees collected in the special death benefit fund.
Requires direct deposit by electronic funds transfer of all payments to a person who has a contract with the state or submits invoices for payment from the state. Provides a procedure for the auditor of state to grant a waiver of this requirement. Provides that a person who entered into a contract with the state before July 1, 2005, must authorize direct deposit of payments to the person or request a waiver of the requirement not later than June 30, 2006. Requires direct deposit by electronic funds transfer of a state employee’s earnings. Provides a procedure for the auditor of state to grant a waiver of this requirement. Provides that a state employee hired before July 1, 2005, must authorize direct deposit of the employee’s earnings or request a waiver of the requirement not later than June 30, 2006.
I suspect there will be a number of state employees unhappy with this one. Seems like there was language in the state’s direct deposit authorization that was a little fishy causing some of the more cautious employees to go without direct deposit. The strict language of this statutes requires only that the employee give his or her authorization and designate a bank and an account number. The state being the state, you know there will be a standard form with all kinds of gobbledy-gook. I’d like to see the case where the employee refuses to sign but simply provides a hand written statement saying, “I, Employee X, authorize direct deposit of my earnings to The Bank in Account 123456.” /s/ Employee X.
Provides that the gasoline tax applies to gasoline used or sold in Indiana (current law provides that the tax applies to gasoline used in Indiana). Authorizes the transportation finance authority to issue bonds or notes secured by lease rentals relating to highway improvement projects and anticipated to be paid by the department of transportation from federal transportation revenues received in the current federal fiscal year or to be received in a future federal fiscal year. Limits the total amount of the lease rentals securing the bonds or notes during any state fiscal year to 50% of the increase in the amount of federal transportation revenues received by the state since the federal fiscal year ending September 30, 2004. Authorizes the transportation finance authority to issue bonds or notes for local road projects that are secured by lease rentals payable by cities, towns, and counties. Provides that when issuing the bonds or notes, the authority is subject to certain rules concerning minority and women’s business participation.
This one looks very interesting (in a very, very dry kind of way.) I don’t have time to look at it in any detail tonight, unfortunately.
Specifies that for purposes of the law regulating off-road vehicles and snowmobiles, the definition of “operate” applies to both types of vehicles. Specifies that snowmobiles must be registered under the off-road vehicle and snowmobile law. Makes possessing an off-road vehicle or snowmobile with an altered or defaced vehicle number a Class B misdemeanor. Makes failure of a dealer to maintain rented vehicles in a safe operating condition or to maintain liability insurance a Class C infraction (instead of a Class B misdemeanor). Allows bird hunting stamps in an electronically generated form. Allows commemorative bird hunting stamps to be sold. Provides that hunting and fishing licenses and stamps expire on March 31. Requires electronically obtained licenses to be signed to be valid. Amends procedures to obtain a duplicate license. (The introduced version of this bill was prepared by the natural resources study committee.)
I don’t have enough time to sift through the Senate Bills tonight, but here is a synopsis:
SB 32. Handgun licenses and noncitizens. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 60 Changes for the Wabash River Heritage Foundation. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 88 Judges’ retirement benefits. Passed 42 – 6.
SB 89 Lighting and marking of agricultural equipment. Passed 46 – 2.
SB 139 Professional licensing agency. Passed 47 – 1.
SB 181 Environmental assessment before demolition. Passed 43 – 5.
SB 213 Sales tax on out-of-state sales. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 233 Child solicitation. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 259 Rulemaking by instrumentalities of the state. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 296 Adds a community college mission to Ivy Tech. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 303 Marion superior court. Passed 47 – 1.
SB 362 Notice of existence of insurance policy. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 373 Statutes of limitation in property matters. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 379 Delivery sales of tobacco products. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 422 Adoption procedural requirements. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 465 Use of cattle guards. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 481 Transitional living services. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 493 Geographic information systems. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 527 Board of animal health issues. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 538 Lead Poisoning. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 571 Multi-jurisdictional economic development. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 607 Combining licensing bureau and agency. Passed 48 – 0.
SB 638 Merger of townships. Passed 45 – 3.
SB 7 – Seat belts passes committee
The Associated Press is reporting that SB 7 has passed out of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Utilities, and Public Policy by a vote of 10-0. The bill that would require drivers and all passengers to wear seat belts in trucks, SUVs and cars. (Currently the occupants of trucks and truck-plated SUVs are not required to wear seat belts, nor are the back seat occupants of automobiles.)
According to the article:
Bill sponsor Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, said the bill would likely see opposition as it moves to the House.
“It’s not without controversy,” he told senators. “You’re going to hear from constituents talking about their freedom and liberty.”
With respect to the freedom and liberty argument, I think that horse left the barn when the legislature mandated seat belt use for cars. I don’t think there is any principled distinction for mandating the use of seat belts in cars but not trucks or SUVs. I don’t know what the data is about seat belt use saving lives for back seat passengers, so I’m willing to consider the argument that the back seat mandate is unnecessary. But, with regard to front seat passengers, I think seat belt mandates are a good idea for cars, and I don’t see any reason to continue the nonsensical exclusion of trucks and SUVs absent some showing that beltless crashes don’t pose much of a danger to occupants of trucks and SUVs.
Cell phone while driving ban dies in committee
In an article by Theodore Kim entitled Cell phone ban comes to dead end, the Indy Star reports that a proposed ban on cell phones while driving has died in Committee. I commented on HB 1508 previously here and here.
The House Roads & Transportation Committee held a hearing on the bill but declined to take votes. According to the Indy Star article, “Monday’s proceedings lasted just minutes, sparked no discussion and were held in a nearly empty hearing room in the basement of the Statehouse. The hearing, scheduled for morning, was delayed about six hours after several Democratic committee members did not show up. The absent members were attending a caucus meeting.”
Indy Star on DST Hearing
The Indy Star’s Mary Beth Schneider has an article on the House Committee Hearing on DST entitled Daylight-saving time is issue of the hour. Every time most other states change their clocks but Indiana doesn’t, it creates confusion, he said, as he has to explain why it takes five hours to deliver something to Detroit half the year, but six hours the rest of the year. “It’s something we in Indiana know. I understand the time zone here,” Russell said. “But nobody else does. It’s hurting us.”
I’m not sure how Celadon is running its business, but the numbers on the clock shouldn’t affect how long it takes to physically transport an object from point A to point B. Maybe he misspoke and just means it differently than how it was quoted. The article also talks about anectdotal stories from businesses about missed conference calls and deadlines. I just don’t understand how this is different from any other business operating across timezones. To coordinate a 3:00 p.m. conference call with an office in L.A., you have to know what time it is on the west coast. Indiana is always -5 hours GMT. That should make it easier to coordinate worldwide than a system that is constantly shifting in relation to GMT. We’re as constant as the north star. Frankly, if you’re smart enough to get the phones to actually work right in a conference call, figuring out Eastern Standard Time year round should be a breeze.
Once again, there is a vague assertion that a constant time zone costs Indiana economically, but no actual evidence that switching to Eastern Daylight Time for half the year would add any jobs or failing to do so would cost any jobs.
Apropos of nothing, but you know what would get me to call my legislators and ask them to vote for DST? If the DST bill could somehow be welded to a bill that brought back a one-class basketball system. They aren’t very related, but both are emotional issues that make Indiana a little bit special. But, I liked our basketball tournament better than I like our time zone.
Update: The Evansville Courier Press has a report on the hearing (free registration required) that notes that Joe Champion representing the City of Evansville and Steve Schaefer with the Metropolitan Evansville Chamber of Commerce indicated that their support for the bill was conditional on the entire state moving to the Central Timezone. “The city supports any prospects … that would allow the city of Evansville to be on the same time as the city of Indianapolis,” Champion said. That means they would not support the bill in its current form.
Rep. Gerald Torr says “the two issues should remain separate” noting that the cities on the eastern border would vigorously fight moving to Central Time. But, clearly the issues can’t be separate. You’re putting counties on the western border on Eastern Daylight Time with the current bill.
The South Bend Tribune also has a story on the hearing. In this story, we have our first, and only, specific citation of jobs lost because of DST: “The first, related by state Commerce Secretary Pat Miller, involved the loss of a department store distribution center — Kohl’s — because of time-related issues.” I would be very interested to hear whether the absence of DST was the only reason for Kohl’s going elsewhere.
Updated update: According to this article the DST bill passed out of Committee with a roll call vote of 6 to 5, apparently on a party-line vote, though the committee report is not on the state’s web site.
Schools could lose funding; face increased class size
The Indy Star’s Kevin Corcoran and Michele McNeil have an article entitled: GOP school-aid plan may boost class size. Under the proposed plan, average per-pupil spending would shrink from $6,006 this year to $5,987 by 2007. The actual amount varies from school to school, but it doesn’t sound like any school would avoid belt-tightening.
This plays into thoughts I had while watching a movie over the weekend. I watched the documentary “Super-Size Me” which is a documentary that has more to do with Americans’ general health and diet than with schools specifically. But, there is a segment where the filmmaker looks at school diets and notes the problem with soda machines in the schools. The usual justification for having these machines around is that the soda vendors then give a fair amount of money to the schools. It just seems a shame to me that we have to expose our kids to marketing and get them even more pumped full of sugar to get a few extra bucks for extra-curricular activities. The soda companies get their money from the kids pumping coins into the machine which the kids in turn got from their parents. Seems like the sensible thing to do would be to cut out the soda and get the money straight from the parents to the schools. The kids would probably learn better without all the sugar anyway. But, that’s utopia for you.
SB 564 – Request of auctioneer for foreclosure sales
Senate Bill 0564 Auctioneer for foreclosure sales. Allows a debtor or creditor involved in a foreclosure sale to specify an auctioneer that, upon approval by the court, the Sheriff must retain within 14 days of the court’s order. The bill does not specify what would happen if different creditors ask for different auctioneers, but since court approval is required, presumably the judge would sort it out. Passed 47 – 0. All things considered, I suppose I’d rather the Sheriff had more discretion on the auctioneer, but maybe that’s just because I happen to like Tippecanoe County’s Sheriff. Giving the Sheriff a 14 day deadline to retain (or “engage” the auctioneer) seems a little picky and could present some real-world difficulties in particular cases: the specified auctioneer refuses or can’t be reached, for example.
SB 499 – Voting equipment integrity and updates
Senate Bill 0499 I sure hope the digest is accurate on this one because these &*#@^& election law bills just wither the soul when one tries to read them. I’d like to blame Brad King, co-director of the Indiana Election Division, but I’m not at all certain this is his doing (or that election bills can be done with bills that are measured in page rather than by weight.) Anyway, the digest reads as follows:
Makes changes regarding the certification process for voting systems and establishes a uniform date for the expiration of voting system certifications. Establishes a voting systems technical oversight program. Requires county election boards to perform public tests of electronic voting systems before election day. Requires precinct election boards to document certain information concerning optical scan tabulation systems before the polls open. Establishes civil penalties for violations of statutes concerning the use of voting systems in Indiana elections. Requires a county that uses a punch card voting system to enter into a contract, not later than July 1, 2005, for a voting system certified for use in Indiana elections for delivery not later than January 1, 2006, and allows the secretary of state to purchase a voting system for the county if the county does not act. Permits a voting system previously certified for use in Indiana to continue to be used after the certification expires if the voting system complies with the requirements of HAVA. Repeals obsolete references to lever voting machines, punch card voting systems, and paper ballots formerly printed by the election division.
Passed 47-0.
SB 266 – Processed Deer Meat (yeah, you read that right)
Senate Bill 0266 Processed deer meat. A popular bill. Passed 46-0. Allows a meat processing facility to give away a processed deer to another person at the cost of the processing fee if the owner of the deer fails to pick up the processed deer or notifies the facility that the owner does not want the processed deer.
SB 121 – Use of Pawned Property
Not much floor activity today; most of the General Assembly’s work was done in committee. But one floor vote in the Senate led to a rare defeat. Senate Bill 0121 use of pawned property. This was defeated 21 to 26. Kind of an odd bill. It would have permitted an individual to enter into an agreement with a pawnbroker that allows the pledger to possess the property after the article was first deposited with the pawnbroker. If the pledger continues to possess the item after the maturity of the loan, the pawnbroker can take possession through judicial process or without judicial process if the pawnbroker proceeds without breach of the peace.
So, essentially, the loan gives the pawnbroker a nonpossessory lien on the personal property and allows the pawnbroker to execute on the lien either through judicial process or through self-help if it can be done without causing a ruckus. Seems like it would be a great opportunity for someone to go from pawnbroker to pawnbroker with the same piece of property. Probably best that the bill failed.
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