===================================
Statehouse eUpdate
from
State Rep. B. Patrick Bauer
Speaker of the House
===================================
April 17, 2009
===================================

INDIANAPOLIS - In the final two weeks of the 2009 session of the Indiana General Assembly, conference committees will rule the legislative process.

          On such issues as the state budget and fixing Indiana's unemployment crisis, these four-member groups will attempt to settle differences between lawmakers and reach compromises that can allow us to complete our work by the April 29 deadline.

          Conference committees are made up of two state representatives and two state senators, who meet to discuss the differences between the House and Senate versions of a particular bill.

          If they agree on a compromise, they sign a conference committee report containing the preferred language. The House and Senate then must approve the report before it can go to the governor for his signature.

          It's when the conferees cannot agree that the legislative process gets turned on its head and people start making comparisons between making laws and making sausage. Long, difficult negotiations usually result in legislation that has undergone radical changes since it was originally introduced.

          There are several things to look out for at this time of year. First, keep in mind that any bill that has passed one chamber is eligible for consideration during the conference committee process.

          In addition, you will hear the word "germaneness" a lot. Language from one bill can be incorporated into a conference committee report on another bill as long as those two bills share the same general subject matter. In other words, the bill that is added must be germane.

          There are generally around 100 bills in a long session that end up in conference committees. All are important, but the one that generates the most attention is the new state budget, which is the one item we must pass by the end of this session.

          The Senate passed its own version of the budget (House Bill 1001) this week. As the measure heads toward final negotiations, here is a look at some highlights of each chamber's version of the bill.

          Both the House and Senate place a premium on protecting our schools by increasing state support for K-12, although the Senate school funding formula creates a hardship for urban school corporations. Remember that the governor wants to "flat-line" state funding for schools, a move that effectively cuts support because it does not account for continuously increasing expenses like utilities and insurance.

          The Senate also uses a large portion of Indiana's share of federal stimulus dollars to make their budget appear balanced. That approach has been criticized heavily by the governor.

          However, what is most disappointing about the Senate's budget efforts is that they followed the governor's lead in doing nothing to create jobs for more than 324,000 Hoosiers who are out of work. The Senate also failed to act upon a bipartisan House plan (House Bill 1656) to use local infrastructure improvement projects across Indiana to create good-paying jobs.

          Before budget negotiators begin their work in earnest, experts provided a forecast of the state's financial picture that confirms recent news that the national recession continues to drag Indiana's economy down. Collection of state revenues is already more than $750 million behind projections.

          These numbers indicate a need to explore creative options that would provide us greater flexibility, including passage of a one-year state budget that allows us to see whether the economy can recover.

          Above all, though, these numbers demonstrate a need to get more active on job creation, because that is the best way I know to stimulate Indiana's economy.

          This week, the House also took steps to make sure that Indiana's prisons remain under the control of the state, rather than private interests. Senate Bill 223 would bar privatization of correctional facilities and prevent the state from accepting any out-of-state prisoners. Both of these issues were factors in a riot at a privately-run prison in New Castle in 2007 that resulted in injuries, property damage and a genuine threat to public safety.

          The handling of inmates and the operations of prisons are extremely sensitive matters, and I believe they should be left to the state, rather than private interests concerned only with operating at a profit. 

          If you need to reach me during the 2009 session, you can call the toll-free Statehouse telephone number of 1-800-382-9842, write to me in care of the Indiana House of Representatives, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204, or submit your comments to my web site atwww.in.gov/H06. While visiting my web site, you also can sign up to receive regular e-mail updates from the Legislature.