Governor Pence issued the following statement at the close of the 2014 session of the Indiana General Assembly. A video statement is available at: http://youtu.be/ldTuioUu-RY.
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“As the 2014 Indiana General Assembly draws to a close, every Hoosier will be glad to know that this session brought real progress on jobs, roads and schools. Efforts to reform taxes, invest in infrastructure and open doors of opportunity to quality pre-K education for disadvantaged kids all prove that a short session need not be short on accomplishments for Hoosiers.
“The work we have done has built on the success of the last legislative session and, I believe, will lead to a more prosperous future for Indiana. Last year, we achieved historic tax relief for Hoosier families. This year, we provided tax relief to Hoosier businesses to grow and create jobs. Last year, we dedicated tens of millions of dollars for Indiana’s roads and bridges. And this year, we are investing another 400 million dollars for projects to put Hoosiers to work now and make sure we remain the Crossroads of America. Last year, we expanded opportunities for low-income kids to attend the school of their choice. This year, for the first time ever, Indiana has funded pre-K education so low-income kids can start school ready to learn.
“Throughout this session, this General Assembly and our Administration have put Hoosier families and children first. We helped veterans and their families by expanding access to the Military Family Relief Fund. We improved the well-being of families by creating an Indiana adoption credit. We launched a comprehensive assessment of career and vocational education for our students, expanded adult high schools to help more workers earn a high school diploma, and created a new program for adult workers who need to improve their skills to reach their full potentials.
“And Hoosiers will be glad to know that most of what we accomplished was passed with broad and bipartisan support. So on behalf of every Hoosier, I offer my heartfelt thanks to each and every member of the 2014 Indiana General Assembly, especially House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem David Long, for a job well done.
“Because members of the General Assembly worked together on behalf of Hoosiers, our economy will be stronger, our families will have more opportunities and, in a time of great challenge in our nation’s economy and politics, Indiana will continue to stand tall as a state that works.”
Learn more about the legislative bills heading to the Governor’s desk by visiting Bill Watch: http://www.in.gov/gov/
Democrats: Preschool pilot approval, marriage amendment defeat historic; still much work to do
INDIANAPOLIS—During a Friday morning media availability, Senate Democratic Leader Tim Lanane (D-Anderson) gave his review of the accomplishments and failures of the 2014 legislative session.
Amid two historic votes to move forward with a plan to invest in early education and nix a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, Sen. Lanane noted that the legislature should have taken more direct action to address the needs of middle class families and combat the state’s poor health and earnings indicators.
Sen. Lanane made the following statement:
“Enacting a preschool pilot this session is a victory for common sense. We can all agree investing in early childhood education pays real dividends.
“This is a good first step but we can’t delay any longer; Mississippi is moving quicker on preschool. If we can commit to sweeping corporate tax cuts, we can commit to investing in Hoosier kids.
“The defeat of the idea that we were to vote on enshrining discrimination in our constitution is a major victory. Hoosiers expect us to be working towards more jobs, better schools and stronger communities, not focusing on divisive issues.
“A singular focus on corporate tax policy to create jobs is not the answer. The fact is, Hoosiers earn incomes well below the national average and we’re failing at educating and training our workforce.
“The solution starts with higher wages, quality schools with the resources they need and making health care reform work for Hoosiers. We’re listening; this is what Hoosiers want from lawmakers and we’ll continue to advocate for these common sense solutions.”
AUDIO OF SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER LANANE’S COMMENTS BELOW:
SEN. LANANE: “You know before session when I talked about how we were doing in session….”
http://www.in.gov/legislative/
(Length: 05:13)
Sen. Lanane represents Indiana Senate District 25 includes the portions of Madison and Delaware counties, including the City of Muncie and the southeastern portion of the City of Anderson.
Commentary: At last, golden silence at the Statehouse
By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS – The end came almost as quiet as a whisper.
The 2014 legislative session of the Indiana General Assembly finished with a soft flurry of activity.
In the last days of the session, lawmakers, working almost in a hush, met in conference committees and moved to the governor’s desk bills limited either in geographic scope or in sheer ambition.
Making the march toward becoming law were measures designed to allow Central Indiana to decide it wants a mass transit system, create a small pre-kindergarten educational pilot program, give businesses some tax breaks while still allowing local governments some control over their revenue sources and spend some more money on Indiana’s battered roads.
The last three items on the list – pre-K, business tax breaks and road money – were on Gov. Mike Pence’s agenda, but in much larger form. Pence put the best face he could on a bad situation and told the legislators that theirs was a “job well done,” but the reality is that, if Christmas came this year in March for the governor, it was a pretty meager one. He only got a sliver of what he asked for from Santa.
The only real storm and noise at the session came over a strange, misguided bill designed to allow guns onto school property. At the conference committee hearing on the bill, lawmakers decided it was less important to hear testimony from those opposed to the measure – gun control advocates, teachers and other educators – than it was to bully and berate them when they tried to talk.
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The National Rifle Association liked the bill. Gun-control advocates, the Indiana State Teachers Association, the Indiana Association of School Principals, Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents, Indiana School Boards Association, Indiana Urban School Association, and the Children’s Coalition of Indiana didn’t like it.
The NRA won.
The NRA is coming to Indianapolis for a convention in April. Maybe, while they’re here, the NRA’s top officials will find a few minutes to stop by the Statehouse and carve the organization’s logo into the Statehouse’s stone walls.
They clearly own the place and everyone should know that.
The gun bill was about the only tumult that came in the session’s waning days.
Such a quiet end to the lawmakers’ work didn’t seem likely just a few weeks ago. At that time, Indiana seemed likely to tear itself in two over a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
The fight over the proposed amendment, House Joint Resolution 3, filled the Statehouse with agitated protestors on both sides of the issue. Early on, the atmosphere was testy. House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, shifted the measure among legislative committees like a pea in a shell game and the Elections Committee chairman, Rep. Milo Smith, R-Columbus, tossed an opponent of HJR 3 who happened to be a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force out of a hearing for making a silent gesture of protest.
Tempers flared, but then the House stripped a key provision out of HJR 3, the Senate refused to reinstate it and the measure got kicked down the road a couple of years. The earliest any proposed constitutional same-sex marriage ban can make it onto the ballot now is 2016.
After that, aside from a bizarre Twitter-fueled meltdown by HJR 3 supporter Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, the issue faded to silence and lawmakers turned their attention to quieter matters.
Predictably, there are critics who charge that legislators accomplished little during this session and squandered opportunities to make needed changes.
The fact, though, is that the state has made many sweeping changes in recent years – including creating the most expansive school voucher program in the nation and rewriting labor law to make it more business-friendly – and not enough time has passed to determine the effectiveness of those big changes. It probably is wise to wait and see if the moves we’ve already made actually are working before we charge further down the road.
Hoosiers also have been through two bruising family battles – right-to-work legislation and the same-sex marriage struggle – in the past couple of years. It’s probably smart for us to take a break from tearing into each other.
Sometimes a little silence can be a good thing.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits” WFYI 90.1Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
