Meet your Legislators
02/21/09
Legislators present: Dennis Avery, Vaneta Becker, Bob Deig, Gail Riecken, Trent VanHaaften
1. Vectren Representative Thea Sowell was present for about an hour to assist folks with questions regarding Vectren bills. Sen. Bob Deig had arranged for her to be present after the questions regarding Vectren bills at the January MYL meeting.
2. Census – US Census is looking for employees. Website – www.census.gov. A test for the jobs is being done at Ivy Tech.
3. Spencer County Citizens for Quality of Life - Senate bill 423. Several folks spoke about the toxins from another power plant. They also requested expanding other ways of developing energy such as geo-thermal. Also mentioned impact of mercury on children.
Riecken – Tax credits for retrofitting geo-thermal passed House.
Deig – He is on the committee that voted on this bill and he voted for it. Plant makes substitute Natural Gas. Plant takes advantage of federal money at low rates for 20 years.
Becker – Has opposed this in past. Wanted to know how it will affect ratepayers in future?
4. Heritage Trust Appropriations - Senate bill 524. Marjorie Jones was concerned about taking items/money out of this trust that deals with Tourism, Angel Mounds, Wildlife, etc.
Avery – Budget Recommendation passed by 3-2 vote (he voted No). The House ‘plumped the budget’ and supplemented 1 million to this Trust. Endangered Land is set aside with these funds.
Becker – 74-page amendment addressed this concern.
5. Child Abuse & Neglect/FSSA role in it – Carole Davis was stating that a comprehensive study of Child Welfare system is needed.
Avery – Clarified that Child Services covers Child Abuse not FSSA. 800 new
Caseworkers have been added in recent years and a new director has been hired.
Strides are being made in this area.
Becker – Modernization of FSSA isn’t working well. Representatives Crouch &
Crawford in House are trying to work on Modernization.
6. Inaccessible/Disconnected/Ignoring limits of Constitution – Jim Tomes stated
Legislature isn’t in tune.
VanHaaften - he is 1 out of a 100 Legislators in a very large State.
Different opinions exist across the State. However, he is always trying to listen.
7. Who controls the Stimulus money? – a man from Princeton commented on the
jobs from coal mines in light of earlier comments about the negatives of coal-
powered plants. He also asked if State Legislature could/would go around the
Governor on the bailout money. (Recall there are two Stimulus plans… one by
the state and the 787 billion one just passed by Federal Government).
VanHaaften – Who directs the federal money? Even though items can be put
into State budget, Exec Branch (Gov) can keep projects from moving forward.
Yet, we need to get folks back to work.
Avery - #1 issue is creating jobs. Eckhart County has 15% unemployment rate.
28 Million in Federal is for homelessness prevention.
Becker – Not sure Federal Stimulus is good idea…. have debt so far into future.
Don’t see Governor saying ‘NO’ to federal money. E-VSC should be getting
around 12 million dollars which should prevent layoffs there.
Deig – Proper oversight is needed as well as fair treatment for all folks including
more rural counties.
8. Home Births – Senate bill 508.
Becker – Issue with safety of both mother and baby if there are complications.
Bill is dead for this session.
9. What happened to 2.8 Billion Lease Funds Toll Road funds in Northern IN? Question dealt with how they were invested - Hedge funds, risky investments, etc.
Deig – Legislators haven’t received latest earnings on this.
VanHaaften – Projections … haven’t come close at all to the projections. Greater Transparency is needed. Executive Branch (Gov) has basically dealt with Major Moves. No one branch should be spending the funds.
Riecken – Pension was invested in Hedge funds…. Need more oversight.
Avery – Gov is always changing minds on projects with Major Moves. Turn around for Carmel is now on list but wasn’t originally.
10. Tax Breaks instead of more debt – Mike Sandifur stated if Arena were brought to ballot, it would be voted down, but Legislature will pass it. Local, State, & Federal are piling on more money; yet no one is listening to folks paying taxes. He laid off 2 employees from his small business and tax breaks would allow him to hire them back. He also told Legislators – “You’re the problem, not the solution.”
VanHaaften – asked which tax break would benefit him… specifically what is impact of property taxes (and their 1-2-3% caps) on his business?
Sandifur … Consulting business… property taxes aren’t an issue. Federal income tax (which State Legislators don’t control) would help.
11. Cut in Tourism in State Budget – Marilou Fowler (Convention Visitors Bureau Director) spoke on cut to Tourism in State Budget. Every dollar spent locally on Tourism budget…$50 return in local/state taxes.
Avery – Agree 100%. Hopefully Senate can come through when they deal with Budget.
12. Oppose Annexation – Sgt. Craig Blessinger from Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dept spoke against Annexation and in favor of bill that reduces the percentage of property owners required to oppose Annexation from 65% to 51%.
Becker – Support changing %. Cities need to prove case for Annexation.
Avery & VanHaaften – Haven’t seen bill and would like to read it before stating opinion.
13. Statewide Smoking Ban – Mary Bennett requested stronger version of this.
Avery – 71% of his constituents who answered question wanted statewide ban;
yet House passed weakened version.
VanHaaften – His committee heard 4 hours of testimony… not going to change minds on either side. Local government can go stronger with their own bills.
Becker – 80% of her constituents were for Statewide Ban.
Riecken – Statewide Ban is stronger in one area… Restaurants/Sports bars that serve anyone under 18 have to ban smoking.
14. State Investments – Mike Finn explained that State is limited to how it can invest funds such as Major Moves. Projections are way off because rates have come down. He also stated he doesn’t want to bail out any of his neighbors and disagrees with Stimulus Plan
15. Unemployment Assistance & Hate Crimes Bill – Karen from Posey County thanked Sen. Deig & Rep VanHaaften for helping with Unemployment benefits. She also asked for support on Hate Crimes bill.
Becker – Bill that has language is stuck in committee.
Next Meet Your Legislators Session….Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. at Evansville Central Library