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Old 04-30-2011, 02:12 AM
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Default GOP claims victory as session closes

GOP claims victory as session closes
Lawmakers ended a four-month-long, often-tumultuous session Friday with passage of a flurry of bills, including a new $28 billion state budget and an overhauled bill targeting illegal immigration.
Republicans, who controlled the House and Senate, argued that the session was a triumph for enacting sweeping education reforms, with funds in the budget to finance what is expected to be an explosion of growth for charter and private schools.
Leaders in the House and Senate argued that in the new budget, Indiana accomplished what few states could this year: Extra money for K-12 education, preservation of most health-care funding and even a taxpayer refund if the state ever has enough money to give some back.
"We tried to listen. We tried to be responsive," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville.
Even if an optimistic revenue forecast comes true, he said, Indiana will end fiscal 2013 with barely more money than the state had in 2008.
"Look at how little we have cut," he said. "You can measure this against any state in this country."
Democrats, though, looked at how much was cut for some school districts, as changes in how funds are distributed will mean big trims, particularly for urban districts with declining enrollments.
"Almost two-thirds of the school corporations lose money in this. It's the first time I've ever seen this," said House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend. "The ironic part about it is you have a $1.1 billion surplus while you're cutting most school corporations at the knees."
To Democrat complaints that needs went unfunded, House Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, responded: "It's always easy to find good reasons to spend money. The best gift we give Hoosiers in this budget is we don't raise taxes."
Not one Democrat voted for the budget in the Senate, where it passed 37-13, nor in the House, where it passed 59-39.
Republicans, though, didn't get everything they wanted.
Senate Bill 590, which began as an attempt to duplicate in Indiana the tough crackdown on illegal immigration that Arizona enacted, passed the House 68-30 and the Senate 35-15 -- but only after major changes.
After opposition grew from business, universities and, especially Gov. Mitch Daniels, the bill was stripped of provisions that required local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws. The focus now is on denying tax breaks to businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Sen. Mike Delph, the Carmel Republican who authored the bill, said the measure will hold accountable those businesses that look for cheap labor.
Passage of the immigration and budget bills capped an action-packed session. It will be remembered for a five-week walkout by House Democrats that shut down that chamber and daily, raucous protests by teachers, labor unions and others. But the more lasting impact is in the bills passed, which left both winners and losers in their wake:
WINNERS
Social conservatives
Indiana became the first state in the nation to cut-off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. Though federal law already bars that money from paying for abortions, abortion opponents didn't want to see any tax dollars directed to a group that offers abortion among other health-care services.
House Bill 1210, also gave Indiana some of the strictest abortion rules in the nation. It sets the cutoff date for abortions at 20 weeks and requires doctors to tell patients that abortion is linked to infertility and that a fetus can feel pain at or before 20 weeks. The measure, which Daniels said he will sign, passed overwhelmingly and had more than 50 sponsors.
Another victory for socially conservative groups was passage of a resolution to ban gay marriage and civil unions in the constitution. That measure will have to pass another separately elected legislature and a referendum before it can become part of the state's founding document.
Gun rights activists
This session has been a "very productive" one for gun owners, said Rep. Mike Speedy, R-Indianapolis, who sponsored a bill that will permit people to carry guns into libraries and city halls.
Senate Bill 292 prevents cities and towns from placing most restrictions on firearms, meaning anyone with a legal gun permit would be able to carry a firearm into any government building except a courthouse.
The governor
It wasn't all smooth sailing for Daniels' agenda. The criminal justice reform plan he pushed died in committee, along with most of his plans to streamline local government.
But the governor got the top item on his wish list: a major school reform plan that expands charters schools, gives public school students vouchers to attend private schools and awards high school kids who graduate a year early a "Mitch Daniels scholarship" they can use on higher education.
By Friday evening, lawmakers gave the governor a final going-away present: authority to create toll roads.
Losers
Democrats
The November election results pre-ordained that they'd be the session's big losers. The session confirmed that might have that status for years to come. New legislative district maps passed in the House and Senate are expected to give Republicans an advantage for the next decade.
An anti-bolting provision put into the new state budget will impose a penalty of at least $1,000 a day if the one leverage the minority party has is used: the power to stop legislative action by denying a quorum to do business, as Democrats did this year with a five-week walkout.
High-poverty traditional public schools
New school choice programs to expand charter schools and allow vouchers will turn up the competitive heat for students and the state dollars that follow them. Just 10 students who transfer can cost a school district the equivalent of a teacher's salary. School choice is expected to grow where it already is most prevalent: in poor urban school districts.
Meanwhile, many low-income districts will have per-student funding reduced over the next two years thanks to changes to the funding formula, costing even more money.
Anti-smoking efforts
Anti-smoking advocates had no more luck this year than in the past four at passing a statewide smoking ban in Indiana.
A Senate committee rejected the bill that arrived from the House so watered down, not even the American Cancer Society would support it.
The bill banned smoking in workplaces but exempted bars, taverns and casinos.
http://www.indystar.com/article/2011...t|IndyStar.com
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