Friday, July 10, 2009
Volume 09, Issue 20
SPECIAL SESSION CONCLUDES WITH BUDGET, LAWMAKERS GO HOME The 2009 special session of the Indiana General Assembly finally adjourned on June 30 as legislators agreed on a budget just hours before the new fiscal year began at midnight. After the General Assembly failed to pass a budget by the April 29 statutory deadline to adjourn its regular session, legislators were called back to Indianapolis by Gov. Mitch Daniels on June 11 for a special session to address the budget issue.
For a while it looked as if the stalemate that prevented agreement in April would remain unresolved as the state entered its new fiscal year. Finally an agreement was reached and a $27.8 billion biennial budget was passed with nearly unanimous Republican support in both Houses along with enough additional support from Democrats in the House to assure its passage. With the addition of some federal stimulus money, the budget actually appropriates a total of $28.5 billion over the next two years. The bill met Gov. Daniels’ conditions that it must retain a reserve of at least $1 billion and not raise taxes.
The biggest hurdle to reaching a final budget agreement was funding for public education. The school funding formula included as part of the budget is designed so that money follows kids. This means that growing suburban schools benefit at the expense of urban and rural schools with declining enrollment. The budget also funds alternatives to public education through tax credits for private schools and a pilot project for virtual on-line schools. The funding formula and the support for private schools prompted many Democratic legislators to characterize the bill as a direct attack on public education.
Another of the bill’s controversial provisions was one that will provide relief to the financially strapped Capital Improvement Board in Marion County. While the budget will not solve all the CIB’s problems and was regarded as inadequate by many Marion County legislators and Indianapolis officials, it nevertheless provoked criticism from out-state legislators who wondered how they could explain to their constituents that sports venues in Indianapolis are more important to the state than their local schools. The CIB is the entity that operates and is responsible for debt service of the home facilities of the Indianapolis Colts and the Indiana Pacers.
From agriculture’s perspective, the budget doesn’t include any significant new programs, but it doesn’t make any major program cuts either. One of Farm Bureau’s priorities was the retention of a $500,000 a year appropriation for the Clean Water Indiana soil and water conservation program administered by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. Clean Water Indiana will also receive nearly $3.7 million each year from the state’s Cigarette Tax Fund.
ISDA, the State Board of Animal Health, Purdue Extension, and IDEM’s ag inspection programs all received funding to stay in business although, like the rest of the state government, these programs will have to be managed very tightly to remain within their budgets.
The final version of the budget passed the House by a vote of 62 to 37, with 14 Democrats (John Barnes, Indianapolis; Bob Bischoff, Greendale; Mara Candelaria Reardon, Hammond; Dave Cheatham, North Vernon; Nancy Dembowski, Knox; Phil GiaQuinta, Fort Wayne; Dale Grubb, Covington; Sheila Klinker, Lafayette; Win Moses, Fort Wayne; David Niezgodski, South Bend; Paul Robertson, Depauw; Steve Stemler, Jeffersonville; Mary Ann Sullivan, Indianapolis; and Peggy Welch, Bloomington) joining the 48 Republicans. In the Senate, Democrats Jim Arnold (LaPorte), Lindel Hume (Princeton), Frank Mrvan (Hammond), and Richard Young (Milltown) voted for the bill while Republicans Vaneta Becker (Evansville), Mike Delph (Carmel) and Jean Leising (Oldenburg) opposed it. The final Senate vote was 34-16.
GENERAL REASSSESSMENT DELAYED FOR A YEAR The budget bill delayed the next general reassessment of property for property tax purposes, which was scheduled to begin in July 1 this year, until July 2010. The General Assembly hopes that this additional year will give counties the time they need to get their property tax process back on a normal schedule.
BUDGET BILL FIXES DEDUCTION LANGUAGE The final budget bill also included language that corrects an unintended consequence of legislation passed in the regular session. HEA 1344 (Rep. Cherish Pryor, D-Indianapolis) was intended to prevent abuse of the homestead deduction by prohibiting corporations and other business entities from claiming it. However, the language of that bill would have prevented a farmer whose principal residence is titled to a farm corporation, partnership or limited liability company from claiming the deduction. Farm Bureau’s Katrina Hall worked behind the scenes with Rep. Pryor, Rep. Joe Pearson (D-Hartford City), Rep. Dale Grubb (D-Covington), Sen. Marlin Stutzman (R-Howe), Sen. Brandt Hershman (R-Wheatfield) and Sen. Lindel Hume (D-Princeton) as well as representatives of the County Auditors Association to correct this situation.
BUDGET BILL DID NOT BECOME A VEHICLE FOR GAMING, CHILDREN’S HOME With the special session, there was hope on the part of gaming interests that the budget bill could become a vehicle to address some issues that were left on the table when the regular session adjourned. These included efforts to allow additional games at the state’s two “Racinos” and to transfer the license of a Lake County riverboat to a land-based casino. In spite of intense lobbying to address these issues, the budget bill avoided them.
In the budget that failed in April, there was language that would have kept the Indiana Soldier’s and Sailor’s Children’s Home in Knightstown open in spite of the administration’s plans to close. By the time the budget was finally enacted, the home had been closed and legislators chose not to include language reopening it.
USDA ANNOUNCES STATE APPOINTMENTS The new directors of USDA’s Indiana offices have been announced. Julia Wickard will serve as Indiana State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency, and Phil Lehmkuhler will serve as Indiana State Director for Rural Development.
Julia will leave her post as executive vice president of the Indiana Beef Cattle Association and Indiana Beef Council, where she has worked since 2005. Wickard has worked for a variety of Indiana-based agricultural and environmental groups since 1995, including Farm Bureau.
Phil is currently manager of economic development and member services for the Indiana Municipal Power Agency. He has worked with the Indiana Department of Commerce and also served as a legislative liaison for Indiana Tobacco Prevention as well as working on the staffs of U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton and U.S. Senator Evan Bayh (D) from 1999-2001.
Farm Bureau congratulates both Julia and Phil and wishes them well as they assume their new responsibilities.
TB FOUND IN INDIANA DEER HERDS Bovine tuberculosis has been detected in three Indiana cervidae farms by the State Board of Animal Health. The most recent identification of the disease was in a herd in Harrison County. All three reported cases can be traced back to a so-called index herd in Franklin County where TB was discovered in May.
While the herds where the disease has been identified have been quarantined, Indiana’s TB status for cervids has not changed. Under U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, because all three premises are linked, this remains one case. Likewise, Indiana’s free status for cattle and bison remains unaffected. USDA maintains a separate status rating for the two species groups. Only when two unrelated cases of bovine tuberculosis are identified in cattle within 48 months will a state’s status change.
Nevertheless, BOAH recommends that cattle owners pay particular attention to their livestock and contact their private veterinarian if they notice any signs of the disease. Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic bacterial disease that affects primarily cattle but can be transmitted to any warm-blooded animal. TB is difficult to diagnose through clinical signs alone. In the early stages of the disease, clinical signs are not visible. Later, signs may include emaciation, lethargy, weakness, anorexia, low-grade fever and pneumonia with a chronic, moist cough. Lymph node enlargement may also be present.