这是大会忙碌的一周, 然后是一个周五，让州议会发生的所有事情都有了正确的视角. 鉴于这一毁灭性的消息，我们决定推迟一天更新, 因为我们的思想集中在那些受影响的家庭.
So thanks for spending part of your weekend on our recap of the waning days of this legislative session: The Senate passed its version of the state budget, 政府收入预计将超过先前的预期, 看到满载的卡车和空空如也的学校建筑，他们的怒火爆发了, 而IndyGo则被指控在公交车的窗户上涂上有色以掩盖空座位. 唷!.
让我们从过境开始. 正如我们上周报道的， SB141 真的死在委员会里了吗, 促使它的作者寻找另一种方法来攻击改善马里昂县公共交通的财政能力. 新的目标是 HB1191该法案涵盖了许多公用事业问题.
The bill was amended to force IndyGo to pay for utility relocations created by infrastructure improvements around rapid transit – both retroactively (the Red Line) and going forward (covering the Blue and Purple Lines), 这显然是在破坏这些项目的预算. 无情的 对交通系统的攻击正在引起强烈反对 来自商界和广大公众——但这一最新策略会奏效吗?
周二，修订后的法案通过了三读，但遭到了众议院作者的反对. 在撰写本文时, 会议委员会已被任命(众议院交通委员会主席吉姆·普雷斯尔和众议员布莱克·约翰逊), 交通支持, 与参议员埃里克·科赫和谢利·约德一起参加众议院会议)，并定于本周一举行, 4月19日th 在早上8:30.
如果你想知道的话, the tinted windows are actually an efficiency measure to keep IndyGo buses cool (unlike the overheated rhetoric on display from opponents of public transportation); the ‘bus wrap’ advertising that also makes it tougher to see into some buses also generates private revenue for IndyGo – exactly the type of fundraising that was the stated focus of SB141.
大奖!
On to a brighter development: The state revenue forecast released Thursday featured such a sunny outlook that tinted windows could come in handy. 更新后的预测将在未来两年增加近20亿美元的税收, as strong consumer spending (boosted by another round of federal stimulus) and better-than-expected wage growth look to fuel Indiana’s financial rebound from COVID.
这份《皇冠电子登陆app》的收入报告无疑改变了第一次会议委员会会议上的基调 HB1001 周四下午. 我们正在关注的几个问题:
- 有多少“新”收入将用于K-12教育?
- And how will increased education spending be split among school choice (will the budget move back towards the original House expansion of choice in HB1005?), 对贫困学生的基本学费支持和援助(连同英语学习和特殊教育补助金)?
- 在参议院的计划中缓和了最初的削减之后，精神健康基金会被完全恢复吗?
- 皇冠电子下载app计划能否在联邦刺激计划和州普通基金的支持下得到进一步加强? (Most of the Senate’s investments in initiatives like the 区域 Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative – or READI – are backed by federal dollars, 必须做出2024年到期的短期承诺.’)
Perhaps the overarching question is whether budget negotiators will fully embrace this unexpected revenue windfall to make significant changes to the final spending plan, 或者谨慎地利用这空前的20亿美元财富? 过几天我们就能知道答案了.
《皇冠电子登陆app》(线)
本周也是参众两院第三次审议的最后期限, meaning the end of the line for a number of bills – with the caveat that “zombie” language (provisions that refuse to die) could still pop up in conference committee reports for related legislation. 但会议最后几天的行动转向对修正法案的同意或异议决定, 会议谈判和最终投票.
- 说到最后期限, Wednesday was the last day for Hoosier students to submit a FAFSA application for college financial aid – completion rates are down across the nation; SB54 (鼓励学区提高FAFSA的完成率)旨在提供帮助, 但可能会错过它自己的最后期限……它的会议委员会还没有达成共识.
- 另一项参议院教育法案， SB414, will also head to conference after a dissent motion (our main interest in this bill is its calls for interim studies of complexity funding and learning loss prevention).
- HB1007 有一条更容易的路, avoiding conference altogether with a concurrence from the House – it creates a public health grant program (funded by federal stimulus in the Senate budget) guided by the findings of a state health improvement strategy.
- HB1283 also got a House concurrence for the creation of “urban agriculture zones” that would incentivize farming in urbanized areas to expand access to healthy food and agricultural business opportunities.
- 另一个赞同: HB1008 (the $150 million program for education learning loss grants) was accepted by the House with changes – given the influx of federal money to school districts for learning loss prevention, this grant program was retooled to encourage partnerships with community organizations to create after-school and other programs to help students catch up outside the classroom.
- 一个不那么有建设性的赞同随之而来 HB1541 on landlord-tenant relations – the bill addresses overly-broad language in SEA148 (revived over Governor Holcomb’s veto earlier this year) but still weakens local authority to pass stronger renter protections at a time when housing is a priority.
- 也许更麻烦的是，参议院勉强通过了修正案 SB358, changing the so-called “dollar law” (governing the transfer of unused public school buildings to charter schools) to share the revenues from the sale of a school building with charters within that district, 允许大专院校连同特许状申请未使用的财产, 增加新的法规;
- 我们支持特许学校和为学生提供多样化的学习机会, and encourage IPS to strengthen its innovation network partnerships (and share referendum revenues for teacher pay raises at innovation schools) – but as we push IPS to be more efficient, 我们相信，他们应该能够从废弃设施的重建中重新获得收入，再投资于教室;
- 收紧美元法, 另一方面, could actually cause districts to keep underutilized buildings instead of right-sizing facilities to put students and teachers ahead of bricks and mortar.
- HB1002, 加强对医疗保健机构和高等教育机构的COVID - 19责任保护, 也获得了同意，并被送到了州长办公室.
- But the Governor’s desk isn’t always the last stop for legislation: Both chambers acted this week to override Governor Holcomb’s veto of HB1123, limiting local health authorities and gubernatorial emergency powers (this one likely moves from the legislative process to the legal system).
这是最后的倒计时…
从嘻哈到金属乐, 我们在倒数着日子，直到我们可以喘口气, 希望是sindie反凌日图. By the time this hits your inbox there will be less than a week left in the session…as least until its time to reconvene for redistricting. 所以，在你开始错过每周的更新之前，请仔细观察最后的预算和我们的立法总结, 注册我们即将到来的 煎饼 & 政治 大会现场审查活动).