Tagged: Indiana General Assembly

A bill that would have made it a crime to secretly videotape the operations of a farm or factory with the intent to harm the business may have  died in the Indiana General Assembly.

Without comment, House Speaker Brian Bosma abruptly withdrew the measure during floor debate today, the final day of the session.    

The heavily amended legislation had earlier won Senate approval, but some lawmakers raised concerns about its constitutionality.

Opponents of the bill say it would weaken effort to expose the mistreatment of workers or animals, or other illegal activity.

The Indiana Senate has given final approval to a bill that would overhaul the state’s criminal code, with the aim of sending fewer nonviolent, low-level  offenders to prison. 

The measure calls for most felons to serve at least 75 percent of their sentences.   Current law allows most felons with good behavior in prison to be released after serving half of their sentences.

But the overhaul would also direct many people convicted of drug or property offenses to work release or other local programs.  

Indiana taxpayers will see their personal income tax rate reduced by 5 percent over the next four years under a budget plan agreed to by a conference committee of state lawmakers.

Gov. Mike Pence had sought a 10 percent cut as one of his signature campaign proposals, but lawmakers were initially cool to the idea.

Improved tax collection estimates earlier this month improved Pence's chances in the waning days of the session.

The tax rate cut will be phased in in two steps starting Jan. 1, 2015.

Indiana's local school superintendents would no longer have to hold a state superintendent's or teacher's license under a proposal that has won final legislative approval.

The Indiana House voted 55-40 today  to approve the bill that cleared the Senate this month, but only after Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann cast a tie-breaking vote in favor of it.

The bill would require that the district superintendent have a master's degree, a change from current requirements that superintendents have a teaching license and complete graduate school work in education administration.

The 2013 Indiana General Assembly is winding down, with legislative leaders saying they may be able to wrap up business early.

The Indiana General Assembly faces an April 29 deadline to wrap up its business, including adoption of a new, two-year state budget.

Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said last week that he thought the legislature might be able to finish its work by the end of this week.     If that happens, lawmakers would not have to return to the Statehouse for a final day on Monday, April 29.

Republican state senators in Indiana have blocked a vote on a bill that would force Amazon.com and some other online-only retailers to start collecting Indiana's seven percent sales tax this summer.

The bill, which had cleared the House by a wide margin, was scheduled for a Senate vote Thursday until the Senate Republican caucus decided to have the measure pulled for more negotiations.

The bill would require Amazon to start online sales tax collection in July, six months earlier than under a deal that former Gov. Mitch Daniels brokered with the company last year.

Indiana lawmakers have given final approval to a two-year extension of regulations on temporary outdoor stage rigging developed after the a deadly state fair stage collapse.

The proposal would keep in place until 2016 the temporary rules that were approved last summer by Indiana's building safety commission.

Bill sponsor Rep. Robert Cherry says that would give the commission time to hold hearings and take other steps needed to adopt permanent rules.