Republicans approved a budget, hearings are being held on the A-F school grading scale, Sunday liquor sales issue is dead for the session, Right to Farm legislation is defeated in the Senate.
STATE BUDGET
House Republicans‘ budget is on the way to the Senate. Republicans passed their 31-billion-dollar two-year budget on a near-party-line vote.
Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown boasts the plan increases school spending nearly five-percent over two years, compared to a three-percent jump in Governor Pence‘s budget.
He says the proposed 469-million dollars in new state funding would be a record. Democrats protest the G-O-P insistence on linking funding to enrollment would cut funding for more than 100 school districts where enrollment is declining.
A-F GRADING SCALE
The Indiana State Board of Education staff will host three public hearings this week to take comments on a proposed change to the A-F school grading scale.
The proposed change would factor the growth of all students into aschool’s grade. The current model only reflects progress if a minimum threshold of students shows high growth at a school.
The letter grades were first approved by the education board in 2012 as an alternative to Indiana’s previous school-rating system. They reflect recent academic performance on the state’s standardized tests and other success indicators.
The public hearings will take place Wednesday at the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., Thursday at Marion High School, and Friday at the Indiana Government Center in downtown Indianapolis. All three meetings begin at 9 a.m. local time.
CASINO BILL
The Indiana House is expected to vote on whether to support a proposal permitting the state’s riverboat casinos to move onto land and allow live dealers for table games at the two horse track casinos near Indianapolis.
Lawmakers face a Wednesday deadline for advancing the bill to the Senate for consideration.
House members on Tuesday endorsed the live dealers provision despite the apparent opposition of Gov. Mike Pence. Pence opposes an expansion of gambling in Indiana.
Supporters say allowing live dealers will help boost business at the horse tracks and that it’s a key part of a bill to help Indiana’s casinos deal with growing competition from surrounding states.
RIGHT TO FARM DEFEATED
The Indiana Senate has defeated a proposal that would have added “right to farm” protections to the state’s constitution.
The Senate voted 28-22 Tuesday against the measure sponsored by Senator Brent Steele.
The Bedford Republican told senators the state needs his “right to farm and ranch” constitutional protections because animal rights and environmental groups are trying to undermine Indiana farmers’ way of life.
Kim Ferraro of the Hoosier Environmental Council says she’s pleased the Senate defeated the resolution. She said in a statement the measure sought “to place unfair and unprecedented protection of Indiana’s industrial agriculture operators” into the state constitution.
The Humane Society of the United States’ Indiana director, Erin Huang (huh-WONG’), says the proposal would have altered the constitution “at the behest of a handful of agribusiness lobbyists.”
SUNDAY SALES ARE DEAD
A bill to legalize Sunday alcohol sales is apparently dead for the year, after its author opted not to call it for a vote in the House.
Supermarkets and grocery stores have pushed for years for Sunday sales. But they did an about-face and successfully lobbied to kill the bill after falling three votes short last week in an attempt to delete a provision requiring them to stow hard liquor behind the counter, and segregate beer and wine from the rest of the store.
Indiana Retail Council president Grant Monahan says any gain from Sunday sales isn‘t worth the cost of retrofitting stores. The Senate could still try to amend Sunday sales into another bill, but Monahan says he believes legislators are ready to move on.