News from the statehouse

Governor to sign bill to legalize fantasy sports gambling, road plan continues to be discussed, changes in adoption records expected to become reality…..

 

 

 

FANTASY SPORTS LEGISLATION

A bill legalizing big-money fantasy-sports games in Indiana is on its way to Governor Pence:

Eric Berman reports.

 

 


 

STATE ROAD PLAN

A proposed gas and cigarette tax hike to pay for road repairs appears to be losing steam.

House Republicans have pushed for the tax increase to create a long-term source of road money, by plugging the hole in the budget created by diverting all sales taxes on gasoline to roads. But Speaker Brian Bosma is indicating for the first time that agreeing on a long-term plan may have to wait till next year. He says the taxes themselves aren’t critical, as long as there’s a firm commitment to a long-term solution. He says the four-year spending plan backed by Governor Pence and the Senate can’t become an excuse for ignoring the issue until those four years are up.

Pence’s plan uses a quarter-billion dollars from the state surplus to kick off a four-year surge in highway money.

House and Senate leaders met with Governor Pence Friday morning to lay groundwork for a final deal. A House-Senate conference committee will hold its first meeting Monday, three days before the session’s scheduled end.


 

BODY CAMERAS

The author of a bill that would allow law enforcement agencies to withhold police video recordings wants to strike a provision that would mandate the release of video if they were alleged to show excessive use of force or civil rights violations.

Representative Kevin Mahan, a Hartford City Republican, says he thinks the change would bolster police transparency without overburdening agencies.

But open-records advocates argued against the amendment saying it would pave the way for police to have more power to deny the release of video to the public.

Senator Greg Taylor, an Indianapolis Democrat, also offered an alternative to let a judge decide if a those videos should be released rather than an automatic mandate.

No agreement was reached Friday, but negotiations are likely to continue into next week.

 


 

ADOPTION RECORDS

 Indiana adoptees born between 1941 and 1994 might be able to access their birth records with a change being made to state law.

Governor Mike Pence on Friday signed a bill that will open those adoption records beginning in July 2018 unless the biological parents file a non-disclosure form with the Indiana State Department of Health.

Opponents of the change had maintained that biological parents had an expectation of privacy during that time.

Pence said he agreed with supporters that the adoptees should have greater opportunities for seeking information about their medical histories and heritage.

Hoosiers for Equal Access to Records president Pam Kroskie says the change is a victory for hundreds of thousands of people adopted in Indiana.