April 19, 2019

Senate Presents Balanced Budget

The Indiana Senate Republican caucus recently unveiled our budget proposal to fund state government for the next two years.

The proposal is balanced with strong “rainy day” reserves. The budget also continues to support students and teachers with a $775 million increase in K-12 funding.

Keeping Indiana’s budget balanced means making tough decisions and living within our means, and I’m pleased with the work we put in to protect Hoosier taxpayers.

For more information on the Senate Republican budget proposal, click here.

Fully Funding the Department of Child Services

Some media have reported the Senate budget plan would reduce road funding to fund the Department of Child Services (DCS). This is false, and it requires an explanation of how the Senate budget plan is built.

Due to a skyrocketing number of children in the DCS system, DCS asked for a $571 million increase in funding in the next two-year state budget. While I acknowledge DCS needs more money to serve more children, I believe the solution to our child welfare crisis isn’t just about spending money. DCS needs to become more efficient with taxpayer dollars.

There are multiple bills moving through the General Assembly this session to improve DCS efficiency. The Senate budget plan fully funds DCS to protect our children. If the governor needs additional funds for DCS, he will have access to them.

Under existing state law, the governor already has the ability to transfer some of the money raised from the sales tax on gas to DCS. If DCS really needs more than our budget provides, it can get it by asking the governor to transfer this money. But my hope is that DCS will be able to cover its costs without needing this transfer.

Finally, it’s important to note this possible transfer does not involve the gas tax, which is used 100% for roads. Instead, this is about the separate sales tax on gas – the same sales tax you pay when you buy clothes or a TV, for example.

Sales tax revenue has traditionally gone to the state General Fund, but we are in the middle of a multi-year phase-in that transfers this money to road funding if it was collected from a gas purchase. When that law was passed, we gave the governor short-term ability to use the money for other purposes, if needed, until 2024 when 100% of the sales tax on gas purchases will go to roads.