Greetings from Northeast Indiana HD 51
Greetings from Northeast Indiana HD 51. It has been a privilege to have served this district for the past six years and be a part of the recently completed 116th session of the Indiana General Assembly which consisted of the regular 60 day session in 2009, a special session in June of 2009, and the regular 30 day session this year. The 2009 session included the passing of a 26 billion dollar budget for biennial 2009-11 fiscal years. Indiana’s biennial budget is based on forecasted revenue and unfortunately because of the downturn in the economy the revenue has not met the forecast. This has resulted in over $800 million shortfall in revenue since the beginning of the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2009. The Governor has taken many cost cutting steps to shrink state government expenditures proportionately to the shrinking revenue. Going into the 2010 legislative session there was a general feeling among the legislators that there would be no legislation passed that would add any new spending and we would not raise any taxes.
During the session there were 420 bills filed in the Senate and 388 bills filed in the House. Of the 808 bills, 116 were enacted into law, including HJR1 which was the legislation to provide for a referendum vote to amend the Indiana constitution capping property taxes. Some of the other highlights of the session were legislation to delay raising taxes on employers to pay for the deficit in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, giving K thru 12 schools more flexibility in spending from their various budget funds and lowering the base rate for agricultural land assessments.
As a member of the Natural Resources committee I worked to help pass legislation that extends the expiration date for the Lake Management Work Group, protecting constitutional 2nd amendment rights for gun owners, provide Soil and Water Conservation Districts with more flexibility on paying claims, improve the permitting process for the removal of logjams in rivers and streams to speed up the permitting and granting drainage boards the authority to settle disputes from storm water nuisances. I also served on the House Public Health Committee where we worked on many issues involving insurer access to providers, health and Medicaid fraud matters, long terms care services, professional licensing and various family and social services issues.
I am pleased with the progress we have made on behalf of Hoosiers over the past several months and I know that we must remain diligent to keep Indiana as strong as possible for the future. I do believe that with the progress we have made and changes in creating a friendly place to do business, Indiana will be leading the country in recovering from our economic difficulties and I pledge to work every day to keep Indiana moving forward.
I sincerely appreciate and am grateful for your support and encourage you to contact me with questions and concerns.