Words like "challenging" and "contentious" were used by Indiana Chamber of Commerce staff Wednesday to describe their predictions for the upcoming General Assembly session issues and effects.

At a luncheon for members of Kosciusko County business, industry and government, lobbyists from the state Chamber said they expect the "hot" issues this year to be health care, tort reform, a repeal of prevailing wage reform, educational standards and the court-mandated property tax changes.

Kathy M. McKimmie, the Chamber's vice president of human resources, said the 50-50 split in the state legislature between Democrats and Republicans will make this a "very interesting General Assembly to work with."

She said the Chamber expects the legislature to tackle health care issues, including bills that regulate choice of health care providers and increased access to cost and quality information on specific health care providers.

Labor unions already have expressed an interest in repealing the prevailing wage reform, said Brian Burton, vice president of economic development and labor relations. In the past, a three-person committee set the prevailing wage for a public construction project based on the highest union scale to the nearest union area.

Reform last year established five-person committees and opened the committee deliberations to public scrutiny.

Burton also predicted deregulation of the utility industry at the retail level, and urged caution to ensure protection of small businesses.

In the education arena, Kevin Brinegar, the state Chamber's vice president of public finance and education, predicted a state debate on "fairly dramatic reform," including establishing high-reaching academic performance standards for every student in the state. He said there is also a push for deregulating and decentralizing education decision-making away from the state Department of Education and toward local boards.

Holding schools and teachers accountable for the performance of their students is being discussed at the state level, he said, as is giving teachers financial recognition for excellence.

The property taxes that finance Indiana's public schools are under scrutiny by the Indiana Supreme Court after the state tax board's decision last May to replace the current method of assessing property taxes with fair market value.

The Supreme Court should decide the issue by Jan. 1, and the Chamber expects the tax court's decision to be upheld, Brinegar said.

"It's probably going to unleash a firestorm of debate," he said, since it will likely cause cost shifts from business, commerce and industry to residential and farm property.

Wednesday's lunch meeting at the Holiday Inn in Warsaw was sponsored by the government issues committee of the Greater Warsaw Area Chamber of Commerce. [[In-content Ad]]