Ind. Sen. Doriot, Rep. Snow Review Legislative Session In 3rd Chamber Event
April 23, 2021 at 10:43 p.m.
Ind. Sen. Doriot, Rep. Snow Review Legislative Session In 3rd Chamber Event
By David [email protected]
A number of issues were discussed, including unemployment, child care, education, ethanol and police reform. Indiana Sen. Ryan Mishler and Rep. Curt Nisly were unable to participate.
Reflecting on this past legislative session, Doriot, who is a ranking member of the Pensions & Labor Committee, said, “Some of the things I’m really, and I think business, is going to be really happy about ... we were able to backfill the unemployment compensation fund with $500 million, so that puts us right at between $800 and $900 million. Before the COVID thing started, we were at $1.4 billion.”
He said what they don’t want to happen to Indiana’s businesses is for the debts to force the state to raise the unemployment tax and thereby putting more of a load on businesses.
“It could still happen. However, we have, I think, between $4-6 million in excess funds in the budget, so we could, if we had to, move more money into that,” Doriot said.
Another thing he said he was excited about was the legislature was able to raise the business personal property tax exemption from $40,000 to $80,000, which should provide smaller businesses with a “boost to the arm,” he said.
Another $500 million was put into the state’s economic development fund. That will be provided to communities around the state, with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation administering it “to get more businesses, more commercial, industrial things going in some of our smaller communities.”
On U.S. 30, Doriot said, “We are going to be getting our studies done from the state line to State Road 49. So that’s two-thirds of the state, and Sen. Mishler said this is not really a line item, it’s a pledge from ... INDOT. But if things don’t move forward, Ryan has telegraphed to INDOT that the next budget will not be very friendly. So they’ve agreed to move forward on the corridor, which excites me.”
In one bill that got through the legislative session, he said, “You will no longer be denied visitation in hospitals or nursing homes for a loved one.” He said there will be a few hurdles to jump through, but people will have a right to have visitors.
Another bill put into the budget provides for a foster care tax credit. “Capped at $2 million. You can get a tax credit for $10,000 if you donate to organizations that support foster kids, especially designed to go for that time where you have a foster child leaving the program and entering into life,” Doriot said. Hopefully, he said, it will help the foster child “make it in the real world.”
Snow said, “One thing about Indiana that I’m so proud of is we didn’t have near the debt that our neighbors do, and we were able to use a lot of that money in amazing ways. We’re planning to, really, spending money like it’s coming out of a water faucet, if you will. But, really spending a lot in the education realm – raising the salaries, putting money in a lot of good areas for education, the schools.”
According to an Associated Press article, the budget plan increases base K-12 school funding by 4.6% in the budget’s first year and 4.3% in the second, adding about $1 billion to the total two-year funding of $16 billion. The plan will cover the $600 million a year in additional money the governor’s teacher compensation commission found was needed to booster Indiana’s lagging teacher pay in comparison to nearby states, the AP story states.
Another “really exciting thing,” Snow said, was about infrastructure. “So we’re looking at U.S. 30 that was talked about. Our region, the 11 counties, is going to get a chunk of money. The Fort Wayne Airport is going to be able to have a huge expansion that will allow a lot more nonstop flights. And then there’s just all kinds of little pockets of money that will go toward different projects for economic development.”
Snow said he was still reviewing the 200-plus pages of the budget.
“The highlight is, it’s amazing for the state of Indiana. And then for our region, we are really touted as one of a model across the state on how we’ve done a good job within our region. I’m really proud to be in Indiana and this region,” Snow said.
Child Care
LaunchPad Director Sherry Searles asked, regarding the new infrastructure bill that was passed, “Child care has been included in that bill and the northeast region is recommending that some of those funds should be allocated to schools to build out child cares through early learning. What are your thoughts on that recommendation?”
Snow said child care is something “we sorely need,” but didn’t know if there was still an opportunity for appropriations for that or not. He said he was in favor of anything the state could do to make child care more affordable and accessible to families in the area.
Doriot said he had no insights on the child care issue.
Education
An education question asked was, “With some of the voucher expansions that are still taking place inside education, do you see the schools receiving voucher dollars being under some of the same requirements as public schools, not only with testing, but also equity of admission and also in areas of financial audits by the State Board of Accounts?”
While he didn’t know about he audits, Snow said the regulations for public schools and charter and private schools “were not equitable.” He said he was asking school boards to help him with finding regulations that are inefficient and costing schools money. “What I’d like to do is try to figure out how to make those different schools a little bit more equitable,” he said.
Snow said, “I do believe that our charter schools, public schools ought to be held at the same level from the regulation standpoint. If the money is going there, the accountability needs to be the same.”
Doriot said he was a big advocate of parents being able to send their children to where they wish to have their children be educated. “But in that, the places where they are educated need to perform,” he said, noting there are some “real headaches” with the virtual schools. “So I’m open to looking into that more and making sure the private schools and the other schools are treated equitably,” Doriot said.
An Associated Press story states the eligibility expansion of the state’s private school voucher program could add some 12,000 students, or about one-third, to a projected total of 48,000 students over the next two years, according to a legislative report. The program’s cost could grow by about 50% to $264 million a year. Income eligibility for a family of four goes from the current roughly $96,000 a year to about $145,000 starting this fall. It also would allow all those students to receive the full voucher amount, rather than the current tiered system that limits full vouchers to such families with incomes of about $48,000.
Farming
Local farmer Barry Ostrom asked, “Will Gov. Holcomb veto Senate Bill 303? Local farmers are not in support of this bill, even though it was supported by the Farm Bureau.”
SB 303 “provides that an underground storage tank may not be installed for the purpose of storing regulated substances unless the underground storage tank system meets the requirements of 40 CFR 280.32. Establishes new maximum vapor pressure limits for gasoline and for gasohol (a blend of gasoline and ethanol). Provides that a fuel dispenser from which a retail customer dispenses gasohol containing more than 10% and not more than 15% ethanol must display the statement ‘Attention: E15. Check owner's manual for compatibility and warranty requirements’ or a similar statement approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency,” according to a synopsis at openstates.org.
Snow said he voted “no” on that ethanol bill. “Basically, what they wanted to do was put a sticker on the gas tank, telling people to go look at their manuals to make sure their car would support that type of fuel.”
He said the reason he voted against it was because he had a number of farmers and ethanol plants that called him and asked him to vote “no.” He also studied the issue. Snow said he called Farm Bureau for their perspective on it, but he heard from more farmers on it than Farm Bureau. Snow said he didn’t know what Holcomb will do, but he has three days to sign it.
Doriot said he voted for it, but most of the people who talked to him thought it was good, including Farm Bureau.
“Maybe I wouldn’t have if I would have had more input. I like to have input from everybody,” he said.
Police Reform
A question to the legislatures asked, “I noticed that only two Indiana state representatives were in support of the George Floyd policing bill. What would you personally support, and if anything was to be reformed in the state of Indiana with policing, what would that look like?”
Snow said the state passed a bill, with about $70 million going toward law enforcement across the state.
“I’m in full support of supporting them, the men and women that serve us and protect us,” he said, acknowledging he didn’t know anything about the George Floyd federal bill.
He said what the Indiana House and Senate did was put a lot of money toward law enforcement. “A lot of that is to train – de-escalation training, giving them new training facilities, wearing body cameras, additional armor. I am not in favor” of defunding the police, Snow said. “I’m fully behind giving our police and law enforcement the additional funds they need to do the job they’re being asked to do. I know there may be some bad actors out there, but that’s the stuff we ask our people in administrative to hold them accountable, and I’m going to trust that they’re going to do that.”
Doriot said they put $20 million toward body cameras “so that we have a better idea of what actually happened. These things are so fluid. People get excited, and a lot of times, in the heat of what’s happening, you don’t see everything. So we put $20 million toward body cams. I know we gave $70 million for the law enforcement academy ... and in that training, they are working on how to go through an incident and try to de-escalate it.”
He said another bill makes the chokehold illegal “to the point that it is life and death. So in other words, that officer can not use the chokehold until he’s exhausted every other method and his life is in peril. At that point, it’s no-holds barred.”
Doriot said what former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin did to Floyd in 2020 was “totally uncalled for” and he believes justice was done when the jury found Chauvin guilty for the murder and manslaughter of Floyd earlier this week.
“We have to make sure police have the tools they need, and we have to make sure they perform to reasonable standards expected by the citizens,” he said.
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A number of issues were discussed, including unemployment, child care, education, ethanol and police reform. Indiana Sen. Ryan Mishler and Rep. Curt Nisly were unable to participate.
Reflecting on this past legislative session, Doriot, who is a ranking member of the Pensions & Labor Committee, said, “Some of the things I’m really, and I think business, is going to be really happy about ... we were able to backfill the unemployment compensation fund with $500 million, so that puts us right at between $800 and $900 million. Before the COVID thing started, we were at $1.4 billion.”
He said what they don’t want to happen to Indiana’s businesses is for the debts to force the state to raise the unemployment tax and thereby putting more of a load on businesses.
“It could still happen. However, we have, I think, between $4-6 million in excess funds in the budget, so we could, if we had to, move more money into that,” Doriot said.
Another thing he said he was excited about was the legislature was able to raise the business personal property tax exemption from $40,000 to $80,000, which should provide smaller businesses with a “boost to the arm,” he said.
Another $500 million was put into the state’s economic development fund. That will be provided to communities around the state, with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation administering it “to get more businesses, more commercial, industrial things going in some of our smaller communities.”
On U.S. 30, Doriot said, “We are going to be getting our studies done from the state line to State Road 49. So that’s two-thirds of the state, and Sen. Mishler said this is not really a line item, it’s a pledge from ... INDOT. But if things don’t move forward, Ryan has telegraphed to INDOT that the next budget will not be very friendly. So they’ve agreed to move forward on the corridor, which excites me.”
In one bill that got through the legislative session, he said, “You will no longer be denied visitation in hospitals or nursing homes for a loved one.” He said there will be a few hurdles to jump through, but people will have a right to have visitors.
Another bill put into the budget provides for a foster care tax credit. “Capped at $2 million. You can get a tax credit for $10,000 if you donate to organizations that support foster kids, especially designed to go for that time where you have a foster child leaving the program and entering into life,” Doriot said. Hopefully, he said, it will help the foster child “make it in the real world.”
Snow said, “One thing about Indiana that I’m so proud of is we didn’t have near the debt that our neighbors do, and we were able to use a lot of that money in amazing ways. We’re planning to, really, spending money like it’s coming out of a water faucet, if you will. But, really spending a lot in the education realm – raising the salaries, putting money in a lot of good areas for education, the schools.”
According to an Associated Press article, the budget plan increases base K-12 school funding by 4.6% in the budget’s first year and 4.3% in the second, adding about $1 billion to the total two-year funding of $16 billion. The plan will cover the $600 million a year in additional money the governor’s teacher compensation commission found was needed to booster Indiana’s lagging teacher pay in comparison to nearby states, the AP story states.
Another “really exciting thing,” Snow said, was about infrastructure. “So we’re looking at U.S. 30 that was talked about. Our region, the 11 counties, is going to get a chunk of money. The Fort Wayne Airport is going to be able to have a huge expansion that will allow a lot more nonstop flights. And then there’s just all kinds of little pockets of money that will go toward different projects for economic development.”
Snow said he was still reviewing the 200-plus pages of the budget.
“The highlight is, it’s amazing for the state of Indiana. And then for our region, we are really touted as one of a model across the state on how we’ve done a good job within our region. I’m really proud to be in Indiana and this region,” Snow said.
Child Care
LaunchPad Director Sherry Searles asked, regarding the new infrastructure bill that was passed, “Child care has been included in that bill and the northeast region is recommending that some of those funds should be allocated to schools to build out child cares through early learning. What are your thoughts on that recommendation?”
Snow said child care is something “we sorely need,” but didn’t know if there was still an opportunity for appropriations for that or not. He said he was in favor of anything the state could do to make child care more affordable and accessible to families in the area.
Doriot said he had no insights on the child care issue.
Education
An education question asked was, “With some of the voucher expansions that are still taking place inside education, do you see the schools receiving voucher dollars being under some of the same requirements as public schools, not only with testing, but also equity of admission and also in areas of financial audits by the State Board of Accounts?”
While he didn’t know about he audits, Snow said the regulations for public schools and charter and private schools “were not equitable.” He said he was asking school boards to help him with finding regulations that are inefficient and costing schools money. “What I’d like to do is try to figure out how to make those different schools a little bit more equitable,” he said.
Snow said, “I do believe that our charter schools, public schools ought to be held at the same level from the regulation standpoint. If the money is going there, the accountability needs to be the same.”
Doriot said he was a big advocate of parents being able to send their children to where they wish to have their children be educated. “But in that, the places where they are educated need to perform,” he said, noting there are some “real headaches” with the virtual schools. “So I’m open to looking into that more and making sure the private schools and the other schools are treated equitably,” Doriot said.
An Associated Press story states the eligibility expansion of the state’s private school voucher program could add some 12,000 students, or about one-third, to a projected total of 48,000 students over the next two years, according to a legislative report. The program’s cost could grow by about 50% to $264 million a year. Income eligibility for a family of four goes from the current roughly $96,000 a year to about $145,000 starting this fall. It also would allow all those students to receive the full voucher amount, rather than the current tiered system that limits full vouchers to such families with incomes of about $48,000.
Farming
Local farmer Barry Ostrom asked, “Will Gov. Holcomb veto Senate Bill 303? Local farmers are not in support of this bill, even though it was supported by the Farm Bureau.”
SB 303 “provides that an underground storage tank may not be installed for the purpose of storing regulated substances unless the underground storage tank system meets the requirements of 40 CFR 280.32. Establishes new maximum vapor pressure limits for gasoline and for gasohol (a blend of gasoline and ethanol). Provides that a fuel dispenser from which a retail customer dispenses gasohol containing more than 10% and not more than 15% ethanol must display the statement ‘Attention: E15. Check owner's manual for compatibility and warranty requirements’ or a similar statement approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency,” according to a synopsis at openstates.org.
Snow said he voted “no” on that ethanol bill. “Basically, what they wanted to do was put a sticker on the gas tank, telling people to go look at their manuals to make sure their car would support that type of fuel.”
He said the reason he voted against it was because he had a number of farmers and ethanol plants that called him and asked him to vote “no.” He also studied the issue. Snow said he called Farm Bureau for their perspective on it, but he heard from more farmers on it than Farm Bureau. Snow said he didn’t know what Holcomb will do, but he has three days to sign it.
Doriot said he voted for it, but most of the people who talked to him thought it was good, including Farm Bureau.
“Maybe I wouldn’t have if I would have had more input. I like to have input from everybody,” he said.
Police Reform
A question to the legislatures asked, “I noticed that only two Indiana state representatives were in support of the George Floyd policing bill. What would you personally support, and if anything was to be reformed in the state of Indiana with policing, what would that look like?”
Snow said the state passed a bill, with about $70 million going toward law enforcement across the state.
“I’m in full support of supporting them, the men and women that serve us and protect us,” he said, acknowledging he didn’t know anything about the George Floyd federal bill.
He said what the Indiana House and Senate did was put a lot of money toward law enforcement. “A lot of that is to train – de-escalation training, giving them new training facilities, wearing body cameras, additional armor. I am not in favor” of defunding the police, Snow said. “I’m fully behind giving our police and law enforcement the additional funds they need to do the job they’re being asked to do. I know there may be some bad actors out there, but that’s the stuff we ask our people in administrative to hold them accountable, and I’m going to trust that they’re going to do that.”
Doriot said they put $20 million toward body cameras “so that we have a better idea of what actually happened. These things are so fluid. People get excited, and a lot of times, in the heat of what’s happening, you don’t see everything. So we put $20 million toward body cams. I know we gave $70 million for the law enforcement academy ... and in that training, they are working on how to go through an incident and try to de-escalate it.”
He said another bill makes the chokehold illegal “to the point that it is life and death. So in other words, that officer can not use the chokehold until he’s exhausted every other method and his life is in peril. At that point, it’s no-holds barred.”
Doriot said what former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin did to Floyd in 2020 was “totally uncalled for” and he believes justice was done when the jury found Chauvin guilty for the murder and manslaughter of Floyd earlier this week.
“We have to make sure police have the tools they need, and we have to make sure they perform to reasonable standards expected by the citizens,” he said.
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