SYRACUSE – Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma paid a visit to Syracuse Wednesday night.
Approximately 85 local Republicans attended a dinner and meet-and-greet at the home of Mike and State Rep. Rebecca Kubacki.
The Times-Union sat down with Bosma (R-Indianapolis) for an interview prior to the dinner.
Bosma has been a Republican member of the Indiana House of Representatives since 1986, and served as Indiana Speaker of the House during the 2005 and 2006 sessions. He again became speaker this year.
The Times-Union asked Bosma what he thought contributed to Indiana having a budget surplus this year.
Indiana closed its budget books this month with $1.2 billion in extra cash.
He said last September, House Republicans supported a Strengthening Indiana Plan. The first point was budget integrity and balancing the state budget without tax increases and said that is what the state did.
Bosma also was asked about his scoring for pro-job legislation.
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s annual Legislative Vote Analysis ranked Bosma as having the highest pro-jobs legislation voting record out of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“We absolutely must do everything we can to take the burdens off the key to our economy and that is small employers,” Bosma said.
He said House Republicans had strong initiatives this year by lessening the burden on employers by cutting taxes, and having a regulatory environment that is pro-jobs.
Bosma said Indiana’s future is bright, but the state must take advantage of the position it is in today.
He said the state needs to do a better job of educating young people with a focus in science, technology and engineering.
He also said the state needs to assure it looks at its labor laws, and be sure there are incentives for employers to create jobs in Indiana, not elsewhere.
He also addressed the debt ceiling topic and referred to it as playing chicken with the worldwide markets.
“Talks of default are irresponsible and cannot be a reality,” Bosma said.
The Times-Union also interviewed Kubacki.
She spoke about this year’s House session, and said despite the Democrat walkout, Bosma kept the House focused and was a good motivator.
She also talked about the budget.
“It was always understood that the House would not spend more money than it had, and state employees were given a bonus because they were good about being efficient,” Kubacki said.
Kubacki said when there is a surplus the first thing people think to do is to spend the money, but that is not what should happen.
“A surplus is good to have because if the economy continues to go down we have a reserve we can work from,” Kubacki said.
