Kosciusko County Farm Bureau held its annual legislative update Saturday morning with several state legislators on hand.
State Senator Randy Head, along with State Representatives Bill Friend, Rebecca Kubacki and Dave Wolkins, were on hand to give updates of what is going on in the state legislature and answer questions from Farm Bureau and non-Farm Bureau members alike.
Kubacki, who is the house representative for District 22 in Indiana, told those in attendance that with the $340 million the state found recently, $80 million has gone to fully fund kindergarten across the state.
Another $10 million went to victims of the Indiana State Fair in 2011.
Kubacki said that money was also put into the teacher’s pension funds and that a $50 rebate will go to taxpayers.
Every member also defended their vote on right to work legislation.
“It was a very, very emotional issue,” said Kubacki. “I thought it was right to do to bring jobs to Indiana. And if I were a state like Michigan I’d be quaking in my boots.”
Kubacki said she campaigned on job growth so that was a big reason she voted for right to work.
Head said there were good arguments for and against right to work but he also felt that those on both sides misused statistics.
Head said that while non-right to work states have higher incomes, they also have higher cost of living.
Head said through his research he found that right to work states had workers with slightly more buying power, which helped inform his decision.
Head said he was happy that a bill on human trafficking got fast tracked and put into law at the beginning of Super Bowl week in Indianapolis. Head said that the Super Bowl brings some of the world’s most sophisticated prostitution rings and that arrests had already been made with the new laws in place.
For Friend, who represents district 23, it was a bit of a farewell.
With redistricting, Friend will no longer have any districts in Kosciusko County.
Friend defended the right to work decision, saying his polling found 70 percent of his district was in favor of it.
Kubacki and Friend both said that the bill was a chance for unions to prove their worth to workers.
Friend also shot down an attempt by Indiana Democrats to put the right to work issue on the ballot in November.
Friend said that it’s unconstitutional to do such a referendum.
“You have the ultimate referendum in November,” said Kubacki, referring to the next general election.
Friend also talked about House Bill 10-91, which would put stiffer penalties on people who bring frivolous lawsuits against agricultural operations.
Friend said it wasn’t a response to those fighting confined animal feeding operations.
The bill also contains a provision that would force individuals convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine on someone else’s property to pay $10,000 for damages. Those convicted of marijuana production on someone else’s property would have to pay $2,000 in damages.
The bill has passed the house.
Wolkins, who represents Indiana’s 18th district, reiterated what Head had said earlier that some against right to work played with statistics.
Wolkins pointed to safety statistics.
“Texas is a right to work state, California is not,” said Wolkins. “A lot more people die falling off an oil rig than they do tripping over a waste basket in Silicon Valley.”
Wolkins said that he helped cut down the number of advisory boards the state has.
Wolkins said Indiana has 257 advisory boards and 25 were cut with many being ones that were outdated or had already met their goals.
Wolkins also attempted to cut down on licensing requirements for Hoosiers. He said that 35 percent of Indiana residents work in jobs that require some sort of licensing.
Wolkins met resistance, however, when one group, cosmetologists, protested taking away the licensing requirements for their profession.
The bill was killed and Wolkins joked that he had to ask the salon he goes to if the new hairdresser he had knew who he was.
Wolkins said he voted against giving an additional $5 million to state fair victims because he felt “we’re admitting guilt as a state.”
Wolkins said when it came to the state fair incident, where seven were killed and dozens were injured, that “there has to be some personal responsibility here.”
Claypool resident Marjorie Vance was at Saturday’s meeting. Vance has been outspoken in her activism concerning CAFOs.
“I’m a grandmother and it was never my intention to become an activist,” said Vance.
Vance said she was upset that Kosciusko County decided not to add any ordinances regarding CAFOs and plead her case to the state legislators for stronger regulations.
She said it would hurt her family if a CAFO went near her as her son has a severe allergy to hog dust.
She said, as a grandmother, she was also worried about soil and water quality issues for her grandchildren and other children in the area.
John Goon, president of the Kosciusko County Farm Bureau, encouraged those who weren’t members to join.
Goon said the policies the bureau pushes is member driven so those who join have a voice.
