- Good morning everyone. I'm so sorry, I'm just running a little bit on fumes this
- morning. Welcome everyone to the legislative update. Sorry, I have to take a
- breath. I had a phone call from a friend that needed some help this morning and
- it got me a little bit behind, but I just need to take a deep breath and I see
- Shelly's here and Matt Pierce is here and so I think we're ready to go unless
- somebody tells me otherwise. Good morning Shelly, good morning Matt. Good morning.
- This is our last legislative update for this legislative session and I
- know that you Shelly and Matt have been very busy and that you probably
- have a lot to say to us today. I'm just gonna as an introductory matter say that
- I am Sonia Lierkamp. I go by Sonny and I'm Vice President of the League for Brown
- County and we welcome as many questions as possible from the audience for our
- legislators once we get started and in order to ask a question as a member of
- the audience go into chat and just type in one question moderator and say I have
- a question and the question moderator will then make sure to give me your name
- and you will be put in a queue according to the time that you have expressed your
- desire to ask a question. So and we if we get through all of the the first
- questions that people have you can are welcome to ask more questions but just
- go into the queue to indicate that you have another question. Okay the first
- thing we will be doing is also assuring you that we always make sure to invite
- all of the legislators that represent the districts for Bloomington Monroe
- County, Johnson County, Brown County and we also have a few members of the Brown
- County League who are in Bartholomew County so we try to extend a an
- invitation to them as well. Matt and Shelley have been our faithful
- attendees since the beginning we that we started doing these legislative updates
- on zoom so we are so happy to have their participation. I want to just remind
- everyone a little bit of the ground rules this is an informative session not
- a debate we expect everyone to be civil and I'm gonna be honest with you I don't
- think we've ever had anybody get out of line but we just like to remind you of
- that. Each legislator will briefly summarize and have some opening remarks
- and after those opening remarks then we will be opening it up to questions so
- today I think we will start with Matt why don't you open us up with your opening
- remarks Matt? Okay well I think the probably the big news is the budget
- revenue forecast for the budget which you know we have a series of revenue
- forecasts throughout the year that are used to the basis for the budget kind of
- the idea of how much money the state might have and then we always wait for
- the very last one before the legislature is finished and it just came in and I
- think it said revenues are gonna be down like 2.4 billion or something you know I
- think basically all the Trump chaos on his economic policies are coming home to
- roost and then on top of that the fiscal policies which I think have been kind of
- irresponsible over the past decade are also coming home to roost so for the
- past decade the Republican supermajorities have been relentlessly
- cutting taxes for corporations financial institutions utilities you
- could kind of you know go down the list and they've also cut the the income tax
- I think what's at 3.4 it's now like a 3 they wanted to take it down to 2.9 this
- year I don't know if they'll do another couple rounds know if they'll do that or
- not but what they essentially have done is eroded the revenues coming in the
- state and that has been masked over the last couple budget cycles because of all
- the federal money coming in related to COVID and you know there there are
- argument is they believe in what's called the Laffer curve which goes back to the
- Reagan administration professor Laffer claims that the more you cut taxes the
- more your revenues will increase because the theory is people will be willing to
- participate in more economic activity if they can keep more of their money and
- therefore you actually get more money when you cut taxes and so that's been
- their they're basically mode of operation but now after we've eroded all
- those revenues for a decade now we're you know hitting the wall and so what
- will be interesting to see is I don't think there's a way for them to just cut
- their way out of this shortfall so I think that what's likely to happen is
- suddenly we're hearing discussions about increasing the cigarette tax alcohol
- tax taxes that people have suggested over the years be raised for specific
- purposes like funding mental health or drug treatment things like that I think
- they may be on the table to just try to figure out how to make the budget kind of
- work so that'll be interesting to see what happens over the next week with the
- governor and the Republican fiscal people what they're gonna decide to do
- on that budget but I think at the end of the day it's gonna be pretty ugly and I
- know I know in the house the Republicans kind of the rank-and-file Republicans I
- think they are a little bit in despair right now because I think they know that
- the budget is probably going to be pretty bad now that also will be
- compounded for our schools and people on the local level because of Senate bill
- one which was kind of a frustrating process point to make so what happened
- with that bill is it came over for you know the Senate made some significant
- changes just before past it it came over to the house was in ways and means
- committee they had a bunch of hearings on it they were kind of kicking around
- ideas people were trying to figure out how you gonna balance your desire to
- give tax relief to property tax owners while at the same time you know making
- sure local units of government have the revenue they need to provide the basic
- services that people rely on like police and fire road repair all that kind of
- good stuff and the solution they came up with their plan just appeared as a
- second reading amendment one day and we didn't really you know have any good
- fiscal analysis on it when we're voting on it so the second reading amendments
- the stage were on the floor of the house you can vote to change a bill and so
- they basically had a complete rewrite in a second reading amendment and so that
- went in one day and then the next day we had to vote on the final the final bill
- and then once it was passed out of the house it went over the Senate very short
- order the Senate concurred they basically voted to agree with what the
- house did went down to the governor and I think he signed it on the same day and
- quite honestly I think they wanted to get that all done so people didn't have
- time to really look at it and study it and so the governor didn't have to
- listen to people asking them a lot of questions about potential negative
- impacts of the bill but you know my bottom line I think first of all it's
- very complicated I don't claim to understand all the ramifications of that
- bill but generally what frustrates me is what has happened is the General
- Assembly has decided to be the hero and cut the property taxes and also
- significantly this business personal property tax which is like on equipment
- that's good that limits going like way up to like two million but anyway the
- General Assembly gets to say look at us we cut all your taxes aren't we that
- aren't we the great heroes and then they leave the schools and the local units to
- deal with the shortfalls in their funding and what they've essentially said
- is well if you need more money just raise the income tax on the local level
- so it's interesting that on the state level they've been talking about a
- limited the income tax they've been consistently reduced in the income tax
- and now it's like okay local units you just raise the income tax if you're
- short on money and so they're gonna turn the local officials into the villains
- who will probably have no choice at some point but to raise taxes to keep the
- services provided that people need the thing is I think it's gonna be a little
- bit like a slow-moving train wreck because property taxes you paid this year
- what the taxes were last year so it's gonna take a while I think for all of
- the ramifications of the bill to be gun become known but I think that's kind of
- the big story of the legislature is just these fiscal issues and we'll see how
- bad the budget ends up another interesting process point as well that
- relates to Monroe County House bill 1144 is a court's bill and last summer
- there's a summer study committee that studies the courts and how many courts
- each county needs and you go to them to ask for more and so that's kind of their
- job and so they announced a new policy last summer that they would no longer
- just add courts but they would look for places to remove courts to basically
- decide that there's not enough business for the court to be justified and they
- said they would be reallocating them and every time they added a court they
- wanted to remove a court and that's because there's some fiscal impact on
- the state which pays for some of those court officials and the thing was I
- don't think anybody expected that to be happening this session that was kind of
- perspective going forward kind of thing and so in the Senate I guess in the
- appropriations committee they added in an amendment taking out a lot of courts
- including one here in Monroe County and again in the house we've had zero
- discussion about it in the house yet there's going to be a conference
- committee so the House and Senate conferees will have to decide how that
- bill is going to read at the end of the day I've been talking to people who are
- going to likely be controlling that conference committee about this
- situation and I think they're pretty hell-bent on eliminating the courts
- although they have allowed me to suggest some language that will try to limit the
- chaos because Bloomington or Monroe County is different because we have a
- unified court system so we have like three judges running in a year so I
- think it's a little bit trickier to figure out well who's actually going to
- get eliminated and so the language I'm suggesting is to and our understanding
- is one of the judges is going to retire at the end of the term so it would make
- sense if you're going to eliminate a court you would eliminate it from
- someone who doesn't wish to run for reelection so we'll we'll see there so
- there's two issues there one is just a process and is this the time to
- implement this policy and then secondly if you are hell-bent on implementing it
- how do you limit the disruption as best that you can so on small modular
- reactors who have been fighting this battle where the legislature really is
- just obsessed with small modular reactors nuclear reactors for electric
- generation and they have gotten signed into law in SB 424 now that a utility
- will be able to go out and expend hundreds of millions of dollars
- investigating whether they could make a small modular reactor actually work even
- though none is functioning anywhere in the United States my understanding is
- there two in the world one in China one in Russia which I think tells you
- something and so they will be able to recover all the costs those hundreds of
- millions always expended in planning costs just investigating whether or not
- it's really possible to do whether it's feasible and the thing that I've been
- railing against now for the entire session is these bills all say that if
- they expend hundreds of millions of dollars and they determine that it's not
- feasible to go forward with a small modular reactor they still get to
- recover all their planning costs so the ratepayers have the potential of paying
- for nothing getting you know paying something for nothing and I think this
- is really bad policy what it does is it shifts the risk from the shareholders
- the owners of the utilities on to the backs of the ratepayers and so there's
- nothing for utility to lose to go off on a really highly speculative venture that
- I think has a low percentage likelihood of panning out and the ratepayers will
- just pay for all that so that that's a little disappointing that's already been
- signed in another bill it's disappointing Senate bill 10 signed by
- the governor already is takes away the students ability to use their student ID
- to prove their identity on Election Day and I had quite a discussion with the
- author of that bill on the House floor and kind of walked him through the the
- fact that a student ID meets every single requirement in the statute for an
- ID that's considered good enough to prove you are who you are the author of
- the bill kept going off on students registering when they don't really live
- where they say they do and all these things and I said that's got absolutely
- nothing to do with the voter you know day student ID and I think at the end of the
- day they just don't like students voting because they think college campuses are
- some you know left-wing operation and so they just want to make it harder and
- they've accomplished to do that now so if you're a student and you decide you
- want to declare Bloomington to be your domicile because you figured out they
- live here nine months out of the year you're probably gonna have to make a
- trip to the BMV to get you know some kind of ID issued by the state unless you
- happen to have a passport maybe you might be okay but it's just you know one
- more hassle added into the process of voting for zero additional security
- there's no additional security or safety or whatever they want to claim they're
- trying to do those elections that's that's a problem well I guess the last
- bill I'll mention which I probably have some local interest is Senate bill 289
- which has been known as the anti DEI bill they're now in the house they're
- calling it the unlawful discrimination bill it was significantly rewritten in
- the house and while still bad I think less damaging than the Senate version but
- the Senate has dissented to the amendments or changes made in the house
- and I'm assuming there'll be a conference committee on that so it
- remains to be seen what the final form of this bill you know attacking diversity
- equity inclusion programs and so we'll just have to see how that plays out here
- in the upcoming week and I guess I'll stop and see what's happening in the
- Senate thank you so much Matt Shelley we would welcome your opening remarks thank
- you Sonny and welcome and good morning to all those in attendance thank you for
- inviting me here and thank you to representative Pierce for giving us a
- good not good outlook on the budget forecast that were received last
- Wednesday and he is correct it's a little over a 2.4 billion dollar
- shortfall I want to go over where the house where the biennium budget left the
- Senate and where we're going to be starting when it comes to creating a
- conference a committee report that both the House and the Senate will agree upon
- and that includes this 2.4 plus billion dollar shortfall when it left when House
- bill 1001 the biennium budget left the Senate it had one good thing it removed
- the universal vouchers and it did maintain the universal vouchers at the
- current level it also established a beginning farmer tax credit it that's
- the good like is there anything else no but here are things that continue to be
- a challenge when they when the house version came over to the Senate last
- biennium budget we created a fund for curricular materials to alleviate that
- extra amount on that extra payment on parents that was a big win however that
- was a push of our public schools across the state was to fund curricular
- materials for families and for students and for families but what ended up
- happening was it wasn't funded at a level that actually covered the curricular
- activities and the schools our schools were very concerned because now the
- messaging was curricular materials are going to be covered in the budget but in
- fact the amount was lower than what schools needed and that meant the they
- couldn't go back to parents because we had already told parents that it was
- going to be covered and schools ended up having to fill that gap and they were
- very concerned about this and went to Hoosiers and said that line needs more
- funding it's not truly being funded and this is going to actually be more
- harmful to our school funding formula because that means less funding for our
- schools because we have to make up that gap well apparently this really upset
- the the chair of appropriations in the Senate he felt that the schools were
- unappreciative of the amount they were given and so decided this biennium to
- actually have some retribution what they did is they zeroed out the curricular
- line and they moved it into the general school funding formula so now it's in
- the school funding formula which is even less funding for our public schools and
- you can begin sort of seeing the the politics and I don't want to say
- pettiness but pettiness harmful behaviors that happen when Hoosiers
- speak up and speak up loudly about what their needs are and if they don't show
- deference and complete appreciation for you know the little that they get so
- well it's not a little but you know they need more to actually meet their needs
- but I wanted to go return back to we also saw the removal of the menstrual
- cycle products the house had put the repeal of menstruation products removing
- that tax from those products in the House budget it came over to the Senate and as
- much as we tried to keep that in it was removed it saw a 25% increase in the
- governor's budget the lieutenant governor's budget and the secretary of
- state's budget even though the call when it went out for these agencies to create
- their budget and submit them to keep them flat or find remember all the all
- of us hearing again and again and again doing more with less but we saw a 25%
- increase and that 25% increase remains in the budget today and there were also
- sort of multi-billion dollar little projects here and there the state of
- Indiana has increased the funding to crisis pregnancy centers in the lot the
- line item of funding real alternatives which is a Pennsylvania nonprofit that
- Indiana we're trying to find out what other states other than Pennsylvania
- actually fund real alternatives out of Pennsylvania we cannot find another
- state that actually funds another state's nonprofit but we increased that
- to eight million dollars we didn't even keep that line flat we also saw the
- creation of a telecare women's crisis line pilot program not telehealth
- telecare we have a nonprofit all options has a health has a like a phone line a
- hotline that they fund with their own money that they raise for people to call
- if they're experiencing any need of support or care they can call this
- hotline that's funded separately the state budget does not fund them this
- telecare pilot creation is to sort of be a response to that because all options
- does provide all options and they the telecare pilot would be a an anti
- abortion and anti abortion anti-choice option and that's getting funded in this
- budget so when we talk about the 2.4 billion dollar shortfall we certainly
- have some places where we can start in addition to those lines I our Senate
- Democratic caucus we actually offered and it was in excess of 2.4 billion
- dollars of where we could make up that revenue one we have been talking about
- that Senate that cigarette tax increase for years but we really leaned in this
- year so the cigarette tax increase a slight increase in the alcohol tax we
- have not seen an increase in the alcohol tax in over two decades we are actually
- you know really pushing to go a little bit further with our choice vouchers and
- maintain at the 2021 biennium funding levels or remove them all together but
- if we just return to the 2021 levels that would get free up millions of
- dollars additionally asking the governor the lieutenant governor and the
- Secretary of State to do what every other Hoosier is being asked to do and
- that is to do more with less and get rid of that 25 percent increase and finally
- creating an MCAF so the hospital assessment fee hospitals pay an
- assessment fee on services to the state on services that they do and a small
- percentage comes back to the state when we rolled out our pathways program and
- we created the managed care entities for the state of Indiana to manage our
- Medicaid for the aging and disabled Hoosiers we did not institute a managed
- care assessment fee which goes to insurance companies that they have to
- pay a small percentage on the care that the money that they're making off of
- Hoosiers and creating this MCAF would help alleviate this gap and so that's
- close to a four billion dollar revenue source with all of those ideas put
- together and we'll be really pushing for those policy changes in House Bill 1001
- so that's House Bill 1001 which is the biennium budget I wanted to touch
- briefly on House Bill 1002 it went to Conference Committee just like 1001 but
- 1002 was labeled the deregulation of education bill and it was thicker than
- the budget actually it cleaned up some duplicative language it took out some
- lines from education code that are no longer being used and it also removed
- requirements of degree or residency for the appointee for the secretary of the
- Department of Education no longer does the appointee for being the leader of
- education in Indiana need to have any degree whatsoever not a master's not a
- bachelor's not high school nothing it removes it all together in addition to
- that it removes the requirement that while the secretary serves Indiana that
- they live in Indiana that has been removed entirely they don't need to live
- in Indiana they don't look need to live in the United States they actually can
- live wherever they want and this is their idea of deregulating that this is
- going to be a positive step for education in the state of Indiana and of
- course the Senate Democratic caucus fiercely fought that as well as in
- committee they removed the requirement that teachers have training in social
- emotional learning that that is a value of our state all of that language was
- gutted from education code and while it as they as Republicans said it still
- will let schools individual schools if this is a value they want to have they
- are free to do it but we are not going to say as a state that we value anything
- other than reading writing and arithmetic I mean that you know we're
- gonna get back to the basics in Indiana we're gonna get back to the basics and
- not have all this fluff that detracts from a good education and so they
- stripped SEL from education code and that is currently in House Bill 1002 and
- it is in conference committee so we're going to continue working to put that
- language back in House Bill 1004 House Bill 1004 was an attempt to address
- health care costs in Indiana but the provision in 1004 that has many
- individuals very concerned is it has price caps it has price caps on services
- rendered for non just the the big five nonprofit hospitals and if they don't
- meet those price caps on services then they will lose their nonprofit status
- the challenge there is there are some services that just cost more money and
- cardiology labor and delivery it's very difficult and our nonprofit hospitals in
- the last two years have were seriously charged with bringing down their costs
- and submitting these reports on how they're bringing down the cost and now
- with the price caps and the threat of losing their nonprofit status it is what
- we're doing to education we are now seeing the push in our health care and
- that is pushing to privatization because there's this idea that a private entity
- could do a better job in serving users than our nonprofit hospital systems in
- Indiana and there was fierce debate on the Senate floor on House Bill 1004 and
- that is currently I'm not sure what actually if that got signed by the
- governor if that's in do you know well we can get back to that I'm not sure on
- the bill on that bill if it got signed by the governor and finally House Bill
- 1008 the one that creates this Commission to study moving the border of
- Indiana to include 33 Illinois counties that in a referendum they voted to secede
- from Illinois this we have seen economists Michael Hicks said this would
- be come at a price tag of two billion dollars to Hoosier taxpayers because the
- counties they want to bring in are among the poorest counties in Illinois that
- that actually pulled down the majority many of the services and from Medicaid
- to snap benefits so the impact that it would have on our state revenues and
- expenses would be about a two billion dollar price tag so if we're gonna be
- short two billion dollars we could start there by not even having the
- conversation of bringing in 33 other counties because they voted in a
- referendum to secede from Illinois and our Republican leaders in this state are
- saying we're gonna listen to Illinois voters because they voted in a ballot
- initiative to secede and we want to let them know that Indiana is a hospitable
- home and open to them and at the same time refused to let Hoosiers have a
- ballot initiative it's outrageous and I do want to just before I conclude my
- remarks and opening I want to say that Senate bill one we had second reading
- amendment our deadline was on Monday third reading deadline the deadline was
- on Wednesday and then for the next until we have to sine die on April 29th
- we can argue and pass or defeat our the concurrences the remaining bills that
- the House and the Senate are working out Senate bill one was one of those bills
- and so it came over the Senate concurred so it was on our agenda on Monday so we
- fought the budget we it was about 12 midnight I mean it was midnight it was
- Tuesday morning and the Republicans decided to suspend the calendar hop over
- the rest during the third reading amendment the third reading bills and
- take one concurrence and it was Senate bill one at 1230 in the morning that's
- when we heard the most controversial bill this session was in the middle of
- the night technically the morning and it went directly over to the governor and
- was signed not because it had to not because we were on a deadline because of
- timing so that's what happens when there is not balance when there is not check
- and balance because we could not say no they had enough votes to alter the
- agenda and hear that bill at 1230 in the morning Tuesday morning and so I'll
- conclude my remarks with that thank you for your advocacy and drawing attention
- to these really important matters that are impacting all Hoosiers and with that
- I will be quiet and I'm excited about hearing your questions thank you both
- for your opening remarks and trying to explain what's going on with with our
- Senate and House we do have two people in the queue I want to tell everyone so
- you need to be thinking of your questions and go into chat and direct
- those to one question moderator all you have to say is I have a question and the
- question moderator will let me know and I will put you in the queue our first
- individual that has a question is Jerry Brown Jerry I would ask you to unmute
- and ask your question and then when you've concluded your question make sure
- to read mute this question will be directed first to Shelley Jerry can you
- unmute and ask your question yes I just unmuted Shelley I'm a retired
- teacher and very concerned along with other retired teachers where there'll be
- any kind of a pension supplement usually in the past it's been in the news some
- but this year with Senate bill one and luxury vehicles for our state officers
- and that kind of thing it's kind of got lost so he got any prediction on whether
- we'll get some kind of a 13th check as they call it or a stipend amount thank
- you yes so we passed the the bill got passed but it was not funded in the
- budget so we offered two amendments to reinstate the 13th check it was the
- exact same amendment we started we had over 60 amendments all of them were
- defeated that we heard on Monday and we started our support for working families
- and those who have supported Indiana so well and that was our first amendment
- and then we said at the very end you've got one more shot to get this right on
- the 13th amendment and it also was voted down I'll just we will continue to fight
- for it it's gonna be tough because of the $2.4 self-inflicted wound that we're
- seeing with tariffs with all of the firings at the federal level the
- services that have ended at the federal level there is so much destabilization
- that has happened that it's it is really impacting this year's budget in a way
- that we've not seen since 2009 but no Jerry we're still fighting it and we know
- how important it is the bill passed we just have to fund it in 10-01 oh thank
- you I can't kind of thought you'd say what you said given the budget deficit
- but I wanted to hear it from a legislator so thank you that's all we
- would like to turn to Matt now Matt do you have any additional response to that
- particular question yeah just it's frustrating that we make the retirees
- have to come and beg us every year the these pensions are not very generous in
- our state to begin with over time they really erode from inflation and so these
- you know 13 checks or some kind of increase is really critical for people
- to just be able to meet the cost of living which has really been you know
- pretty high in the past you know three or four years whatever it's been so you
- know this is just extremely frustrating and I think it also shows that there
- really is no accountability left at the State House because these districts are
- so gerrymandered and everyone most everyone there are few exceptions but
- most everyone is in a super lopsided district and you know there was a time
- when the political rule was don't mess with the senior citizens right because
- they pay attention they vote unlike other constituencies are very liable
- voters and like that's the last thing you want to do as a politician is
- disappoint you know seniors with whatever the issue might be and now at
- the General Assembly there they're perfectly happy to just disappoint
- senior citizens and I to me it just shows that there's really not any
- accountability left at the State House there's no sense that you're accountable
- to the people and I find that frustrating because I don't know where
- you find the leverage to try to make things happen well thank you you said
- something that's really hit home with a lot of my friends that we feel like we
- have to go begging every year just to get really a small amount so I I'm glad
- somebody feels that way that's involved with the government because God's so
- that's kind of the way we feel so thank you okay Jerry thank Jerry thank you for
- your question and if you would remute please and we will go to the next
- question Mary Coy I believe that you have a question and would you direct it
- first to Matt Pierce
- Mary you are still muted
- I didn't unmute sorry about that Matt my question is about SB 224 the small
- modular reactors this bill and a few others that are already passed what is
- the everyday citizens next path of you know objection is is litigation the only
- recourse that you see and and I'll add this I had a personal conversation with
- Craig Haggard about the small modular reactors this was at a legislative
- session that Johnson County aspires sponsored and he said oh all of that
- research is just so erroneous he said I was on a naval ship and we use you know
- small modular reactors and I know they can be adapted and and they're safe safe
- safe and the the residents don't have to worry about picking up any extra you
- know cost of this because it's just not gonna happen and and I felt so
- frustrated because it's a small perspective but they nevertheless passed
- it so my question to both of you is what do we as citizens do for the next step
- thank you Mary yes sure the so the answer is the battle will now move to
- the Indiana utility regulatory Commission so in order for these utilities to get
- reimbursed for these small modular reactor planning costs they will have
- to get approval from the IURC now the problem is the legislature sent a pretty
- strong signal that we really want this to happen so I think and the statutes are
- written in ways that I think kind of boxes them in a little bit but they they
- do have the ability to say this is just not going to make economic sense I think
- and not approve the project and so whenever a filing actually happens on
- that then that will be an opportunity for people to get involved I don't know
- if they'll have public hearings but there'll be an opportunity to file
- written comments and I think that's probably where people have to weigh in
- now let me just to represent Haggard's point and and the chairman of the House
- Utilities Committee makes the same point it's like oh we've had small nuclear
- reactors on submarines for decades and they're absolutely right the thing is
- that all that stuff is top secret I have no idea what's going on in those
- nuclear subs when I worked for a member of Congress I actually got to be on a
- nuclear sub underneath the ocean in the Pacific and I remember I went back to
- the back of the submarine I talked to the nuclear officer and I said hey can I
- look in at the nuclear actor and he said nope that's top secret nobody gets in
- there right so who knows what the technology is it's actually being used
- by the military but all I can tell you and I read this information to the
- members of the House on the floor in excruciating detail there have been two
- attempts to build and put in operation a small modular actor one like starting
- back in 2007 it was abandoned because it got too expensive the most recent one
- was just a couple years ago out in Idaho the cost just kept escalating and it got
- to the point where all the utilities are a lot of rural electric cooperatives to
- people involved in that out West they just said the cost of per kilowatt
- electricity is going to be too expensive to justify so they pulled the plug on it
- and so I don't understand the optimism of people thinking that it's gonna work
- what I've said is like I hope it works it would be great to have a non carbon
- emitting you know theoretically safer than a large nuclear reactor you know
- one a generation but let the private sector people fund that research and
- development improved the technology works and once the Wall Street venture
- capital you know crowd has you know done their work and they have a product that
- actually meets the expectations then it's okay let's go for it but what they're
- doing is they want the rate payers in Indiana the utility customers to kind of
- be the guinea pigs to be the people who are kind of the test rats and we're
- gonna end up paying a lot of money for something that I think has a high
- likelihood of not actually panning out so we'll just have to see maybe I'll be
- proven wrong but I'm just looking at the track record of things I'm not very
- optimistic at all thank you Matt Shelley would you like to address that question
- I would say that when I believe it was 420 so we had 423 and 424 one of them
- and I've lost track of which is which but there was one that I actually
- supported I've always voted down these bills for the very reasons that
- representative Pierce said it was all on the backs of ratepayers on something
- that has not happened and or has tried and has been unsuccessful so this bill
- the way it was written when it left the Senate it just allowed for two pilot
- programs and there were some added protections in there it gave some
- serious guardrails and it allowed to try to see if this could happen while
- putting the responsibility where it should be on those who are on the
- private sector or the individuals or who are trying to put forth the pilot so it
- had some serious guardrails but when the bill came back and we heard it after it
- went through the house the number of all that language was out and had to put it
- down but I'm with representative Pierce I mean it would be amazing if we could
- come up with something that doesn't be that isn't put on the backs of our rate
- payers and the the pilot piece of it actually the responsibility is placed on
- those who are responsible for raising the revenue doing the doing the actual
- project but that's kind of that's not where we ended up and we had several
- bills like that that I think we're gonna see I don't know if in the end if they'll
- all be put together into one bill or not but I'd have to go online and see if
- those bills were concurred and I think maybe 424 was concurred so that should
- be on the governor's desk yeah 424 was actually already signed Shelley oh so
- maybe it's 423 yeah and yeah they're like three different nuke bills and that
- one is all the way through the process and so the utilities have their law
- that lets them recover these costs and so like in 1007 in the Senate my
- understanding is they pulled out kind of the rate part because they don't need it
- anymore so I think that they may be trying to make the other bills still in
- the process more palatable by taking some of the rate stuff out since they
- already got what they already have it they already have it so they can take it
- out of the islands now so I think there's a little bit of shenanigans going
- on on that so I appreciate that information but I still and I heard a
- little bit from Matt that that we need to go to the regulatory that citizens to
- want to monitor this stuff need to go to the Regulatory Commission but are there
- any other suggestions I think there's a sense of frustration it's a done deal
- where you know we we have to just live with it well I would say that there's an
- organization called the Citizens Action Coalition and they're a nonprofit and
- they fight on behalf of ratepayers are very engaged at the State House very
- knowledgeable and they also are very engaged in the proceedings at the
- utility Commission so I would urge you to get involved with that organization and
- so what will happen is at some point a utility is going to come forward and say
- we want to use this new law to recover these costs and then there's going to be
- a whole regulatory proceeding and the Commission will have to vote on whether
- or not to prove that based on whatever the law is telling them are their
- criteria and that's where I know the CAC will likely be there fighting and
- encouraging the public to weigh in on that and then oftentimes when the
- utility Commission makes a decision if the CAC or other groups feel that they
- didn't follow the law the way they should have and what they approved then
- they often do go into the court system and they you know asked the Court of
- Appeals of the Supreme Court to overturn what the utility Commission did so
- that's that's basically the pathway that's open you know now that the
- legislature has put that provision into law Matt thanks a lot for that I know
- about that organization and that's a great suggestion I appreciate it thanks
- thank you Mary for your question and the legislators for answering the next
- individual in the queue is Amy Oliver Amy I think you've already unmuted I'd ask
- you to go ahead and pose your question we will be asking Shelley to answer
- it first all right well thank you to Matt and Shelley for being here again
- today I really appreciate your updates and I really having watched legislature
- on online this year really appreciate the advocacy that our Democrats have been
- doing I've been watching the fiery speeches and the 60 amendments and you
- know you're you are really working for your issues and and it's it's just been
- great to watch I am a school board member in Brown County schools so first
- question is just kind of an update on Senate bill 287 partisan school boards I
- understand it's gonna go to conference committee I think tomorrow and then the
- second question is just it's a big picture question what do you think is
- gonna be the impact of funding cuts from both property property taxes and the
- budget you know on schools like what can we expect
- shall we question to you first um yeah Amy thank you we had heard originally
- that 287 was dead and then it got a hearing so I just want to reiterate that
- they are hearing you on this bill they're having a hard time getting this
- bill through because of who's your speaking out and making their voices
- heard so don't give up I'm not a comfrey or an advisor on that bill as a matter
- of fact I'm not sure who has I mean I individual it's there are so many bills
- that we still have to wrap up and I'm not sure who the two individuals are on
- that one it might be Codora and Ford but reach out to them tell them
- specifically what you want them to fight for look online you can see who the
- advisor and comfrey are in the house for both Republican and Democrats you can
- see who they are in the Senate for both Republicans and Democrats and focus
- your add your mobilization on those individuals they they will get your
- emails calls that's important so that's the update on 287 I think a good
- argument is why would we spend more money on school board races which is
- what this is going to result in if with wherever they end up if it's primaries
- or permitting people to declare a party it's only going to create spending more
- money at a time when our local governments and Hoosiers are really
- feeling more than a pinch it's you know feeling the squeeze so I think that's an
- important argument right now considering the 2.4 billion dollar
- budget forecast shortfall the other bell the other question you have is just
- outlook Senate bill one within that language was 518 Senate bill 518 which
- will require the sharing of property tax dollars with all you know charter
- schools with traditional public schools as well as you know having communities
- who have already passed referenda being forced to make other decisions on those
- and it might be more difficult for communities to pass referenda when they
- know those dollars are going to be shared the messaging is going to be
- difficult and so the outlook to be quite frank it's it's bleak and the only
- positive is I have seen movement because of Hoosiers coming to the state house or
- even from the you know your own houses emailing and writing letters and calling
- your representatives and organizing you know events like this but making your
- voice heard it does make a difference so while it seems bleak and the hardship on
- our local governments is real and our on our schools we cannot be quiet in making
- sure that we say exactly how we got here and I know there's been a push to say
- this is all you know Biden's administration but this is squarely on
- state house you know Republicans for the last two decades and now the current
- administration some of the decisions that are being made so that's my outlook
- okay well so first of all on 287 I looked it up here I've got two computers
- going which is really helpful so on to set 287 the conferees Republican is
- Senator Byrne Democrat is Senator JD Ford and then on the House side the
- conferee is the Republican is representative Prescott and the
- Democrat is representative Carolyn Jackson and so those are the people who
- will be involved in that now the thing to remember about conference committees
- is that if the Democratic or the whoever the minority member is at the time in
- this case Democrats if they choose not to sign the conference report and it
- requires four signatures for the bill to come before the House then the
- leadership of the House or the Senate can remove those Democrats and replace
- them with the Republican who's willing to sign so normally what happens in
- this process if they're really insistent on passing the bill the Democrats will
- often hold out and just say this is not ready for prime time and they'll just
- get removed and a new person will be put in there now Shelley is correct that
- this bill's got a lot of drag on it but it's managing to kind of limp along so
- in the house it had 54 votes in favor you need 51 is the bare minimum you need
- to pass it got 54 so it was 54 to 40 keep in mind there are 70 Republicans in
- the house so there are the big chunk of Republicans who heard enough from their
- constituents they decided they didn't want to be voting for that so there's
- still possibility if the Senate is absolutely wanting it to go back to
- something you know more stringent the house may just walk away from it because
- they're only you know they got three votes so they're the version the
- theoretically watered-down version if you want to call it that the Senate
- doesn't like could only get 54 votes so if they appease the Senate and make it
- worse they may end up losing another three or four votes in the house so this
- this thing is like unlike most bills this one is definitely in play so that's
- so that's one thing and then the other thing is if you want to try to
- understand the impacts of Senate bill one if you go to the Indiana General
- Assembly website which is IG a.in.gov and click on legislation and then Senate
- bill one on the left they've got a whole bunch of menu items and one is called
- latest fiscal statement and if you click on that there's a very lengthy fiscal
- impact statement I don't have yet if you've had a chance to look at that but
- in that they actually have done calculations of what the impact will be
- on each individual school system and local unit of government and so you can
- kind of see they've got a couple different kind of metrics there and it's
- not good I think Monroe County Community Schools they lose like four to five
- percent during each of the first couple years I think they lose like ten percent
- in that year and I just tried to bring up the to look at it by my computer to
- behave here so I was just looking at Brown County School Corporation it's
- like the first year it's minus 3.1 second year minus 3.2 and then the third
- year minus 4.6 so it's it's not a good situation for our local units and
- particularly our schools our schools are being totally hemmed in between SB 1
- locking them out of potential property tax gains making it harder to pass
- referendums and communities want to make sure the schools are properly funded then
- even if you get that done forcing you to share that money with charter schools
- they're getting you from all angles excuse me and I guess the pollen's
- getting in my room down here so they're really hemming them in on things to do
- and then they're gonna underfund them in the school funding formula so it I it's
- I'm very pessimistic about how this is all gonna all gonna work out I think it's
- gonna be very tough upcoming couple years for schools across the state and you
- know the voters will have to decide whether they are okay with that or not
- when we get to the next election here and in another year and a half or so
- thank you Matt and we will now turn from Amy to Kathy roundtree Kathy would you
- please unmute and direct your question first to Matt Pierce I thank you both
- for being here I was interested in updates on House bill 1004 the hospital
- pricing bill where that is and what your thoughts are on it at this point yeah
- 2004 is in conference committee let me see if I can bring that up and just see
- who the conferees are so that's you know that's a classic bill I I actually
- support the underlying kind of premise of the bill which is we have these large
- nonprofit hospitals that I think are not really behaving like nonprofits so much
- and so I'm kind of open to getting their attention on that the difficulty is to
- make sure that in the process of trying to to get not the big nonprofit
- corporations to act like they're actually nonprofits is if you don't do
- it right you will kind of blow up the rural hospitals and so you know this is
- where the big debate is it's like is the bill actually on point enough that it's
- not going to cause collateral damage that's basically what's going on and so
- actually we were at the point where the dissent was just filed on April 17th so
- conferees have not been appointed yet so we'll have to figure it out next week
- another thing I should mention is the the target date to try to be finished is
- actually Thursday April 24th now under the law we can be in until April 29th so
- it's going to be interesting to see whether they're able to actually get
- everything done by the 24th or whether these issues are particularly the budget
- are difficult enough that it's going to force them to hang around longer to get
- to some kind of consensus so we'll have to see but right now I think they're
- trying to get done by Thursday and so all this conferencing and everything
- will have to be finished by then if that's the date they stick to thank you
- Matt Shelly would you please address that question I think I did in my opening
- remarks I think I actually am the conferee it just doesn't post it yet and
- well I think the frustration about this if you want if you want good something
- good to watch you can watch the floor debate on this because the Democrats
- really didn't have to say anything it was a fight among the Republicans and it
- got pretty heated the concern is how do we bring down costs in our nonprofit
- health care system I mean they came out strong two years ago requiring our top
- five nonprofit hospitals to bring down those costs ours IU health here I mean
- they have been working their plan to bring down those costs and the price caps
- that now on 1004 will mandate the concern and if hospitals don't do that
- by a certain time or they fall short then they will lose their nonprofit
- status the concern about that is if our hope is to bring down costs why would a
- nonprofit hospital want to be a nonprofit hospital I mean because why not
- just say you know we're gonna let go of some of these more expensive services and
- areas of care and departments and we're just gonna focus on those that actually
- aren't as expensive don't impact the bottom line and we already are seeing
- throughout Indiana rural hospitals closing throughout Indiana labor and
- delivery units closing it's harder to keep those cardiology departments open
- and fully staffed because those are more expensive to do and 1004 the way it is
- written brings more destabilization to that area and the debate was are we
- ready are we ready to move to have more hospitals closed as a result of 1004 and
- move to more for-profit a stronger for-profit hospital system in Indiana I
- think that's the real question and you know what 1004 is really looking to
- accomplish holding our nonprofit hospitals accountable that at the same
- time providing a real avenue to becoming a for-profit institution and I think
- that's a philosophical debate of what we want to do but the idea of putting in
- guardrails for our nonprofit are you know leading nonprofit hospitals that
- are they actually nonprofit I mean the Senate Democratic caucus we had a bill
- that actually would define what in order to have a nonprofit status what what
- that nonprofit hospital system would need to do but that bill did not get a
- hearing and so 1004 has many of our non-profit nonprofit hospitals concerned
- but who has been absent from the last three years from this conversation of
- drawing down health care expenses are the insurance companies they have not
- been at the table they have not been in our committee hearings and I think they
- have to be at the table and part of this conversation so that's kind of where we
- are with 1004 I am the conferee and just want to make sure that if we are coming
- after our nonprofit hospitals we do so in a way that doesn't create greater
- access problems for people living in more rural communities in Indiana but
- even in some of our counties who are already struggling with their health
- care access because it will most likely what they're saying is cause more
- closures throughout Indiana thank you Shelly the next person in the queue is
- Julie Hardesty Julie I would ask you to unmute and direct your question first to
- Shelly Yoder okay thank you both for being here my question is about students
- and voting IDs so it's mostly clarification I think with this bill
- that's been passed so if students are registered to vote in like Bloomington
- or West Lafayette or Terre Haute but their driver's license or a state ID or
- passport has a different address on it does that matter or does having a
- doesn't having a student a driver's license or a state ID or passport work
- to present when voting where your sleep as a student in Indiana so my
- understanding is that the presented ID when you're voting is just for name and
- photo identification but if student IDs from Indiana colleges and universities
- aren't allowed anymore does the address on that ID come into play now does that
- matter thank you Shelley yes I think that's what was so aggravating about
- Senate bill 10 is it wasn't talking about registering to vote it was talking
- just about ID when you go to vote and that's why so many students use their
- student ID because if you know we have curbed and made it so difficult to vote
- in Indiana that if a student can get themselves to the polls on you know on
- any day and then go to find their state issued ID the one ID they always have to
- have to get into buildings to you know to make their way around campuses their
- student IDs so that's what made it so convenient because many students would
- say oh I don't have my state issued ID but to answer your question yes I think
- that I don't I don't believe it's gonna disturb that although you would still
- have to show proof of residency with mail when you do go to register so
- something there would have to be some proof of residency when that student
- goes to register to vote yeah I can jump in because I kind of little I kind of
- brushed up on this law when I was debating on the house floor so there are
- two distinct things one is what you have to prove when you're registering and
- that includes a component of things proving you live actually where you want
- to register then we have the second thing that got created about 20 years
- ago called voter ID where when you show up at the polls you have to present
- some identification to prove you are who you say you are and it doesn't matter if
- the address is different the key thing is the ID has to meet these like four
- requirements which the student ID did but the key thing is it has to be
- issued by the state of Indiana or the federal government and so what that
- means is if you're a student say from you know Illinois Ohio Kentucky some
- other state and you decide to declare Indiana your domicile and register here
- you may have ID that's all been issued by out-of-state and so that would not be
- allowed so you could have you could have an ID that meets all four of the
- requirements you know with the photo and the expiration date and all the things
- that they require but if it's issued by another state it doesn't count and so
- what that means is the students are gonna have to make sure that they go and
- they get something issued by the state of Indiana if they don't happen to have
- a passport that's on them and so that's just gonna create another trip where
- they're gonna have to go to the BMV and try to get that ID but this was the
- thing that was just intensely frustrating to me about the debate is
- they kept saying oh we have to eliminate this because students are registering
- where they don't live and then someone even suggested students were voting in
- two places at once that they were voting at you know some other out-of-state you
- know home address or something and then voting on the college campus and you
- know the registration and verification of residency is completely different
- from this one discrete prove to us you are who you say you are when you show up
- to vote in person and they've just completely I think that the ability to
- answer that basic question because one thing he kept saying is like well I guess
- I should go back they were a little bit surprised when they passed the first law
- and they said it had to be issued by the government ID issued by the state they
- didn't realize the state universities would count as a government agency
- basically and so that those student IDs if they had the four required elements
- they would be able to work and so I think that they were a little frustrated
- that it ended up being allowed in the first place and then finally they just
- got frustrated enough they said they would remove it now the the again
- revealing the hypocrisy they said oh we can't have trick students get special
- treatment have special things they their ID they should have to have the same ID
- as anybody else which basically is a drive they're thinking it's gonna be a
- driver's license what but they ignored and they couldn't answer that is that if
- you look at the statute they put in a specific exception for IDs issued to
- veterans and the military that don't have expiration dates because for some
- reason they felt was really important to have an expiration date on the ID but
- there's this particular exception they put in for veterans and military who
- have an ID with no expiration on it so they're willing to be special for one
- class of people but then they claim they had to change a lot of make sure another
- class of people you know aren't special so it's frustrating but it's pretty
- transparent they just want to try to keep the number of students voting down
- and we'll just have to hope that they get angry enough that they will do the
- extra things required so they can vote and then they can choose the people they
- think best represent them thank you Matt we'll turn to our last person in the queue
- who is Pamela Davidson and ask her to unmute and ask your question and
- following Pamela's questions we'll move into closing remarks so Pam would you
- like to ask you can't thank you enough Matt and Shelley you just shine the
- state's going to hell supermajority rule is not good for good governance it's
- obvious all day long every day my question is with our budget in such
- shambles with cutting core services has the state has it all grappled with the
- mystical potential of tariffs which are going to kick us in the teeth I heard we
- are number three in the states to be hurt by that and also the loss of these
- federal jobs and workers I saw a stat that said if Kansas City fired all of
- its federal workers it would be like closing a huge automotive plant so I
- wonder about those two things if they've talked about them because you know in
- DC I love this I heard Steve Sanders say yesterday we're governed by a man who's
- governed by his id I'd never heard that before and I just loved it so much so
- it's quixotic don't know but are they threatened about that to any chatter
- about it and thank you thank you thank you I will direct that question first to
- Matt yeah the hardest thing you can get to have happen is to try to have a
- Republican actually comment on President Trump and the state house they're just
- kind of like we know nothing you know there there are some who are you know
- true believers but you know for example that we had a bill that would create a
- special fund for cancer research but there's no money in the fund it just
- creates the shell of a fund and sets it up and so I asked the author I said is
- there any money going to be appropriated into this thing and he kind of admitted
- no but he said that there could be like private you know or philanthropic
- donations and so I made the point that we're gonna have to step up and put some
- money in this thing because President Trump is basically destroying the
- university system of research and particularly medical research and so if
- you want to continue to have progress in trying to find cures and treatments for
- cancer and these other medical issues then you know we're gonna have to step
- up because the federal government is basically just destroying the entire
- system and not a single person I thought somebody might get up and defend the
- whole thing and not a single person got up and said anything about about it it
- was just you know deafening silence now the fact that the forecast came
- in at 2.4 billion below that is because of the Trump tariffs so those people
- the the forecast group the economists who kind of figure it all out they're
- looking at it and they know we're headed for a recession they they are analyzing
- the impact of the tariffs on prices on consumer purchasing you know on on trade
- on farms you know they're not the soybean market you know the China has
- evaporated so those commodities are gonna come down for the for the farmers
- so so no no one is no one is uttered like oh gee these tariffs are screwing
- us we're gonna have a real problem but they have said obliquely yes it looks as
- if we are going to have some difficult economic times so that's as close as you
- can get to an acknowledgement of where these problems are coming from thank you
- Matt Shelley would you like to address that question yes I had a budget
- amendment that would create a tariff Commission it was budget-neutral it
- would do similarly that what 1008 creating that boundary Commission
- looking at bringing those Illinois counties over into Indiana I use the
- exact same framework of that Commission and created a tariff Commission
- because that actually is going to directly impact these tariffs are going
- to directly impact Indiana's economy from our farmers our ag to our
- manufacturing US steel you know of all the soybeans that we actually export out
- of Indiana 60% of what China imports with their soybeans comes from Indiana
- farmers and so the fact that we are not able to have this conversation around
- something that is directly impacting Hoosiers I'm going to actually they
- asked us to put forth our suggestions for the House bill that were budget
- neutral I'm going to suggest it again because we hadn't had the budget
- forecast but they know it was actually reported when they heard the budget
- forecast that the number one reason were these tariffs and the economic
- instability that they're causing so they are fully aware of it number two I have
- a resolution that I filed last week that is directing our Indiana federal
- delegation of congressional leaders to invoke their constitutional right and
- that is to step in and override these tariffs they could actually do something
- so how resolutions work I don't know if it will actually be assigned it could be
- I mean I've talked with the pro tem pro tem Bray about hearing the resolution I
- was very diplomatic in how I wrote it I did not I was just very clear to say we
- need our leadership in Washington I'm not the president but our congressional
- leadership to do something for Hoosiers you are representing us and you have a
- constitutional right to override this and that is what that resolution is going to
- do and I'm asking the pro tem to hear the resolution and let it be read across
- the desk we all vote on it and you can just blame it on me you don't have to
- say that you did it but that you know the Democrat Senate minority leader she
- demanded that we pass this there's nothing we can do so we're gonna send
- this resolution to our Indiana delegation I don't know if that will
- happen but I'm working hard to make sure it does but that's what I have to say
- about tariffs we're sort of two-pronged approach and just having some
- recognition of its impact on Hoosiers would be nice okay thank you so much for
- that answer Shelly we are going to go ahead with concluding remarks and just a
- personal request I'm wondering if each of you could address whether or not you
- see anything positive that has come or is coming from this legislative session
- and Shelly I would ask you first to go forward with your closing remarks Oh
- Sonny that's a tough one my closing remarks I think I spoke to there there is
- recognition that going to universal vouchers even though we're so close to
- being at universal vouchers that those few additional percentage points has a
- very crucial impact on school funding and so every every expansion in choice
- scholarships and right now going to families who are earning more than
- $250,000 a year is directly impacting what we're able to do with our public
- school education system in the state and the fact that the Senate is recognizing
- that and saying I think that's a step too far we aren't we we don't have the
- money or the revenues to be able to do that I mean that's a positive we're
- gonna work hard to maintain it at the 2021 level but we'll see where that is
- you know I want to speak to the visit of RFK jr. this week to the great state of
- Indiana the governor made nine executive orders to make any to make America to
- make Indiana healthy again and it's it's definitely loud and clear that the body
- police are stronger than ever whether it's policing women's bodies or trans
- bodies or in this case individuals who are on snap so there were nine executive
- orders the first one putting more work requirements on our snap recipients
- number two cracking down on that snap fraud with more income verifications for
- individuals we thought we fought so hard to remove asset verification on snap
- especially for those with long-term disabilities and senior citizens but we
- are we're gonna come after snap fraud with more income verification and asset
- verification number three we're going to try to get Indiana our congressional
- federal delegation to allow states to cut back on snap and put stronger
- guardrails in on accessing nutritious food number four the the governor removed
- the ability to use snap on candy and soft drinks and I just want to speak to
- this I got permission my legislative assistant she sat down with me and she
- said Shelley I've been on every I got pregnant young and I have been on every
- program out there I'm not on any of them anymore but when my kids were little I
- would use those when we would have to put you know fill their stockings or
- something special for you know here we are Easter weekend or and she said I
- just it breaks my heart because you know as a mom I made those good decisions for
- my kids on what they needed but every so often it was nice to be able to give
- them a little treat and so while it sounds good that we're gonna remove the
- ability for snap to be used on candy and soft drinks and she reminded me and I
- think reminded us all we should be educating and empowering parents to be
- able to make those decisions themselves number five removing food dyes from food
- number six make sure we study diet related chronic illnesses and I think
- those two are actually really good I think we should be looking at the way
- dyes are impacting our food systems and studying diet related chronic illnesses
- see Sonny came up with two good things another one creating more market
- competitive markets for farmers to be able to connect directly to Indiana
- consumers with their fresh-grown produce that's a win this one I'm sorry I hate
- this one but it's creating one of those governor's fitness tests in public
- schools so students can line up and be humiliated if they don't pass that test
- have I don't know if any of you have trauma from those tests from when you
- were younger but we're gonna have one in the state of Indiana the governor's
- fitness test is going to be employed and finally more Medicaid fraud crackdown
- we know that that's where they're really cracking down assuming that Hoosiers are
- trying to take advantage of accessing Medicaid when they don't deserve
- Medicaid and so that was number nine and those were the nine making Indiana
- healthy again executive orders not exactly legislative but I had thought
- about bringing those to our meeting today and wanted to draw attention to
- them and there are a couple good ones but a couple that I have real problems
- with but wanted to bring everybody's attention to these nine executive orders
- that happened on Tuesday I think it was I can't even remember I think it was
- Tuesday yeah so thank you so much for having me have a great rest of your
- weekend thank you Shelley and I just wanted to ask you very briefly before
- Matt begins his final statements is there a number on the resolution that
- you're proposing that is to go to our federal congressional people we're just
- wanting to be able to ask our personal representatives to support the
- resolution yeah let me look that up while Matt goes okay thank you Matt your
- closing remarks yeah well I have to admit it's a little hard to be positive
- you know it's interesting because in this last week I would seem like I have
- voted no more times than I can remember like in a single day I mean all these
- bills they come back even the ones that look like you take first look like well
- that seems like a reasonable policy and then you start reading the bill and you
- get in there and there's always like a poison pill stuck in there and and that
- the kind of hypocrisy driven by this like culture war ideology is what is
- most dismaying so we had a parental rights bill right it declared out you
- know an ultimately parents have the right to direct the raising other
- children an old thing and you get the bottom of the bill but this right
- doesn't extend to anything related to their trans kids you know so we want
- parents to be in absolute control particularly in the way they raise their
- children but if they're trans kids no the state's going to decide for you on
- that and so there's a lot of nos along those lines and on this budget stuff I
- just think that the people ultimately decide to them it's not people it's
- numbers on a page and I don't know if the humanity of the situation will
- finally you know impress itself upon someone before this whole thing's over I
- hope so but I'm a little cynical about that but I would say if I had to end on a
- happier note a couple positive things you know there was a bill passed that
- encourages utilities to find ways to upgrade their existing electric
- transmission lines so one of the big problems we have is we have a lot of
- renewable energy that wants to come on to the grid but they have to be able to
- find a place to plug in and you need these high transmission lines in order
- to you know move the electrons you know all the way across the country in some
- cases and so there's kind of emerged that there's new technology you can put
- new wires on the towers that exist you can kind of manage those wires better on
- those towers and if you implement those things you can end up getting more
- electricity moving through the lines and so there's a bill to create some
- incentives and study that that I think is on the governor's desk right now and
- so that that's you know and all the work I do in the utility area that's like the
- one single thing I can point to that I think is positive there and then another
- thing that I think is kind of positive for Bloomington is someone who teaches
- in the media school we have some film credits that encourage film production
- to be done here in Indiana they're pretty anemic compared to other states
- but worse yet they're they're kind of unworkable for people who make these
- financial decisions about film production and so there's a bill moving
- through the process that will allow the film credits to be reassigned to other
- people basically you can kind of market them and I think that will make them
- more attractive to the people making decisions about whether they make a film
- in Indiana or some other place and so I think that's assuming that gets all the
- way through the process think that will be a positive thing that might make it a
- little bit more likely that we have some economic activity here and some
- opportunity for you know Indiana citizens who want to be involved in film
- production to have some opportunity to maybe do it here and not have to go to
- Atlanta or up to Chicago or someplace to have very robust film production tax
- credits so those are a couple positive things I just want to thank you both for
- being faithful in always participating in our legislative updates and coming to
- us with so much information and knowledge so that we can be better
- informed and I want to thank all of the participants in our legislative update
- be paying attention be be reaching out to your legislators to express your
- opinions on these bills that are going through the General Assembly we still
- have a little bit of time left and we need to show the energy to follow
- through on things that Matt and Shelley have made us aware of we want to thank
- our legislators we want to thank everybody for joining us we also want to
- thank CATS the Community Access Television Services for allowing us to
- record this and then publish the session after we finish we want to thank all of
- our team members for being present and helping to sponsor and get the word out
- about these legislative sessions the Bloomington Monroe County League of
- Women Voters Brown County League of Women Voters and Johnson County League
- of Women Voters the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce the NAACP Monroe
- County branch and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus we
- appreciate our sponsors very much in participating in these legislative
- updates I wish you all a happy Easter weekend may you go forth and enjoy the
- holiday and in your own way thank you again for joining us wait Sonny you
- forgot to let Shelley tell us about the number of her house resolution okay
- Shelley did you were you able to find that number or filed it but it hasn't
- been issued a number yet because what happens with these resolutions they're
- typically like memorializing this person honoring this project celebrating this
- team but this one has a little bit of meat and I was warned that it might not
- be assigned because of the nature of it so if it does I will immediately reach
- out to the League of Women Voters and if y'all can spread the word we will thank
- you well thank you both very much
- (upbeat music)