|
May 17, 2013
Volume 13
Issue 23
SPECIAL NOTICE This is the last issue of the Dispatch that will be delivered by mail. In the future, the Dispatch will be an electronic publication only. If you are receiving the Dispatch by mail and would like to continue to receive it, please send your email address to Wanda at whunter@infarmbureau.org.
Also with this issue, the Dispatch begins a biweekly publication schedule. During the legislative session, we published on a weekly basis so our readers would have the latest information available when they visited the Statehouse or met with legislators at home. We thank you for being a faithful reader and hope you will continue to find it to be informative and valuable.
FORMER GOVERNOR DOC BOWEN REMEMBERED Otis “Doc” Bowen, M.D., who served as Indiana’s governor from 1973 to 1981 and later as President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of health & human services, passed away on May 5. As governor, Bowen successfully sought legislation that restructured Indiana’s tax system and placed controls on the annual growth of property taxes. Gov. Mike Pence urged all Hoosiers to honor the memory of Bowen. A two-day memorial was held at the Statehouse in Indianapolis and flags across the state were flown at half-staff until Bowen’s funeral in Bremen, his hometown, on May 11. Bowen was 95 at the time of his death.
THANK YOU Thank you to all of our county Farm Bureaus and leaders who took time to visit the Statehouse during the General Assembly. Your commitment helped us enjoy a very successful legislative session. This year, 339 individual members representing 81 counties visited the Statehouse. The outstanding turnout of our volunteer leaders bolsters our policy implementation efforts and is the envy of all the other statewide lobbying organizations. Thank you for your exceptional dedication.
GOVERNOR PENCE SIGNS 291 BILLS, VETOES THREE All of the enrolled acts that were presented to Gov. Mike Pence by the General Assembly have now been dealt with. In all, the governor signed 291, vetoed three and allowed one to become law without his signature.
The three bills that he vetoed:
- SEA 273 (Sen. Pat Miller, R-Indianapolis, and Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany) which would require the Medical Licensing Board to administer a licensing program for anesthesiologist assistants.
- HEA 1242 (Rep. David Frizzell, R-Indianapolis, and Sen. Pat Miller, R-Indianapolis) would create a Diabetes Educators Board and require diabetes educators to be licensed.
- HEA 1546 (Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, and Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek) which addressed a miscellany of various tax issues. The particular issue that caused the governor to veto the bill was its provisions that would legalize and validate taxes that have been collected in Jackson and Pulaski counties after the statutory limit for their collection had expired. In his veto comments, Pence noted that, “If Hoosiers owe taxes, they should pay them. But when Hoosiers pay taxes that are not owed, they deserve relief, and this legislation does not meet that standard.”
It takes only a simple majority of each house to override a veto in Indiana.
The one bill that became law without the governor’s signature was HEA 1070 (Rep. Jim Baird, R-Greencastle, and Sen. Rod Bray, R-Martinsville), which gives the Cloverdale town council the authority to impose a 1 percent tax on food and beverage transactions in the town.
Among the bills that the governor signed into law:
- SB 319 (Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, and Rep. Don Lehe, R-Brookston) delays the use of new soil productivity factors in determining the assessed value of farmland and directs the Department of Local Government Finance and Purdue to conduct a study of soil productivity and report back to the General Assembly before the 2014 session.
- SEA 343 (Sen. Randy Head, R-Logansport, and Rep. Kathy Richardson, R-Noblesville) provides that in the case of a proposed merger of a municipality and another political subdivision after December 31, 2013, the voters residing within the municipality shall be included only in the tally of votes for the municipality and the voters who reside outside the municipality shall be included only in the tally of votes for the political subdivision (township at-large for example.) The governor signed this bill at a Statehouse ceremony that included Sen. Head, Rep. Bob Cherry (R-Greenfield), Vanderburgh County Farm Bureau President Bruce Blackford, Indiana Farm Bureau Vice President Randy Kron and Farm Bureau staff members Katrina Hall, Wanda Hunter, B.J. Fields and Bob Kraft.
- SEA 285 (Sen. Jim Buck, R-Kokomo, and Rep. Mike Karickhoff, R-Kokomo) provides that if a municipality annexes contiguous territory that is zoned agricultural, it may not collect property taxes for municipal purposes so long as the property retains that zoning classification. The bill also provides that the property owner must agree to any zoning change.
- SEA 475 (Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, and Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne) recommends that, during the summer of 2013, a legislative study committee consider a procedure to place all executive powers in a single county executive and all legislative and fiscal powers in a county council.
- HEA 1068 (Rep. Bob Cherry, R-Greenfield, and Sen. Randy Head, R-Logansport) exempts the drivers of farm-plated vehicles in Indiana from federal hours of service and medical card requirements.
- HEA 1481 (Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville, and Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso) authorizes INDOT or a local authority to grant permits for the transportation of overweight divisible loads.
- SEA 494 (Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek, and Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville) provides that unless the contract between the Indiana Finance Authority and the developers of the proposed synthetic natural gas plant in Rockport, Indiana, is approved in its entirety by an appellate court, the IURC must take another look at the impact that the state’s support of the proposed plant will have on ratepayers.
These and other bills that Farm Bureau staff and members worked on during the session are all discussed in back issues of the Public Policy Dispatch, which are archived on Indiana Farm Bureau’s new Get Involved/Stay Informed website, www.infarmbureau.org/getinvolved.
SEVEN SCHOOL REFERENDUMS SUCCEED, TWO FAIL On May 7, voters in five communities voted to increase their property taxes to provide additional funds for their public schools. Additional levies were approved by the voters in Hamilton Southeastern and Noblesville school corporations in Hamilton County, Barr-Reeve Community Schools in Daviess County, School Town of Munster in Lake County and Union Township Schools in Porter County.
The two defeated referendums were in the Knox Community School Corporation in Starke County and the Metropolitan School District of Boone Township in the Porter County community of Hebron, which saw its referendum fail by just four votes out of the more than 1,000 cast.
4-H LOSES ITS SPECIALTY LICENSE PLATE The Indiana 4-H Foundation has been caught in a crackdown by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles against groups that offered low numbered plates to select supporters. The 4-H Foundation and two other groups that had been negotiating with BMV were told that by creating a legislative commission to study specialty plates, the General Assembly had effectively put a hold on any further specialty plates. The other two groups are the Indiana Greenways Foundation and the Indiana Youth Group, a support group for gay teenagers.
CAMERON CLARK TO HEAD DNR Gov. Mike Pence has selected Cameron Clark to be the director of the Department of Natural Resources. Clark currently serves as DNR's chief legal counsel, a position he has held since 2011. Clark replaces Rob Carter, who has led the agency since 2006 and is reportedly leaving to accept the position for Ivy Tech Community College’s statewide director of public safety.
ISDA NAMES CONNIE NEININGER The Indiana State Department of Agriculture has named Connie Neininger as director of Economic Development and Trade. When announcing Neininger’s appointment, ISDA Director Gina Sheets said, “Connie is passionate about Indiana and serving this great state. It will be a true joy to work alongside her as ISDA strives to drive the advancement of agronomic technologies and promote the sound stewardship of our landscape. We are mindful that job creation is job number one to this administration and Connie brings the skill set needed to help provide continued growth in Indiana.” Neininger has worked in banking and economic development, most recently as president of the Cass Logansport Economic Development Organization.
U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES FOR MONSANTO IN SEED CASE In a unanimous decision written by Justice Elena Kagan in the case of Bowman vs. Monsanto Co, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that Monsanto’s patent on its roundup ready soybeans remained in effect for second generation soybeans. In what has been described as a narrow ruling, the court held that the actions of the farmer who planted second-generation Monsanto seeds met the definition of illegal copying of a patented product. The plaintiff, an Indiana farmer, argued that because soybeans sprout naturally, he should not be held liable for patent infringement. The court rejected this argument with Kagan stating in her opinion, “We think the blame-the-bean defense tough to credit.”
U.S. SENATE, HOUSE COMMITTEES APPROVE THEIR VERSIONS OF 2013 FARM BILL The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House agriculture committees approved their respective versions of a 2013 farm bill this week. On Tuesday, the Senate Ag Committee approved its version of the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 by a 15-5 vote. On Wednesday, the House Ag Committee forwarded its version of the bill to the full House by a vote of 36-10. The full Senate is expected to begin its consideration of the bill next week while the House is not expected to consider it until later this summer. The current farm bill expires on September 30.
The Senate bill calls for a total of about $2.4 billion a year in cuts, while the House version cuts about $4 billion. These cuts are from totals that reach nearly $100 billion a year and include more than $600 million in yearly savings from across-the-board cuts that took effect earlier this year.
In reacting to the Senate bill, AFBF President Bob Stallman said, “By following a bipartisan path and approving its farm bill legislation, the committee moved the farm bill forward with provisions that work well for America’s farm and ranch families. We are especially pleased that this bill places a high priority on crop insurance as a risk management tool and that it also offers a measure of flexibility through safety net options beyond crop insurance.”
Stallman also noted that, “We are pleased that the Senate held firm to its intention of limiting cuts to $23 billion. That will help maintain workable and viable commodity and conservation titles by limiting program cuts to levels that are fair for farmers and ranchers…While we recognize that no farm bill is perfect…overall, this bill meets our firm position that the farm bill be bipartisan in nature, reform-minded in structure and crafted around a broad, flexible, crop insurance-based program that provides our farmers certainty and extends much-needed risk management tools across more acres and more crops.”
Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, the only Hoosier on either ag committee, issued a statement commending the bipartisan farm bill and noting his efforts to preserve planting flexibility and to give the next generation of bioenergy crops access to a base level of risk management.
EFFORTS CONTINUE ON FEDERAL BIPARTISAN IMMIGRATION BILL Farm Bureau is working to move ag labor and immigration issues forward by supporting the bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act (S 744). This bill proposes a comprehensive approach to many immigration issues and addresses agriculture’s need for a labor supply. Additionally, it provides a way for many farm and ranch workers currently in the country to obtain legal status. The Senate Judiciary Committee has held hearings on the bill and has begun its markup. S 744 is the product of the so-called Gang of Eight senators, four from each party, who have been working together to craft bipartisan immigration legislation.
U.S. SENATE PASSES ONLINE SALES TAX BILL By a vote of 69-27, the U.S. Senate passed legislation that will help traditional retailers as well as the finances of many state and local governments by requiring the collection of sales tax on most Internet and catalog purchases. Under the legislation, the sales taxes would be sent to the state where the shopper lives. Opposition to the bill in the House is expected to come from some conservatives who view it as a tax increase and some representatives who are concerned that it will place too great a bookkeeping burden on small online retailers who do limited business in several states and cities with local sales taxes. Farm Bureau has supported efforts to require the collection of state sales tax on Internet sales because it is important to the financial well-being of Main Street merchants in our rural communities and customers shouldn’t be able to avoid the state’s sales tax by buying goods online. Even though Indiana law requires citizens to report online purchases and pay a use tax equivalent to the state’s sales tax, it is estimated that the state loses at least $150 million a year in undeclared sales tax.
|