Special Session Called for June 11, 2009
State to debate public university funding based on graduate rates
Indiana will soon join more than two dozen states re-evaluating public university funding. State legislators will debate new public university funding practices in a special session June 11. Some Indiana lawmakers have suggested funding should be based more on graduation rates than enrollment numbers. The majority of Indiana public university funding comes from student enrollment numbers but also includes degree graduation rate, which is determined by the number of first-year full-time students’ rate of graduating in four years.
Veterans home in line for extra $3 million in governor’s budget
If Gov. Mitch Daniels’ proposed Indiana budget passes as proposed, the Indiana Veterans’ Home would gain $3 million from the federal stimulus package. But there’s a catch. It could be used only for repairs and rehabilitation on the home’s facilities near West Lafayette. According to Ryan Kitchell, director of Indiana’s Office of Management and Budget, those repairs are long overdue. “It’s been neglected for a long time,” he said. The money can’t be used for any expansion because state officials don’t want the money to fund projects that will result in a rise in operating expenses down the road when the stimulus money is no longer available, Kitchell said.
Special session slated
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is calling legislators back to the Statehouse next week to resume work on a new state budget, and legislative leaders are already meeting to lay the budget groundwork. Daniels told a bipartisan group of lawmakers Tuesday that the special legislative session would begin June 11. The Republican governor said he hopes that gives lawmakers plenty of time to agree on a spending plan before the current budget expires on June 30. “Let’s get on with it,” Daniels said. A special joint budget committee heard a budget pitch from Daniels Tuesday and listened to administration officials detail his proposal. Democrats, who peppered Daniels with questions, said they would comb through the two-year budget and could have more questions when the group meets again Thursday.
Attorney general’s office sees jump in identity theft
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller understands many Hoosiers are frustrated with the lawmakers for not yet agreeing on a state budget. But Zoeller wants Hoosiers to know the General Assembly approved bills that allow his office to safeguard them against fraudulent predators. “If you don’t pass a budget, that dominates the news cycle,” he said. “But frankly, from the consumer protection perspective we offered 12 bills. Eleven of them passed.” Zoeller, a Republican, became the attorney general last fall in a close election race against Democrat Linda Pence. He was the chief deputy under the previous attorney general, Steve Carter.
