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5-23-02
Follow
the Fun at the Special Session
The special session is on. Gov. Frank O'Bannon
called a special session of the Indiana General Assembly to deal with
property tax reassessment, tax restructuring and the revenue shortfall.
The legislators convened in Indianapolis on May 14. Then, they adjourned,
and most of them left town.
They didn't just give up. Remember your lessons
from school on how a bill becomes a law? The Indiana Constitution says
that tax legislation must begin in the House. There’s only one bill
being considered, House Bill 1001, and it’s a tax bill. That means
the Senate has nothing to do until the House passes a bill, so there's
no reason for the 50 senators to stick around. They adjourned "until the
fall of the gavel," which is legislature-talk for "we'll meet when we
meet."
Tax bills usually must be considered in the Ways
and Means Committee before getting to the full House. There's nothing
for the other House members to do until that committee agrees on a bill.
The House has adjourned until June 3. If there's a bill passed out of
committee, members will debate it then. If they pass it, then the Senate
will meet.
The Senate's version of the bill (if it passes
one) could be very different from the House version, because the Senate
can amend the bill as much as it wants. The two versions would have to
be reconciled in a conference committee. The compromise bill (if the committee
agrees on one) goes back to each house for a final vote, and if it passes,
then the governor gets to sign it (unless he vetoes it, which seems pretty
unlikely).
If you want to watch the fun, follow this process
over the Internet.
Start with the General
Assembly's Web site. Click on "Calendars" to
find out when the legislature and committees are meeting. Click on "Bills
and Resolutions" to see what House Bill 1001 says. Type "1001" in the
"Go to Bill" box, and you'll see a digest of the bill and links to what's
happening to it. The "Action List" tells you where the bill is in the
process.
You can read the entire bill, if you like. But
HB1001 is long and hard to understand. Instead, try the "Fiscal Impact
Statement." It will have a summary of the bill, as well as a rundown of
what the bill is expected to do to revenues and expenditures. This usually
tells us more about what a bill does than the legalese in the bill itself.
So far, this is pretty dry—procedures, bills
and fiscal statements. What about personalities and politics? Once the
House and Senate actually convene, you can listen to the debate. Click
on "Listen to the Indiana General Assembly Online" shown on the legislature's
homepage. "Calendars" will tell you when it's in session.
WFYI in Indianapolis airs a show called "Indiana
Week in Review," which covers Statehouse doings.
It's on at 8 p.m. Fridays, but you can watch it any time over the Internet.
Click on "Streaming Media," then "Indiana Week in Review." The panelists
on this show talk mostly politics. Sometimes they also show newsclips
from the Statehouse, though, so you can see O'Bannon, Bauer, Borst and
company in action.
The Indianapolis Star
probably will have an article on each day's meetings, too. With the Internet,
you don't have to wait for the morning paper to see it. Click on "News"
in the upper left-hand corner if the Statehouse article isn't one of the
top headlines.
Ed Feigenbaum
is an Indianapolis journalist who publishes newsletters covering Indiana
government in detail. His Web site makes some of these news nuggets available
for free. Click on "Indiana Daily Insight."
The papers usually say that the special session
can only last 40 days, so it must be done by June 22. But it doesn't matter
much. If the legislature hasn't satisfied the governor by the time the
session ends, he can call them back for a second special session. If there's
no compromise, this could go on all summer.
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