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The financial hit from each of an Indiana governor’s executive orders would be tallied up within a week under heavily edited legislation on its way to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk.
A conference committee report for Senate Bill 4 tasks the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency with analyzing the fiscal impacts to state and local government for all executive orders — not just when a governor uses one to declare a disaster emergency.
The analyses would be due within 7 days. Braun has issued more than 80 executive orders since taking office in January of last year.
Both chambers unanimously approved the finalized proposal Friday morning, in a 91-0 vote in the House and a 50-0 vote in the Senate.
That’s despite some resentment over the removal of more than 80 pages of provisions amended into the fiscal matters bill by members of the House. Their additions — dealing with economic development reporting, tax credit reviews, public library budgets and more — were ruled not germane by the Senate and largely moved to another bill.
“When the Senate told you these provisions from the House were non-germane, did it occur to you to explain to them that we’re an equal house in this General Assembly, and we don’t particularly care what they think is germane?” asked Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, in a Thursday evening rules committee meeting.
“It seems to me like the House is just rolling over and caving in,” Pierce added. “We might want to have a more of a backbone over on this side of the of the capitol building, and perhaps see if we can get them under control a little bit.”
Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, justified the removals.
“As somebody who is well-known for calling germaneness violations throughout the session, I appreciate sticking to the letter of the law and trying to be as germane as possible,” he said.
The measure, now mostly returned to its Senate-passed form, also lowers the implementation and compliance cost threshold that must be noted in agency regulatory analyses. The current $1 million mark for impacts to local governments, businesses and individuals — over any two-year period — would be halved to $500,000.
Braun’s administration would also be authorized to pull from the financial responsibility and opportunity growth fund to boost the struggling Child Care and Development Fund program, which provides vouchers to low-income families. The lawmaker-dominated State Budget Committee would have to approve of any injections into the program.
CCDF has been closed to new children for more than a year due to funding constraints, and isn’t expected to reopen registration until next year. The waitlist for vouchers has topped 30,000.
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: [email protected].
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