District 7 State Senator Brian Buchanan and State Representative Mark Genda from District 41 answered questions to a packed house at the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast at Wesley Manor Saturday morning.
Buchanan and Genda both regularly appear on WILO’s local live talk show “Partyline” and will be happy to take your questions on the fast-changing action in this important legislative year, which will conclude by state law on or before April 29.
Major themes of the legislative breakfast lasting just over one hour included:
- House bill 1628 concerning home rule is “dead on arrival” according to Mark Genda. This bill, if passed, would affect construction of water systems and power plants and other utilities. Infrastructure development control could be taken away from local government and decisions for certain projects would be in the hands of the State of Indiana. According to Mark Genda, this bill is “dead on arrival”, but he will be vigilant that it does not “re-appear in April” as a part of some other bill.
- # 1 issue for Indiana Residents seems to be Property Taxes, according to both Genda and Buchanan. Governor Mike Braun ran and won on “lower property taxes”. Something will have to give. $2.00 taxes on cigarettes? Consolidation of township business? What about possible money lost from Washington D.C. with changes taking place there? What will be the effect of income taxes going down, already in the pipeline? These concerns are not yet resolved and the taxes for 2025 are already set, so changes in services or taxes for Hoosiers will not be seen until 2026.
- Big picture, according to Genda, is the legislature and State Government is leaning strongly toward “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.” This translates to open arms for housing and industry moving to Indiana, new developments in energy policy and other pro-growth initiatives.
- House bill 1007 may or may not pass. This bill addresses small Nuclear Reactor energy plant rules and regulations, particularly who will hold the bag if any expensive project fails. Genda says technology in this area can assure abundant energy 24/7 for hoosiers as the need grows. “This is not a 3-mile island or Chernobyl type plant. (This technology) is much safer and smaller”. Genda emphasized the importance of energy that is abundant, reliable and affordable. Even if passed, there will be a 3 year permit period, 3 year plan period and 3 year build period, so no energy would be available by this new technology for almost 10 years.
- Indiana currently allows 28 days to vote. Senate Bill 248 would move voting from 28 days to 14. Currently less than a quarter of people who vote early do so in the initial two weeks. One person in the audience referred to this bill as “Voter Suppression”.
- Senate Bill 287 would change the school board election process to that of other elections, which would include a primary and general election, by requiring candidates to declare a party. Some concern in the audience questioned that this may introduce “patronage” into education. Buchanan said in some cases, more money is spent in education than in County government, implying taxpayers should have as much transparency as possible to review the process and philosophies of board members.
- Currently Indiana is ranked #6 in the nation in Math and Reading. (United States ranking in the world varies, depending on criteria used. In 2022 PISA results U.S. ranked 6th in Reading, 12th in Science and 28th in Math among OECD countries.) In 2022, Indiana had 997,869 students enrolled in a total of 1,769 schools in 291 school districts. There were 58,685 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 17 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. In 2020, Indiana spent on average $9,566 per pupil, according to ballotpedia.org. Buchanan said that number now is between $10,000 and $12,000 per pupil. Home schooling and parental involvement in the education process of Indiana students were not discussed at the breakfast.
- Funding for Charter Schools and Public schools were discussed. Do Charter Schools and Public Schools have the same standards and rules? Is funding to Charter Schools eroding certain public schools ability to exist? Are there too many regulations that schools have to contend with that make learning in the classroom more difficult? Brian Buchanan envisions Indiana Education, by far the largest expenditure for State Tax Dollars, on a three legged stool. Buchanan sees 1) Choice 2) Deregulation and 3) Proper Evaluation Systems as key to good education in Indiana.
- Farm Real Estate taxes in Indiana have gone up 17% in 2023, 26.4% in 2024 with another 20% increase estimated in 2025. Buchanan stated this trend is “unsustainable” and believes farm land owners will get some relief from the legislature.
- The mood of the legislature, according to Buchanon, is “Control growth (of Indiana Expenditures) and not cut”
With several of the items still up in the air during this fiscal year in the Indiana legislature, the attendees at the breakfast were encouraged to reach out to Buchanan and Genda to give input during the session. March 15th and April 19th will complete the four scheduled legislative breakfasts for Clinton County.
