Statehouse issues that will impact you

• TWO-YEAR-BUDGET: Two Southern Indiana Democrats — New Albany’s Bill Cochran and Jeffersonville’s Steve Stemler — are holding key seats on the House’s Ways and Means budget subcommittee. Cochran is the subcommittee chair, meaning the buck stops at his desk for every piece of legislation with a price tag. Overall, lawmakers are projected to have about $26 billion to spend, or about $1.5 billion more than the current budget. Last year Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels appeared in Sellersburg touting a back-in-black state budget — he insists that the trend continues again this year.

• CIGARETTE TAX: Daniels wants to raise the current 55.5 cents per pack tax by at least 25 cents and use the extra revenue and money leveraged from the federal government to provide health insurance to more Hoosiers. Local lawmakers have expressed that they are in favor of providing health insurance to more Indiana residents but they realize that increasing taxes will be an uphill battle.

• FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN: Daniels wants to phase in optional full-day kindergarten over three years, starting with about 33,000 children eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. It would cost about $145 million in the next budget, growing to $260 million a year by 2011-12. The concept has some bipartisan support, but getting it made into law may not be as simple as Daniels might hope. Rep. Terry Goodin, a Crothersville Democrat whose district encompasses northern parts of Clark County, is the House’s Ways & Means K-12 Education Subcommittee chairman — and he’s already said that he doesn’t like the idea that’s been proposed. Goodin, who doubles as superintendent of Crothersville Community Schools, says Daniel’s proposal doesn’t account for hidden costs, such as hiring more teachers. Plus, he said, school programs are already underfunded, he doesn’t want this to be another program for which local school districts would be responsible for paying.

• PROPERTY TAXES: Daniels and many lawmakers want to give local governments more taxing options to reduce reliance on property taxes - something that has the support of local officials.

It all goes back to the so-called “2 percent circuit breaker,” which limits property taxes from exceeding 2 percent of the assessed value of the item being taxed. As a result, city officials are looking for new forms of revenue. Jeffersonville City Councilmen John Perkins, Democrat, and Ron Grooms, Republican, have voiced support for a piece of legislation called “Hometown Matters.” The proposal, backed by the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, includes a number of proposals from setting up a rainy day fund to establishing a local sales tax to re-allocating tourism bureau dollars into local municipal budgets.

• PRIVATIZATION: The concept of using private business to administer state services has been embraced by Republican Daniels. But in Clark and Floyd counties every last one of our state Representatives and Senators are Democrats - and most have express distain for the concept to the News And Tribune at one time or another. Democrats want greater legislative oversight. The state’s welfare services and the Northern Indiana toll road were leased last year. The Hoosier Lottery and parts of the BMV license branches have been proposed as possibly being next in line for privatization.

Read more on the General Assembly at the New Albany Tribune website.