The Senate considers changes to a bill repealing construction wage and passes a resolution opposing tougher ozone limits. Meanwhile the Indiana House holds final talks on the removal of Glenda Ritz as board leader of the state education board and revives a drug testing plan for welfare clients.
CONSTRUCTION WAGES
Indiana Senate Republicans have defeated changes to a proposed repeal of the state law that sets wages for public construction projects.
The Senate heard several amendments from Democrats to the GOP-backed bill that would eliminate the boards that set wages for state and local government projects.
The amendments defeated Tuesday included one that would have allowed the Indiana Department of Labor to set wages.
The Republican-controlled Senate is scheduled to give the repeal its final approval Wednesday.
Thousands of contractors and union members rallied against the proposal at the Statehouse on Monday. They say it will decrease construction quality and salaries and allow low-paying, out-of-state contractors to underbid Indiana companies.
Supporters argue that wages are set artificially high, preventing a competitive market from lowering bid prices and saving taxpayer money.
INDIANA LEGISLATURE/RITZ
A Republican-backed proposal that would allow Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz to be replaced as leader of the state Board of Education is on its way to final negotiations in the Indiana Legislature.
House members voted 55-41 Tuesday to support allowing the board dominated by appointees of Republican Gov. Mike Pence elect its own chairman, ending a decades-old law that made the state superintendent the board’s leader.
House and Senate Republicans have pushed for the change, saying it’s needed to address dysfunction between Ritz and other board members. Democrats have maintained that allowing the removal of Ritz as the board leader would undermine the will of voters who elected her in 2012.
The House and Senate must still work out differences on who would appoint the education board members.
WELFARE DRUG TESTING
The Indiana House has revived a proposal to test welfare recipients for drugs, a measure that has failed previously to win legislative approval.
House members voted 79-15 on Tuesday to include it in a bill making changes to Family and Social Services Administration policies.
The proposal from Democratic Rep. Terry Goodin of Austin would require drug testing for welfare recipients deemed at high risk for drug abuse or who’ve been previously charged with drug crimes. The proposal would offer counseling and additional tests before benefits are taken away.
Republicans pushed a similar proposal last year, but it failed in the Senate on a tie vote.
Goodin said his proposal was spurred by concerns over intravenous drug abuse causing an HIV outbreak in southern Indiana’s Scott County, which he represents.
OZONE STANDARDS
Indiana lawmakers say the tougher federal standards on smog-forming pollution will harm the state’s economy.
The Senate Environmental Affairs Committee advanced a resolution Tuesday that condemns the tougher ozone limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The resolution comes just weeks after Gov. Mike Pence and 10 other governors sent a letter to the EPA urging it to keep the nation’s current limits set in 2008.
Supporters of the resolution say the EPA is proposing a standard that would leave many counties unable to meet the new limits, stunting economic growth.
Critics say ground-level ozone causes smog that can lead to serious respiratory illness, particularly for children, elderly people and those with lung disease. They say good health is more important than job growth.
