Indiana isn’t the only state reveling in the joys (insert your own joke here) of a special session – our neighbors to the south called back lawmakers for their own budget issue. Unlike Indiana, Kentucky is facing a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall.

While the race to finish a budget continues here, Kentucky legislators sent a revised plan to the governor on Wednesday (see story) . Several decisions being made in the Bluegrass state directly affect Hoosiers:

Legislation that would have allowed video slot machines at Kentucky horse tracks squeezed through the House, but failed in Senate committee this week (had this passed it would have meant fewer Kentuckians crossing state lines and less revenue for Indiana). This has been an ongoing debate in Kentucky, and this surely won’t be the last attempt by proponents.

Several years in the works, Kentucky finally has developed a funding plan for its share of the Ohio River Bridges Project, which would allow for two new bridges connecting the two states. (Read the 2005 BizVoice® story and the 2007 update.) Indiana plans to fund its portion of the project with Major Moves money. 

Now back to the countdown closer to home. We didn’t fare too poorly in Kentucky – we’ll see what happens here though.

The budget bill will be in conference committee the next few days – perhaps even through Sunday. Lawmakers will officially return at 9:30 this morning, although most negotiations and compromises take place well out of the public view.

A few basic things to keep in mind about a conference committee:

The makeup is two members (“conferees”) each from the House and Senate as well as “advisors” – all appointed by House Speaker Pat Bauer and Senate Pro Tem David Long. These conferees and advisors may be removed at any time by the respective House and Senate leaders (generally only done if the appointee is threatening to go against the party line).

The conference committee process is less structured than the regular committee process. Conference committees may meet within one (Senate rule) or two (House rule) hours after notice of the meeting is posted (on the bulletin boards outside the respective Senate and House chambers) and are open to the public “whenever feasible.” No further posting is required if additional meetings are necessary, and it is within the chair’s discretion to be forthcoming about time and place of any additional meetings.

A bill may pass out of a conference committee only with unanimous consent of the conferees. This is called the conference report. If it passes out of the conference committee, both chambers vote on the final version.

Late yesterday it was revealed that the General Assembly has 14 new bills to contend with… or do they?

Four of the measures introduced by House members are procedural in nature: the vehicle bills.  The remaining 10 appear to be hot-button issues that couldn’t find their way to passage during the regular session.  Among them:

• Elimination of townships outside Marion County
• Smoking ban in public places
• Constitutional property tax cap amendment
• Declaration that marriage is between a man and woman

So why bother with them now during the special session, with less than a week before a state budget needs to be finalized?

It’s called going through the motions says Indiana Chamber health care lobbyist Mike Ripley, himself a former state representative.

“The legislators know realistically these bills are not going to move – maybe they have a 1% chance – and that leadership probably can only deal with the budget matters,” he states. “This comes down to legislators wanting to keep the issues that are most important to them out there, and going on record like this is one way to do that.”

House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Bill Crawford tells the House that work begins at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on the budget conference committee, that those involved should be prepared to work each day through Sunday, possibly "morning, noon and evening" in the attempt to have a compromise ready by next Monday.

Those words came after, on a voice vote, the House dissented on the Senate budget that was passed earlier in the afternoon. But even that involved a few theatrics.

House Minority Leader Brian Bosma urged opposition to the dissent motion, saying, "It’s time to end the per-diem, end the travel, end the hotel expenses; end the misery for taxpayers, for employees wondering if the state will shut down. It’s time for all that to end."

Democrat Russ Stilwell countered that he wasn’t going to rely on "blind faith" in going along with a Senate proposal that passed three hours earlier. Plenty of shouts from the floor even prompted Speaker Pat Bauer to call for a little decorum.

Crawford and Jeff Espich are the House conferees. Advisors on the Dem side are Goodin, Pelath, Avery and Welch; for the Republicans, Turner, Thompson and Borror. On the Senate side, Luke Kenley and John Broden are the conferees; offering their guidance will be Republicans Hershman, Dillon, Lubbers and Senate Pro Tem Long; Tallian, Hume and Skinner for the Dems.

The clock is ticking. Seven days and counting.

The Indiana Senate definitely plays nicer than the House. Instead of zingers flying fast and furious, there was predominately a civil tone to today’s activity.  I lost track of how many times a variation of the word “respect” was used by both parties. Quite frankly, it made for some very boring talks. 

Still, when it came time for the Senate to vote on its version of the budget bill (SS 1001), the outcome was predictable – much like the House action last week – and had a distinct partisan flair to it. 

The Senate passed SS 1001 33-17; the catch being that one Democrat – Sen. Frank Mrvan of Hammond – voted for it, while Republican Vaneta Becker of Evansville voted no. 

The so-called budget contingency plan (SS 1) – in case an actual budget fails to pass by June 30 – moved from the Senate on a 32-18 vote (Republican Jean Leising of Oldenburg opposed it).

During today’s proceedings, Senate Pro Tem David Long (R-Fort Wayne) said his goal was to have the Senate vote on a finalized budget by no later than June 29. Of course, in order to do that, the House must play nice. Think they can?

The latest: Gov. Daniels issued a plea to the House Democrats to avoid a conference committee and to take a vote on the Senate version of SS 1001. The statement from the governor:

“The Senate compromise, while significantly different from either of my two proposals, protects taxpayers within the limits I’ve requested and I would sign it.  I know there are many House Democrats who would prefer a budget that keeps Indiana in the black to one that takes us into bankruptcy, and we invite them to join this compromise now and bring the special session to a successful close. Mr. Speaker, please just free your followers to vote their conscience and let’s go home.”

During Monday’s Statehouse debate on the budget, Sen. Connie Sipes (D-New Albany) made an impassioned plea that "money should follow the programs." The former educator added that the "money following the students sounds really good," but it doesn’t work.

Chamber education expert Derek Redelman tackled that issue (funding on a district vs. student perspective) and much more in a recent comprehensive overview of K-12 as it relates to the budget. Read here for a much clearer understanding of these key topics.

On the face of it, today’s series of second reading budget amendments in the Senate appeared to be another partisan exercise. Eight Republican amendments (mostly minor in nature) passed; Democrat offerings elicited strong debate before going down to party-line defeat, with 33-17 becoming the vote count of the day.

Dig a little deeper, though, and the stage may have been set somewhat for conference committee negotiations. Among the developments:

• Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) adjusting the hastily compiled budget, making adjustments to the school funding formula to try and decrease the dollar discrepancies between growing schools and those continually seeing declining enrollments (closer to the House Democrat model).
• An amendment from John Broden (D-South Bend), ranking minority member of the appropriations panel, that called for spending $132 million more on education. Although defeated, the debate was spirited and Kenley appeared to remain open to further consideration. House Speaker Pat Bauer (D-South Bend) undoubtedly liked some of the things he heard from Broden and his fellow senators and views some as tools for the end game.
• A successful Mike Young (R-Indianapolis) amendment (on a voice vote) that introduced publicly a new solution to the Capitol Improvement Board (CIB) mess. It is more of a stopgap measure, allowing the CIB to borrow money from the state treasurer for up to a three-year period to meet its financial obligations. It would eliminate several of the tax increases that have been primary components of the discussion thus far.

 The Senate returns at 11 a.m. Tuesday to pass its version of the budget. The House may be back to officially dissent, and conference committee negotiations round two will begin. Senate Republicans are seemingly in the "compromise" mood; will House Democrats reciprocate?