Contact: Jamie Jorczak (317) 232-9524
jjorczak@iga.state.in.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(STATEHOUSE) The Indiana Senate passed a balanced two-year state budget this afternoon that holds the line on spending, eliminates the structural deficit, adds no new taxes, provides $4 billion in property tax replacement credits and adds $112.4 million to K-12 education.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert L. Meeks (R-LaGrange), the Senate sponsor of House Bill 1001, said Senate Republicans voted to control state spending while boosting funding for K-12 education, scholarships for higher education and child protection. Medicaid funding is increased by 5 percent. “The passage of this budget bill is quite an accomplishment for the Senate,” Meeks said. “To overcome a $600 million structural deficit and end up with reserves – all without new taxes – is no small feat.”
Education funding remained a top priority in the Senate. The school funding formula is driven by an innovative approach that funds children as individuals instead of simply funding corporations. Special factors are taken into consideration, such as poverty, when determining the level of funding that is to follow a child. The General Assembly continually has increased education spending in past years, even when other states were cutting education. In 2003, Indiana had the highest increase of K-12 funding in the country – during a national recession. The new budget gives more money and funding options to Indiana public schools than in the history of the state.
Additionally, Republicans are distributing to local governments $4 billion in property tax replacement credits (PTRC), in an effort to provide relief to homeowners and other property tax payers. Local governments and schools keep 99.9 percent of all property taxes. Half of all revenue raised by the state sales tax is used for PTRC, as is 14 percent of the income tax and nearly a half billion dollars every year from the wagering tax.
Earlier in the session, Senate Republicans voted to pass a measure to reform the property tax system by giving local governments an option to shift the tax burden to the income tax in order to be more fair and equitable to all Hoosiers. The initiative was successful in the Senate but failed to receive consideration in the House of Representatives after the bill met substantial opposition from local government officials.
The budget also funds Governor Mitch Daniels’ priorities for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Inspector General, Office of Technology, Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), Department of Agriculture and Department of Child Services. The bill allocates funds to hire a total of 400 child services caseworkers over the next two years.
“Supporters of this budget can be proud of their vote today,” Meeks said. “Our plan is a prescription for positive change in Indiana.”
HB 1001 passed by a vote of 31 to 19. The bill awaits a final vote in the House of Representatives before it is sent to the governor to be signed into law.
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Jamie Jorczak
Communications Director
Indiana Senate Majority Caucus
ph: (317)232-9524 or 1-800-382-9467
fax: (317)232-9664
www.in.gov/senate_republicans