Published: May 02, 2009 09:28 pm         

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Major failure amid a few minor successes

Budget breakdown overshadows session’s legislative progress

TERRE HAUTE — Hoosiers got only small doses of progress from the Indiana General Assembly’s 2009 regular session.

Instead of treating the state’s swine-flu-caliber problems, legislators managed to treat just a few old wounds.

In the success category:

• Lawmakers finally strengthened laws regarding the training and licensing of Indiana’s youngest and least experienced drivers. To obtain an operator’s license, teens now must get at least 50 hours of supervised driving time with a parent or guardian. Teens will have to wait an extra five months — until age 16 1/2 — to get their license. Drivers under 18 years old also will be prohibited from using cell phones while behind the wheel.

The extra maturity, experience and mental focus will make Indiana roadways safer for teens motorists and those who encounter them.

• The lawmakers OK’d a plan to repair the state’s depleted unemployment benefits fund. As the recession deepened and the jobless rate climbed into double digits, that fund had to pay out more in benefits than it took in from employers. Indiana even had to borrow $800 million, so far, from the federal government to cover that deficit.

The legislature raised taxes on employers, but didn’t cut benefit payouts. Business lobbyists, understandably, aren’t happy about the remedy. They insist the burden could cause more layoffs. But the state must meet its commitments to Hoosiers who have lost their jobs.

The General Assembly deserves some blame for this situation. In 2000, the unemployment fund had a $1.6-billion surplus. Then lawmakers raised the benefit payments to the jobless, and lowered employer premiums. The surplus dwindled.

In the failure category, No. 1 is the legislature’s inability to approve a two-year budget on time. Their leadership repeatedly brushed aside other important issues by insisting they were too busy dealing with the state’s fiscal constraints. Apparently, they weren’t busy enough, because they’ll have to return this month or next to enact a new budget before the current one expires.

The two-party system is meant to offer clashing viewpoints and guarantee that the concerns of all are considered. But the end of the 2009 regular session sounded more like kids arguing on a playground than an earnest effort by elected public servants.

The best resolution is essentially a copout by the legislators; Gov. Mitch Daniels should design his own detailed budget, then call the lawmakers back to Indy to vote on it in a one- or two-day special session. That’s what Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, suggested, according to The Associated Press.

Instead of a circle of finger pointing by House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, his rival House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, Long, and Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, they can all blame Daniels for the end product.