Site Directory

• Home
• Attractions
• Articles
• Business Directory
• Communities
• E-Cards
• Events

• Forums
• Homes Magazine
• Local Links
• Mailing List
• News
• Online Store
• Photo Gallery

• Resource Guide
• Sponsors
• Societies
• Tourism Guide
• Weather
• WebMail
• Website Directory

Sen. Waterman Weekly Legislative Update

  State Senator John Waterman

               200 West Washington Street – Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

 

 

 

WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE                                          01.31.08

2008 Session of the Indiana General Assembly

 

Contact: Carrie Zapfe (317)232-7184

czapfe@iga.state.in.us

                                                                                                               

Waterman: legislation advances to provide permanent property tax relief and reform; protect traditional marriage and crackdown on illegal immigration

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 1: Permanent caps for property taxes

SJR 1 is a proposed Constitutional Amendment to establish a 1% circuit breaker for homestead, 2% circuit breaker for residential property, 3% circuit breaker on non-residential real property and personal property. Also, voters would authorize property taxes in excess of these caps through use of referenda.

SJR 1 passed out of the Senate by a vote of 41-7 and now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

 

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 7: Definition of marriage

For the third time in three years, the Indiana Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution No. 7 which would amend the Indiana Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. SJR 7 officially declares that marriage in Indiana is defined as being between one man and one woman. In order for the resolution to become part of the state constitution, it must pass two separately elected sessions of the General Assembly and then be approved by a majority of voters statewide. If the resolution is not approved by both chambers of the legislature this year, the process must begin again next year and the earliest the issue could be placed before Hoosier voters is 2012. The measure now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.

 

SENATE BILL 1: removes school general fund from property tax levies

SB 1 shifts to the state the responsibility of paying the remaining $2.1 billion school general fund, which is used to pay for schools’ day-to-day expenses including staff salaries and benefits, utilities, operation and maintenance costs. It will also transfer the $404 million child welfare levy, which is used to pay for programs to assist children and delinquent juveniles in need of services to the state general fund.

SB 1 passed out of the Senate by a vote of 48-0 and now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

 

SENATE BILL 16: Streamline assessing process

SB 16 will bring the total number of county and township assessors in Indiana to 136, down from 1,100. Indiana has more assessing officials and units of government with taxing authority than larger, more populous states such as California, Texas and Florida. Indiana is one of only 11 states with township-level government. This legislation will ensure fairness and equal treatment for all property taxpayers in the assessment process. In addition, the bill more closely aligns state responsibilities with state budgets and lessens burdens on property taxpayers by another $2.5 billion. SB 16 passed the Senate by a vote of 29-18 and now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

 

SENATE BILL 335: Crackdown on illegal immigration

Indiana Senators voted 37-11 to pass legislation to crackdown on businesses that profit from the hiring of illegal immigrants. SB 335 targets employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants in Indiana by allowing the attorney general’s office and local prosecutors to investigate written complaints of such practices. An employer is who is found to have violated the law would be punished based on a three-tier system:

 

1.      the employers first offense would be a warning;

2.      if they have a second offense in a ten-year span, the court could suspend their license to do business in Indiana for ten days; and

3.      if they then have a third offense in a ten-year span, the court could revoke their license to do business in Indiana.

 

The bill includes language that provides immunity for businesses in Indiana who verify the status of their employees through the federal employment verification pilot program, E-Verify. SB 335 also makes it a Class A misdemeanor for anyone who is found guilty of transporting, shielding from detection, concealing or harboring an illegal alien for commercial or financial gain. The bill provides exemptions for medical services, religious organizations, attorneys and the parent, spouse or children of the illegal immigrants. SB 335 now moves to the Indiana House of Representatives for further consideration.

 

Waterman serves Senate District 39, which includes Clay, Greene, Knox, Daviess, Owen, Sullivan and Vigo Counties.