What’s Going on Next Door?

by Mark Cavers Last week, Indiana’s Governor, Mitch Daniels, released a recap of the previous legislative session and touted a number of successes for the residents of Indiana. Here in Illinois, our legislators are now faced with many of the same opportunities that Indiana took advantage of over the past few months. Lets take a quick look...

by Mark Cavers

Last week, Indiana’s Governor, Mitch Daniels, released a recap of the previous legislative session and touted a number of successes for the residents of Indiana. Here in Illinois, our legislators are now faced with many of the same opportunities that Indiana took advantage of over the past few months. Lets take a quick look at some of their successes and see what we should be doing here in Illinois.

1.    Indiana: Passed a structurally balanced budget

Despite a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, by relying on a variety of gimmicks Illinois has not had a balanced budget in years. Facing a projected $8 billion in unpaid bills, a balanced budget would be a great place for Illinois to start.

2.    Indiana: Reduced the corporate income tax to 6.5%

In January, Illinois legislators hiked our corporate income tax rate by 47%. Our new 7% corporate income tax will be higher than Indiana’s. Add in the 2.5% property tax replacement that corporations pay and businesses in Illinois face one of the highest tax burdens in the world. Illinois’s legislators should work to roll back these job-killing tax hikes.

3.    Indiana: Expanded charter schools

Illinois imposes a cap on the number of charter schools that can open and only allows school districts to authorize the creation of new charters. Senate Bill 79 would allow for the growth of charter schools outside of Chicago by creating independent charter school authorizers. This bill passed out of committee and now awaits action on the Senate floor.

4.    Indiana: Put students first- Changed the way teachers are evaluated and paid

Legislation is being considered in Springfield that would dramatically alter the quality of education our children receive. Senate Bill 7 would ensure our kids are being taught by the best teachers instead of the ones who have been around the longest and it would give schools better tools for evaluating how well teachers are educating our children. Senate Bill 7 passed the Senate and awaits action in the House.

Indiana has passed a number of other productive pieces of legislation. You can view the impressive list in its entirety here.