From the Shelbyville News:
Education and gaming were among the topics brought up by those attending Friday's Third House legislative session sponsored by the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce.
Seventy people registered for the free luncheon wherein State Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg; State Sen. Michael Crider, R-Greenfield; and State Rep. Sean Eberhart, R-Shelbyville, provided an update on current legislative activity....
Shelby County Council President Scott Asher asked how the Senate gaming bill revisions made by the House would affect the county.
The House Committee on Public Policy approved removing the live table games provision at the state's two racinos last month and the bill is up for a vote Monday in the House Ways and Means Committee.
The advent of live table games at the Shelbyville racino was expected to create hundreds of new jobs while at the same time helping it compete against growing gaming enterprises in neighboring states.
Asher said the county and the City of Shelbyville rely on racino funds to develop and maintain infrastructure and other amenities to attract businesses to move here.
"My argument is we will never have another opportunity to bring 600 well-paying jobs to Shelbyville and Anderson," Eberhart said.
Hoosier Park Racing & Casino, the state's other racino, is located in Anderson.
Eberhart assured the crowd that existing racino funds are secure, adding he hoped Gov. Mike Pence, who demanded the exclusion of live gaming tables in the bill, would change his mind before the end of the session and encouraged constituents to contact him about their position on the matter.
"We will be fighting for you up there on this issue," he said.
Each legislator had the opportunity to update the community on legislation of concern to the county, most notably the two-year budget that each has passed their own versions of.
Leising said the Senate's version included a smaller income tax reduction than had been requested by Pence, from 3.4 percent to 3.3 percent and the phasing out the Indiana estate tax sooner than the the original planned.
As a member of the health and provider services committee, Leising said there had been much discussion about Medicaid.
"Everyone in the Statehouse is predicting large increases in the medicaid program due to the health initiative program," she said.
In 2012 the state paid $2.2 billion to support the program and estimates without any expansion by 2015 it will pay $3.3 billion.
Crider also touched on the budget, stating that the Senate budget included some projects that would be financed through the state rather than incurring debt to complete them.
"We're trying to pay down some debt," he said.
He supports a bill proposing to increase Interstates 65 and 70 to six lanes across the state.
"It would help immensely," he said. "And could distribute more truck traffic into one lane."
Eberhart said the House budget prioritized education by increasing the budget for K-12 education more than ever before and paying down debts.
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http://www.shelbynews.com/articles/2013/04/06/news/doc515f37567ed2d344285031.txt
