Area legislators give business leaders preview of General Assembly

Jan. 14--Area legislators are expecting the change of administration in Washington, D.C., to have an impact on life in Indiana, which means they may have some work to do responding to those changes.

Much still is unclear, legislators told the crowd at the annual legislative preview hosted Friday by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, but areas where they foresee policies transferring more authority back to the states include education, energy, the environment and, most of all, health care.

Republicans at the forum generally adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward plans of the GOP-controlled Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. State Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, said the result might not be more than a new block grant to the states, a few rule tweaks and a new name, much as expansion of Medicaid in Indiana became HIP 2.0.

"We don't know what's going to happen," said state Rep. Bob Heaton, R-Terre Haute. "We'll see what the feds do, and go from there."

Democrats took a dimmer view of the potential effects from repeal of what has become known as Obamacare.

State Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said what Republicans seem to be saying is "you need more substandard insurance policies to be sold in your state." He said a block grant approach to paying for health care coverage almost guarantees that funding won't keep up with increases in the cost of health care, which will force states to look at raising other taxes to pay for it.

State Sen. Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington, said the ACA has not had an opportunity to deliver long-term savings on health care costs through its emphasis on preventive care.

Health care is just one bullet point on the Bloomington Chamber's legislative agenda for 2017, and lawmakers indicated their interest in other items on the list, especially infrastructure and road funding and expanding preschool education.

Legislators generally put road funding at No. 2 on the General Assembly's "to-do" list this session, right after crafting a new two-year state budget.

State Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, said she felt there was a growing consensus on how to approach a road bill, with members of her party generally favoring some increase in the state gas tax and vehicle fees to provide more funding for road and bridge projects.

But Pierce said that approach, coupled with planned reductions in corporate taxation, is a regressive route that puts the greatest burden on those least able to pay a larger share of their incomes in taxes -- the poor.

The newest member of the local legislative delegation, state Rep. Chris May, R-Bedford, said serving 10 years as a Lawrence County commissioner opened his eyes to the need for funding for roads and bridges. Of 180 bridges in the county inventory, May said, Lawrence County has been able to replace only 1 1/2 bridges a year. He also said the county has been able to repave less than 2 percent of its road miles each year.

During the question-and-answer portion of the program, the legislators again divided along party lines with regard to the progress of construction of Interstate 69.

Republicans such as Mayfield and state Rep. Jeff Ellington, R-Bloomington, urged perseverance in the face of project delays and inconvenience caused by the upgrading of Ind. 37 to interstate standards between Bloomington and Martinsville.

Ellington said I-69 will benefit all of Indiana with job creation and greater motorist safety. He said businesses want good roads and infrastructure, and the project must move forward.

Mayfield said there are delays associated with every construction project, especially one of the magnitude of I-69, and she said it would be unwise to sacrifice road integrity or safety for speed of completion.

Stoops countered that the billions spent on I-69 would have been better spent on highway and infrastructure needs all over the state.

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