Indianapolis Session in Final Days

Lawmakers have many decisions to make before they end their session this year. They are trying to decide the state budget, property tax relief and restructurization, as well as various initiatives that would fund the discrepancies in the budget and health care – including legalizing slot machines and cigarette taxes.

Both the House and the Senate have spent weeks debating the above, but now they have until the end of April to actually make some decisions. They say some of the bills, like slot machine legalization will probably not get passed until the last night of the session – if it gets passed at all.

The only thing they have to absolutely pass is a state budget, but even that is not as easy as it sounds. Both the House and the Senate have major differences between what they see as a valid budget that can be passed. For example, both of them want to increase spending for the public school system, but they don’t want to dole it out the same way.

Some of the issues are interrelated, such as some of the funding ideas and the budget. If slot machines are legalized, they would help with the funding of the budget. However, if they aren’t, then it becomes harder to find the money. Same with some of the other programs they want to do and the cigarette tax – approve one and you handle the other.


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