Tagged: Indiana

State lawmakers are pushing legislation that would create a financial literacy curriculum for the state, encouraging schools to teach skills such as investing, balancing a checkbook, and applying for loans. 

Supporters of the legislation say students are graduating high school without basic financial skills.

Greenwood Republican Senator Brent Waltz says that’s not a new problem.

The fears of opponents of Indiana’s Right to Work law appear to be bolstered by statistics showing a significant decrease in the state’s union membership since 2011.  But leaders on both sides of the debate say Right to Work likely had little effect.

Union membership in Indiana dropped about 20% from 2011 to 2012, just as Indiana’s Right to Work law, which prohibits union contracts that require workers to pay dues for representation, went into effect. 

Legislation aimed at helping Indiana gaming facilities compete with other states and bolster struggling attendance cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday.

Legislation unanimously approved by the Senate Public Policy committee adds mobile gaming devices to off-track betting sites and eliminates taxes on free-play coupons.  It also allows live-dealer games in racetrack casinos, something the bill’s author, Crawfordsville Republican Senator Phil Boots, says will boost job creation.

Fiscal restraint was the theme Tuesday night as Governor Mike Pence delivered his first State of the State address to the Indiana General Assembly.

Pence took to the podium with the goal of convincing legislators and Hoosiers across the state, that a 10-percent income tax cut is a fiscally responsible move.

Pence says because the state is bringing in more than it spends, it can leave some of that money in Hoosiers’ pockets.

If job creation is priority No. 1 for lawmakers this session, job placement for veterans seems to be priority 1-A, with new legislation aimed at getting servicemembers back to work.

The unemployment rate for younger veterans – those of the post 9/11 era – is considerably higher than the rate for average Hoosiers. 

Ball State President Jo Ann Gora says the state’s funding formula for higher education unfairly favors some schools over others.

Gora says the state’s performance funding system is a one-size-fits-all structure that favors large and growing campuses.  She says schools like Ball State – which Gora believes has focused on quality, rather than quantity – are penalized.