Legislative leaders talk post-moratorium gambling expansions, more bills reach halfway point
Just six months after a former Indiana lawmaker was sentenced to a year in federal prison for gambling-related corruption, industry expansion proposals are moving through the Legislature.
The state's top two lawmakers say despite the controversy, they can't ignore the industry any longer. Last session, they agreed to take a break from legislation.
'I have no defense of my former colleague,' Republican House Speaker Todd Huston told reporters on Thursday.
Ex-Rep. Sean Eberhart was nabbed for accepting a lucrative job opportunity with a gambling company Spectacle Entertainment in exchange for supporting legislation in 2019 – and pushing for advantageous changes – that benefited the company. Another former lawmaker was sentenced in 2022 for gambling-related election finance schemes.
Still, Huston said, 'We just can't stand still … Like any … industry that is an important component of our state, there should be continual discussions about what ends up happening.'
His caucus isn't standing still. A House GOP bill legalizing online lottery and casino gambling – which could quickly earn casinos and the state millions – advanced through committee on Tuesday. So did legislation allowing taverns, charitable organizations and others to use electronic pull tabs.
Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray said that Eberhart's conviction 'never leaves my mind' when it comes to bills concerning the gambling industry. He added that lawmakers need to be particularly mindful about such legislation and its impacts.
'Obviously, gaming is a big industry in the state of Indiana … a challenging industry, but an industry that's very helpful to the state of Indiana,' Bray said.
But when it came to expansions, such as iGaming, Bray said he put more emphasis on good policymaking over whether an action could bring in additional revenue. Leaders have urged their colleagues to be fiscally restrained this budget cycle after a December forecast predicted only moderate growth over the next two years.
'I don't think it's good policy to chase revenue. I think you have to decide what the right policy is and then maybe the revenue comes,' Bray said. 'But if you're chasing revenue that way, you're probably not making good policy decisions.'
A Senate bill allowing the relocation of a casino license is facing a tougher path. The author pulled the bill during committee on Wednesday, then told the Capital Chronicle that he doesn't intend to allow a vote, citing strong opposition.
In the House, lawmakers unanimously approved legislation on the state's red flag law and school absenteeism after tussling over charter changes to an education deregulation proposal.
House Bill 1137, which makes it easier to expunge red flag law records, moved on a 91-0 vote.
The law allows police to temporarily remove firearms from people considered 'dangerous,' in an effort to prevent gun violence. But for people who are eventually found harmless, the records of the process don't go away.
'The problem is: that is never expunged from your record, because it's a civil action and it becomes a sort of a scarlet letter,' said author Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn. Prospective employers may research job candidates and find the records, but not see that the applicant was cleared.
His legislation would require that, if a court decides someone isn't dangerous, related records must be sealed and expunged. If the court later clears someone who was previously found dangerous, the court can choose to order that the person's records be sealed and expunged.
The bill next heads to the Senate for a committee hearing.
So does a measure dealing with absenteeism in schools, which advanced on an 87-0 vote.
House Bill 1201 requires the Indiana Department of Education to create a list of best practices to reduce student discipline and chronic absenteeism, among other tasks. It also bars schools from suspending or expelling students solely for being habitually truant or chronically absent. Students are considered truant if they miss 10 or more days of school without an excuse; they're labeled as chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of the school year, regardless of whether it is excused.
Lawmakers also spent nearly an hour accepting and defeating changes to House Bill 1002, an omnibus education deregulation measure and a priority for the House Republican caucus. It repeals, loosens or eliminates some existing requirements related to teacher training, professional development, school programming, administrative duties, and school boards, among other changes. It also deletes some expired education provisions.
Among the accepted amendments was one ditching annual performance requirements for charter schools and economic disclosure mandates for charter board members.
Over in the Senate, a bill placing conditions on fishing practices related to minnows easily passed the chamber on a 44-4 vote, with two Democrats and two Republicans nixing the measure.
Minnows may be caught with a net and used as bait under current law, but certain immigrant communities have allegedly fished not just for sport but also for consumption.
'Individuals are using nets in ways that are incredibly harmful … (and) just decimate sections of water,' said author Sen. Spencer Deery.
The West Lafayette Republican introduced his legislation with praise for immigrants but warned that 'inadequate assimilation' could be detrimental. The legislation would make it easier for conservation officers to restrict minnow trapping and protect fish populations, he said.
The bill now moves to the House.
Senior Reporter Casey Smith contributed.
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The Hill
8 minutes ago
- The Hill
Conservatives divided on value of Ghislaine Maxwell testimony
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The Hill
8 minutes ago
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Government shutdown talk is starting early ahead of a difficult funding fight in Congress this fall
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's become tradition. Congressional leaders from both major political parties blame each other for a potential government shutdown as the budget year draws to a close. But this year, the posturing is starting extraordinarily early. The finger-pointing with more than two months to go in the fiscal year indicates the threat of a stoppage is more serious than usual as a Republican-controlled Congress seeks to make good on its policy priorities, often with no support from the other political party. Democratic leadership from both chambers and the two panels responsible for drafting spending bills met behind closed doors recently to discuss the strategy ahead. The leaders emerged demanding that Republicans work with them but were careful to avoid spelling out red lines if Republicans don't. 'We are for a bipartisan, bicameral bill. That's what always has been done,' said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. 'The onus is on the Republicans to help us make that happen.' On the Republican side, lawmakers describe the Democrats as itching for a shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Schumer had threatened a shutdown should Republicans pass a bill to roll back $9 billion in public broadcasting and foreign aid funds. Republicans subsequently passed those cuts. 'It was disturbing to see the Democratic leader implicitly threatening to shut down the government in his July 'Dear Colleague' letter, but I'm hopeful that he does not represent the views of Senate Democrats as a whole,' Thune said. Where things stand on government funding The federal government is operating on a full-year continuing resolution that provided about $1.7 trillion in spending for defense and non-defense programs. The funding expires Sept. 30. President Donald Trump requested a comparable amount for the coming fiscal year, but the Republican proposed dramatically overhauling how that money is distributed to include more for defense and border security and significantly less for health, education, housing and foreign assistance. So far, the House has approved two of the 12 annual spending bills. The Senate has yet to approve any, but those bills that have advanced out of the Senate Appropriations Committee are enjoying bipartisan support while the House bills are generally advancing out of committee on party line votes. This week, the Senate is expected to consider the appropriations bill to fund military construction projects and the Department of Veterans Affairs, generally one of the easier spending bills to pass. One or two others could get added to the package. Congress got off to a late start on the funding process. Republicans prioritized Trump's tax and spending cut bill. Most lawmakers agree Congress will need to pass a stop-gap measure before Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown and allow lawmakers more time to work on the full-year spending measures. The view from Democrats Democrats overwhelmingly opposed this year's funding bill that expires in two months. But in the end, Schumer and nine Democratic colleagues decided a government shutdown would be even worse. They voted to allow the bill to proceed and overcome a filibuster, giving Republicans the ability to pass it on their own on a final vote. Schumer took considerable heat from progressives for his strategy. House Democratic leadership issued a statement at the time saying 'House Democrats will not be complicit.' And members of his own caucus publicly expressed disagreement. 'If we pass this continuing resolution for the next half year, we will own what the president does,' said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. 'I am not willing to take ownership of that.' Some liberal groups threatened to hold protests at various events Schumer was planning to promote a new book, and some of those events ended up being postponed due to security concerns. The Democratic frustrations have only grown stronger in the ensuing months. First, the Democrats watched the Trump administration slow-walk or block hundreds of billions of dollars from going out in part through the work of its Department of Government Efficiency. Then they watched as Republicans passed Trump's big tax and spending cut bill without any Democratic votes. Finally, they watched as Republicans this month canceled $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds when much of it had been previously agreed to on a bipartisan basis. Meanwhile, Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, declared that the appropriations process 'has to be less bipartisan.' Democrats complain that much of the work taking place in the House has been a waste of time, since those partisan bills have no chance of getting 60 votes in the 100-member Senate. 'At this point in time, why have appropriations if they can just unilaterally through rescissions whack it all away?' said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill. 'I think what you're seeing is more frustration than I've ever witnessed.' Republicans position for impasse Republicans control all the levers of power in Washington. That could make it harder to blame Democrats for a shutdown. But in the end, any bill will need some Democratic support to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. 'Our concern is that from their standpoint, they want to have a shutdown,' Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said of Democrats. '… The Democrats see it as a way to derail the agenda that we're putting through.' Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2-ranked Republican in the Senate, said Republicans were determined to hold votes on the 12 spending bills. He said that Schumer 'had unilaterally shut down the appropriations process' in previous years by not holding such votes, moving instead to negotiate directly with GOP leadership in the House and then-President Joe Biden's Democratic administration on an all-encompassing spending package. 'If Democrats walk away from this process again, simply to protect wasteful Washington spending,' Barrasso said, 'they will be the ones sabotaging the Senate and shutting down the government.'
