Banner Graphic, Volume 15, Number 153, Greencastle, Putnam County, 26 February 1985 — Page 3

Serving as pages recently for State Sen. Ed Pease (center), R-Brazil, were Sherry Foxx, 18, and Todd Branson, 17. Both are seniors at South Putnam High School. They aided Sen. Pease, who serves District 37 and a portion of Putnam County, by helping with a variety of legislaturerelated activities. Miss Foxx is the daughter of Frank and Margaret Foxx. Branson is the son of Edgar and Carolyn Branson.

Satisfying to all groups?

Banking bill amended in Senate

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Changes in the multi-county banking bill could break apart an uneasy coalition of banking interests that had agreed to support the measure, a state senator says. The Senate voted 27-22 Monday to adopt an extensive amendment to Senate Bill 1, which would allow Indiana banks to expand across county lines and would permit Indiana banks to purchase other state banks. Sen. Joseph W. Harrison, R-Attica, said that the original S B. 1 was a compromise fashioned by bankers representing small and large institutions. “Senate Bill 1, as passed out of committee, seems to me to have reached the unreachable goal of satisfying all these groups,” said Harrison. Harrison said amending the measure could fragment the coalition that supported the original bill, which he said was “a good faith effort by many people who

License branch reform survives State Senate amendment stage

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Licensebranch reform legislation is still alive in the Indiana Senate. A measure that would order a state takeover of the license-branch system and stop political contributions from license fees survived the amendment stage in the Indiana Senate Monday. Senate Bill 389, sponsored by Sens. Lawrence M. Borst, R-Indianapolis, and Michael Rogers, R-New Castle, now is eligible for final passage in the Senate. The House already has passed a measure that calls for formation of a commission to study changes in the current license-branch system. The Senate measure would establish a motor vehicle board July 1 to oversee a two-year transition from the current politically controlled license-branch system to a state-run system. Under 5.8..389, contributions to political parties from license fees and the sale of personalized plates would be stopped. The measure would also make licensebranch workers state employees, hired under the merit system. For more than 50 years, the branches have been controlled by the political party of the governor. In each county, the branch manager is appointed by the county chairman of the governor’s party. Some of the fees collected by the branches go to that party, and both major parties share revenue collected through the sale of personalized plates.

Crest test Northern Indiana rivers hitting record peaks

By The Associated Press As communities pulled together through the night to fight rising river waters with soggy sandbags, state officials said it won’t be known until later in the week damage caused by some of the worst flooding in decades. Phillip K. Roberts, deputy director of Indiana Civil Defense, said Monday his agency would begin gathering damage estimates later in the week that could lead to a disaster declaration from Gov. Robert D. Orr. A spokeswoman for the governor, Judy Honey, said Orr could declare areas hardest hit by flooding eligible for federal aid if local governments are unable to deal with the rebuiding. Most of the 1,100 people who had been evacuated from homes in the northern and central sections of the state sought shelter with friends and relatives, Roberts said, instead of with the Red Cross or Civil Defense. Roberts said his agency provided 200,000 sand bags, with three-fourths of them sent to Fort Wayne and the rest to Elkhart and South Bend. In Fort Wayne, the Maumee River was expected to crest nearly 10 feet above flood

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for a lot of years were at each others’ throats.” The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Morris H. Mills, R-Indianapolis, and William D. McCarty, D-Anderson, now is eligible for final passage in the Senate. Mills told the Senate Monday that the amendment he offered Monday included changes that should guarantee that Gov. Robert D. Orr will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. “I’ve been assured that this amendment does meet the requirements of the governor,” said Mills, who noted that the governor threatened to veto the bill as originally written. “We have spent the last two weeks trying to put the bill in some form that would be acceptable to him.” The Mills amendment would raise the percentage of total state deposits that an individual bank could hold. In the original measure, a bank would have been limited initially to 10 percent of all state deposits.

An amendment offered by Sen. Joseph W. Harrison, R-Attica, Monday would have allowed the current license-branch structure to remain in place, but would have stopped political contributions from the branches. The amendment would also have made branch records open to the public. Harrison said his amendment would answer complaints about forced political contributions and the inaccessibility of branch records. “I think this would be a reasonable alternative that would address the alleged problems,” said Harrison. He said a government-run system would be more expensive to operate, which would force fees up. Borst said that amendment would “bring the system right back to where it is now.” The Harrison amendment was voted down 30-19. Seven other amendments were offered, five by Sen. Wayne Townsend, D-Hartford City, who made license-branch reform a centerpiece of his unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1984. Two Townsend amendment were approved. One, approved 25-24, called for Department of Administration guidelines to be applied to the buyouts of current branches’ obligations such as leases. The buyouts would be permitted but not required under the measure, Borst said. The other amendment, which passed 26-

stage by this afternoon, and Mayor Winfield Moses Jr. issued an urgent plea for volunteers to assist in an around-the-clock sandbagging effort. “As of today they had used about 80thousand sandbags,” Amy Ahlersmeyer, spokeswoman for the city, said Monday night. She said that about 20 families were evacuated from the flooding to Red Cross shelters. City school students were to spend their second day filling sandbags today. Officials said the rising waters of the St. Joseph, Maumee and St. Mary’s rivers may provide Fort Wayne’s first test of nearly $3 million in flood-control improvements made after destructive flooding three years ago. The Maumee reached its third-highest recorded level Monday afternoon, about two feet below the 1982 level and 2.3 feet below the 1913 record. The St. Joseph at Elkhart was predicted to crest today at a record 27 feet, three feet above flood level. At South Bend, the St. Joseph was predicted to crest today at nearly six feet above flood stage, just above the record level set in 1982. In western Indiana, a flood warning

The increase later would have risen to 12 percent. Under the amendment, the limit would start at 12 percent and rise to 15 percent beginning in 1988. Currently about $33.6 billion is on deposit in Indiana banks. The largest bank is American Fletcher National Bank in Indianapolis with $2.4 billion in deposits. Lt. Gov. John M. Mutz argued during committee hearings on the measure that Indiana banks limited to 10-12 percent of the total deposits in the state wouldn’t be competitive in the upper Midwestern region. The amendment also changed provisions in the bill governing purchase of Indiana banks by out-of-state institutions and added a waiver provision that would allow an Indiana bank under certain circumstances to exceed the 15 percent deposit-size limit contained in the bill.

23, would protect license-branch employees from being pressured into making political contributions. Another amendment offered by Townsend would have pushed the state takeover of the branches up to July 1986. That amendment was voted down 26-23. In the House Monday, lawmakers voted 88-8 for a bill that would add pick-up trucks and vans to the formula for distributing highway money to counties, a move that will cost 16 urban counties sl.ll million. Currently, only passenger cars are counted. Under the measure, the statewide amount of highway money would not change, but the distribution for each county would be altered by figuring trucks into the formula. Under H.B. 1267, sponsored by Reps. Edward Goble, D-Batesville, and Thomas Coleman, R-New Castle, the losers are: Allen, $136,686, Clark, $2,163; Delaware, $14,916; Floyd, $3,376; Grant, $1,746; Hamilton, $33,248; Howard, $912; Johnson, $699; Lake, $264,209; LaPorte, $19,843; Marion, $465,192; Porter, $28,814; St. Joseph, $100,694; Tippecanoe, $12,210; Vanderburgh, $20,723; and Wayne. $5,442. House Bill 1452, sponsored by Rep. Gene Leeuw, R-Indianapolis, would create an expiration date for inactive bonds and would permit the state insurance commissioner to impose fines of up to SIO,OOO for any violation of the bail bonding statute.

remained in effect as the Wabash River in some areas reached its highest levels in 26 years. The weather service predicted extensive flooding between Covington in Fountain County and Terre Haute in Vigo County through Friday. Jeff Fox, a communications officer for the Vigo County sheriff’s department, said only one county road was closed. “We’re in pretty good shape in the county here so far,” he said. Sandbagging efforts continued through the night in West Terre Haute and Montezuma, but damage was limited, authorities said. Tippecanoe County authorities in Lafayette reported no immediate danger after the Wabash crested there early Monday. In southwest Indiana, extensive lowland flooding was reported along the east fork of the White River, but the weather service warned that in some areas, such as New Harmony, the river was not expected to crest until March 6. In central Indiana, the White River crested above flood stage in Noblesville and began falling. Several roads were closed and a few residents were forced from their homes.

$15.3 billion spending bill clears Senate committee

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A $15.3 billion state budget bill described as having “something for everyone’s district” is on its way to the Indiana House but without support from minority Democrats. With SBO million worth of amendments added during Monday night’s five-hour budget mark-up session, the spending plan will leave the state a projected balance of $75.8 million as of June 30, 1986, and $83.1 million by June 30.1987. That doesn’t count $l2O million in the tuition reserve fund and an expected $165 million in the “rainy day” fund. The Republican-controlled committee voted 13-9 for House Bill 1485, which will chart the course of state spending from July 1,1985, through June 30,1987. Although they managed to get another $1 million for the utility consumer counselor’s office, which represents customers in rate cases, Democrats refused to vote for the measure. Committee chairman Patrick Kiely, RAnderson, prime sponsor of the budget bill, reminded colleagues, “There’s literally something in here for everybody’s district.” And without Democratic support, he said, it will be difficult to justify some of those programs when the budget goes to the Senate and later to a joint House-Senate conference committee. Of the total $15.3 billion expenditure, more than $6.5 billion is from the state’s general fund, with $3.49 billion from dedicated revenue sources and $5.21 billion from the federal government. Republicans proposed $79 million in amendments over the funding recommendations adopted by the bi-partisan State Budget Committee last fall. Kiely noted the Budget Committee received $7.7 billion in general fund requests for the two-year cycle beginning July 1,1985. The committee recommended $6 5 billion in general fund requests.

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To fund the additional $1.2 billion in requests, Kiely said, the state would have had to raise the 3 percent income tax to 8-9 percent or boost the 5 percent sales tax to 10.5 percent. He said the fact the state can afford to raise spending in certain program areas is testimony to the political courage of lawmakers who voted for tax increases in December 1982 when the state was facing a $452 million deficit. “That single action, which the taxpayers took in stride, is the only reason we can offer amendments today to an already improved budget,” Kiely said. The largest increase was an additional $57 million in state tuition support for local schools, above the $2.48 billion already proposed by the Budget Committee. Another major increase was for programs for the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. Republicans proposed $lO million over what the Budget Committee recommended for alternative living arrangements such as group homes to get the developmentally disabled out of nursing homes. The Public Service Commission got an additional $3.7 million almost aSO percent increase in the $8.5 million approved by the Budget Committee. The extra money is to pay for staff to do management audits and carry out the

February 26,1985, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

utility certificate of need program as well as for computer equipment. Kiely’s amendment added $lO million in state funds to the FToject SAFE heating assistance program. This year, there are no state funds to supplement money received from the federal government. More than $9.4 million was added by the committee for salaries, benefits and pensions for state police, above the SB2 million in the Budget Committee version. The amendment added a one-time increase of $2,400 for each trooper. The panel added sls million to the S7O million raise for state employees, enough to update job classifications and provide a cost of living increase of 3 percent and a merit raise of 2 percent. Major cuts from the Budget Committee recommendation included $23.5 million from Project Primetime, reflecting 20pupil classes in second and third grades instead of 18; $2 million for summer school; $2.2 million for programs for gifted and talented children; and $7.5 million for the endowment for educational excellence for local schools and higher education. Kiely said those cuts would still leave $9.6 million for gifted and talented education; sl6 million for summer $2.5 million for the educational endowment for higher education; and more than SIOO million for Project Primetime.

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