2014 Indiana State Legislative Agenda

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MARION-GRANT COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

2014 Indiana State Legislative Agenda The Marion-Grant County Chamber of Commerce representes 400+ businesses in the Marion-Grant County area. It is our responsibility to act on behalf of our member businesses’ best interests. The entire membership was polled on the important issues impacting their businesses. The following agenda was developed based on member feedback. The key issues listed below will serve as our top priorities during the 2014 legislative season. EDUCATION We support the continuation of the current system of electing a State Superintendent of Public Instruction versus an alternative system of having the Superintendent appointed by the Governor. We encourage all Indiana school systems to seek collaborative ways to provide better education and cost savings. An incentive program should be considered to reward such collaboration. We support a grading scale for all Indiana schools that is applied consistently and fairly and that is easily understood by taxpayers. The grading scale should take into consideration levels of poverty and special education needs of individual school corporations. We are opposed to initiatives, such as adopting Common Core guidelines, which would lower the standards for Indiana schools and shift increased control of local schools to the federal government. At the same time, we would support a review of ISTEP standards. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT We urge the Indiana General Assembly to define domestic partnerships or civil unions as they relate to workplace benefit eligibility purposes for businesses to recruit and retain employees. We support the elimination of the training program tax. We support the requirement that an applicant for unemployment must accept any reasonable offer of work that he/she is physically capable of doing. HEALTH We support initiatives toward health and wellness for the purpose of economic development by promoting healthy communities. REFORM We support the review of funding for government pensions taking into account the ability of taxpayers to support ongoing legacy costs. We support local government reform including: implementation of conservative economic tools with transparency; reduction of unnecessary, ineffecient tasks; and increased accountability. TAXES We encourage legislators to seek ways for local taxing units to address unintended consequences of Indiana’s circuit-breaker legislation, which largely have been created by declining property values. We are not suggesting, however, that the constitutional amendment that established the tax limits should be repealed. 217 South Adams Street • Marion, IN 46952 • phone (765) 664.5107 • fax (765) 668.5443 • www.marionchamber.org