INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana House could vote as soon as today on a measure requiring the handful of doctors who perform abortions in the state to secure admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, added an amendment Monday to Senate Bill 89 that would require a doctor to inform a woman seeking an abortion that a fetus might feel pain. And Democrats added an amendment that would expand the hospital admitting requirement to doctors that perform any outpatient surgery.
Democratic House leadership previously blocked floor debate on abortion measures. But that led Indiana Right to Life to bar House Democrats from endorsement consideration prior to the last election.
Pay to play
The Indiana House voted 82-12 Monday to bar the governor and other statewide officeholders from accepting campaign contributions from businesses that have at least $50,000 in state contracts.
"Amazingly, this bill passed the Illinois General Assembly and was vetoed at that time by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich," Rep. Kreg Battles, D- Vincennes, said in support of the pay-to-play prohibition.
The measure, amended into House Bill 209, also would prohibit sitting governors from raising campaign cash during the budget-writing sessions the General Assembly holds in odd-numbered years. That would put the governor on par with existing prohibitions for legislators.
School funding switch falls short
Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, failed Monday to convince the Republican-led Senate to shift more education dollars to East Chicago, Gary and other high-poverty districts.
Senate Republicans have proposed a new two-year state budget that would spread $517 million in federal stimulus dollars among all Indiana school districts, giving them an average annual funding boost of 2 percent.
The Republicans say their budget plan, House Bill 1001, would have the dollars "follow the child." That means East Chicago, Gary and other districts with declining enrollment would see funding cuts.
"The (stimulus) dollars are supposed to go to the schools with the greatest needs," Rogers argued.
The amendment failed 17-32. Republicans said their plan would send Gary Community School Corp. about $12,000 per student, or more than double the per-pupil state funding guarantee for wealthy school districts.
