Education, workforce development, opioid use and forest preservation were some of the topics Brown County’s legislators spoke about with a packed room of constituents during Meet Your Legislators on Feb. 3.
Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, and Rep. Chris May, R-Bedford, discussed the bills they were working on at the midpoint of this short legislative session — including a few that directly related to Brown County. They also took questions from moderator Julie Winn, president of the Brown County League of Women Voters.
“I was just struck by how many of bills of that I am working on have some kind of either origin or nexus with Brown County,” Koch said. “It’s one of the smallest counties in the state, the smallest county in my district, but yet so many bills.”
Koch said he could attribute that to two factors. One is the close relationship he and May have with local elected officials, civic and business leaders. The other is the fact that Brown County is so small. “I think, in a smaller community, you’re able to spot these issues a little easier and bring them to the attention of your legislators,” he said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]One of those bills is Senate Bill 269, which requires the Indiana Department of Transportation to consult with a county commissioner, county executive, mayor or town executive whenever a detour, bridge or road repair “adversely affects certain local interests.”
Three local residents testified in support of that bill, which was based on the maze of detours through the county caused by planned and emergency state road closures.
“I am all for new bridges and new pavement; it just seems we’ve had some issues with timing,” Koch said.
The bill would require INDOT to give earlier notice of projects and closures — “at the letting, even prior to letting, so the communities and individuals and neighborhoods can have that earlier notice and have a better chance of influencing INDOT with respect to the timing,” Koch said.
“Sometimes the public isn’t aware of a road closure until the detour signs go up, and that’s too late.”
The bill also would require INDOT to use the least restricted “means and pathways” when there are closures, and take into account the impact on residents, commerce and tourism, Koch said, to the first of several rounds of applause that morning.
“I think it will make a big difference, not just here, but across the state,” he said.
Koch also is working on a bill with Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, to help “equalize the public safety cost” with public lands. Senate Bill 299 would create a summer study committee that would look into the “feasibility and wisdom of a local surcharge,” whereby people who use public lands, like state parks and forests, and don’t live in that community would “help bear the financial impact of that,” he said.
May spoke about bills the Indiana House of Representatives was working on. House Bill 1006 would establish drug treatment centers within an hour’s drive of every constituent in Indiana, if possible.
House Bill 1003 would improve government efficiency when it comes to local agencies proving reports back to the state. “We’re looking to kind of eliminate some redundancy and things like that in the reporting, clean things up and kind of streamline the conversation that’s going from the bottom to the top.”
A bill that would have allowed a local government to receive one dollar per ticket sale from a government-owned music venue, like the Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center, was referred back to the House Ways and Means Committee. House 1126 would direct that money toward capital repair or maintenance on the facility, he said.
May said he plans to file the bill again next year. “We will work it as best as we can,” May said. I can’t say enough for what the local officials have done with that project (the Maple Leaf) and I think it will be a tremendous asset to the community and surrounding communities going forward.”
Opioid epidemic
The legislators were asked what is being done at the legislative level to address the opioid epidemic.
Koch said the process has always been a three-prong approach: Prevention, treatment and enforcement.
“You just can’t jail everybody, you just can’t treat everybody, you just can’t educate everybody. It takes all three,” he said.
“It’s going to be very expensive to solve. There are many causes, from the prescription pad, to culture, to economics. They are all there.”
Koch said he had spoken to experts who agreed it would take a generation to solve the problem. “It’s not going to be a quick fix and it’s not going to be cheap,” he said.
May said he has driven a relative around in his backseat who was withdrawing from drugs, looking for a treatment center. “At that point they are in withdrawal, they need help. They are asking for help. I went multiple times to get help and was turned away. We have to get to the point where not only do we have these facilities available, but we’re opening the doors to get these folks in,” he said.
That relative was in treatment for 18 months and is now living on her own after she established a new career and group of friends, he said.
“What I would do is challenge you here locally, at a local level, because the solving of the problem will start out there for the most parts. Governments are reacting as quick as they can,” he said.
May encouraged the audience to get involved in any way possible, whether it be with a nonprofit or a church. “Quite honestly, if you haven’t been affected by addiction and the opioid crisis, you’re going to at some point. It’s going to touch everyone. All of us here can have a direct impact on that and we need to do what we can,” he said.
Forest preservation
Prior to the legislators taking over the mic, Winn passed it to forest advocate Dave Seastrom. In December, the League approved a resolution supporting certain protections for Indiana’s forest heritage.
Seastrom thanked Koch and May for their work in the Senate and House for trying to pass legislation that would preserve a percentage of Indiana forests.
May also recognized Seastrom and his lobbying effort, to another round of applause.
“I’ve walked the forests with our state forestry folks. I’ve walked the forest with our IFA (Indiana Forest Alliance) folks. The beautiful wish would be that there wasn’t a competing science here, that there would be one scientist who could thread the needle quite honestly on the issue and both sides would agree. But, unfortunately, we’re not there,” May said.
“Where is the balance? Is there an ability to bring scientists together in some form or fashion? … I would be an advocate to get that to summer study. Let’s have a discussion.”
Senate Bill 275, which Koch co-authored, did not get a hearing in the senate’s Natural Resources Committee this session. The bill would have required the DNR to designate at least one undivided area compromising 30 percent of each state forest as an old forest area. Wherever possible, the size of a designated old forest area would be at least 500 acres, the bill says.
The bill prohibits the DNR from doing timber management in those old forest areas. But the designation would not affect hunting, fishing and other recreational uses of state forests.
“On the 30 percent, I don’t know if 30 percent is right. That was Sen. (Eric) Bassler’s starting point. This is not a new issue,” Koch said.
Koch said he has met with all sides of the forest preservation argument, including the DNR and the Indiana Forest Alliance.
“There are multiple sides and I respect all sides. There’s just not a lot of agreement on the science and not a lot of agreement on the economics. There’s not even agreement on what DNR has or hasn’t done in the past,” he said.
“I think the public would benefit from a summer study and let everybody bring their studies in and let everybody bring their experts in.
“There may be some areas of common ground. If there are, let’s find those and let’s build on those,” he continued.
An amendment was added to a DNR bill in the House that would have set aside 10 percent of state forests from logging, but that amendment failed.
Not every request for a summer study is granted, though, Koch said. That decision is left up to the Legislative Council, which is made up of the leaders of the four caucuses in the House and Senate.
One example of a summer study committee producing a consensus is the issue of Sunday alcohol sales, Koch said. The state is in the middle of a two-year summer study on the issue. A bill allowing Sunday sales in liquor and other stores besides liquor stores has been approved by both the House and Senate, and it came from that summer study, Koch said.
“There was a very deep dive and that summer study produced a consensus that nobody ever thought would happen on the issue of Sunday sales,” Koch said.
He said that Sunday sales is a “bit of a misnomer” because people can purchase alcohol from breweries, wineries and restaurants on Sunday currently.
Health care access
When asked if they would support legislation that would allow low- or no-income Hoosiers to use a service, like Medicaid, to access direct primary care, like at the new Brown County Health and Wellness Center, both Koch and May said it was worth looking into.
“It’s a very exciting model. I am glad to hear Brown County is taking the lead on something and I think it’s going to deliver good results,” Koch said. “I think direct primary care is a natural fit because it is going to cover most of the routine health care needs of any given population.”
“We’re seeing tremendous benefits with employers, even the school systems,” May said.
“From a revenue perspective, having government provide funding for such care, that is something you would have to forecast, determine costs. That’s where it’s going to come back to, but I can tell you the employers who have administered this program are already seeing savings in their yearly premiums.”
Boosting workforce
Koch and May also were asked about any plans to fund preschool education.
May said he had not heard feedback from the counties participating in the state’s On My Way Pre-K program. “If things are favorable with the ones put in place, then I think the state will be willing to expand,” May said.
How much further the program would be expanded would depend on data and revenue, he added.
Next year, the state will have longitudinal data that will show whether or not the benefits of preschool education taper off after third grade.
“Critics say that’s the case, but we’ve never had any data here in Indiana to support that. Thanks to this pilot, next year we are, for the first time, going to have that data,” Koch said.
“That’s going to be very important, because the second part of the question, the fiscal part, it’s very expensive, and that money will have to come from somewhere else, so it becomes part of the budget debate.”
The second half of the legislative session will focus on workforce development and better addressing career and technical education. “There are some gaps. There’s a lot of job openings, but they are just not getting filled for some reason,” Koch said.
May has worked more than 20 years in manufacturing and he said he sees shortfalls every day in employees. “It’s identifying the fact that college and the college philosophy, it’s not there for everyone, so there’s a lot of students that learn in different ways. They might not learn sitting in a lecture hall or classroom,” he said.
The session will focus on the reorganization of workforce funding and programs. May said some students lack social and vocational skills.
“We’re spending about $1 billion a year on about 30 different programs as far as workforce development is concerned throughout the state, so what (House Bill) 1002 is looking to do is do a top-down audit of the programs, see what’s been successful, what’s not and maybe eliminate some,” May said.
“There’s an employer right now in the district that’s looking to start a complete second shift and needs 40 employees today and can’t find them. That’s the best example I can get you. We’ve got to take a look at it. We’re failing. We’re failing our companies and our employers, and we’re going to try and find a match between our educational systems.”
At the end of the meeting, Koch and May posed “yes” and “no” questions to the audience about certain issues, like roads and township government. When asked if education currently is aligned with workforce needs, everyone raised their hands to respond “no.”
“Wow. That’s a very important takeaway for me this morning,” Koch said.
