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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Ind. Law - Still more on Indiana legislators' free health care for life

Advance Indiana has just posted a commentary, headed "Garton Begins Deception Game On Health Care Perk," based on in part on this new Howey Political Report titled "Bosma cuts health care for life program; Garton and Long say changes coming."

No sense in rehashing them, except for this paragraph, quoted in both of the above entries:

"There were a couple of bills that were involved." Long said that one was vetoed by then Gov. Frank O'Bannon. "That was a funding source for the program itself and there was misunderstanding and confusion through the conference committee report and the governor vetoed it for whatever reason and the Senate sustained the governor's veto," Garton said.
This Jan. 6th ILB entry talks in detail about the "couple of bills" involved, quoting from Star archival stories - see the Jan. 6th entry for details and links. These quotes are what is pertinent for the point here:SEA 506 would have created a non-reverting fund, to which "unused approriations" from various sources, including printing savings, were to be transferred, to be used to pay for retired lawmakers' and retired legislative aides' health benefits. In other words, a fund whose money could be tapped as the leadership decided, without further appropriation. Such funds are sometimes referred to as "slush funds."

I have been able to obtain Gov. O'Bannon's 2002 veto message to SEA 506. He was more circumspect in his characterization of the fund the legislature was attempting to create, but it is clear that is the reason he vetoed the bill:

Mr. President and Members of the Senate: Senate Enrolled Act 506 provides for certain legislative and administrative documents to be distributed in electronic rather than in paper format. The Act also creates a non-reverting fund to receive any unused appropriations for the printing and distribution of these documents.

SEA 506 would decrease the printing costs to the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) by approximately $328,000. If the non-reverting fund were not created, this act would have a positive fiscal impact. However, the savings, which would otherwise revert to the general fund, are transferred into the new non-reverting fund.

In addition, other unused appropriations under the jurisdiction of the Legislative Council could also be transferred into the fund and, therefore, reduce general fund reversions. The total lost reversions to the general fund could still amount to $750,000 a year.

Because this issue can be better addressed in a budget session as part of the appropriations process, and because of the potential impact to the state general fund from the loss of future reversions from the program, I am vetoing this act.

I will work with the LSA and executive branch agencies to accomplish administratively the major purpose of the Act - to reduce paper and provide information more quickly and efficiently. We can begin immediately to realize the benefits of electronic distribution of documents: less paper to clutter the environment and the improved availability of timely and accessible information.

I hereby veto Senate Enrolled Act 506 and return it to the Senate for further action.

FRANK O'BANNON
Governor

So where is the money coming from each year to fund the program? Under the Indiana Constitution, no money can be drawn from the treasury except via an appropriation made by law. I have reviewed the legislation from the past few years and an appropriation for health benefits for retired legislators, their families and staff does not jump out at me.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 18, 2006 03:12 PM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law | Legislative Benefits