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Thursday, July 06, 2006
Ind. Decisions - Star editorializes on special laws ruling
The Indianapolis Star editoriaizes today on the Supreme Court decision last week in Alpha Psi Chapter of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, Inc. v. Auditor of Monroe County. (See ILB entry here.):
The Indiana Supreme Court may have saved the state legislature from itself in striking down a special law retroactively providing tax relief for three Indiana University fraternities that missed a filing deadline.One of the main reasons a convention was called to draft Indiana's 1851 Constitution was because the legislature was bogged down at the time in dealing with special-interest legislation. As Chief Justice Randall Shepard noted in the court's recent ruling, debates at the time of the convention indicate that more than two-thirds of all laws enacted in the state's 35-year history were special or local in nature.
Delegates fixed the problem by approving constitutional prohibitions against enactment of local or special-interest laws. They wanted general laws that applied to everyone in the state.
In recent years, however, legislators have approved the bill waiving the consequences of missing a tax deadline for the three IU fraternities and passed similar legislation to help a Butler University fraternity and a Zionsville youth soccer league.
If it's OK for those fraternities to miss deadlines, why should other organizations care about meeting them?
As Shepard notes, the court has carved out broad areas where the legislature can address special problems in various areas of the state -- varying from riverboat gambling in a handful of counties to property tax issues stemming from the decline of steel mills in Lake County. But there have to be unique factors to justify differential treatment.
Indianapolis' difficulties in winning approval to merge police and fire operations suggest the General Assembly already is too involved in local affairs. If anything, less special legislation and greater home rule are needed.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 6, 2006 11:21 AM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions