« Ind. Courts - Judge David Hamlton's still-pending nomination is focus of New Yorker story | Main | Ind. Courts - "Lesbians' petition is denied because Indiana doesn't recognize their marriage" »

Monday, September 14, 2009

Ind. Gov't. - More on: Some upcoming legislative committee meetings

Updating yesterday's ILB entry, which focused on issues being examined at the upcoming meetings of the legislative interim Commission on Courts and the Regulatory Flexability Committees, here are two stories today that supplement the entry:

The Indianapolis Star has this editorial today on the surprise special session change to the law relating to the placement of children in out-of-state rehabilitation and treatment programs. Some quotes:

Even given the wacky nature of this year's installment of the Indiana General Assembly, there can be no excuse for changing child-placement law via last-minute insertion in a budget bill.

Authority over out-of-state care for troubled youngsters is an ongoing issue with passionate involvement by many parties. It deserved full-blown debate.

Instead, the state Department of Child Services sought and got what it wanted. Having lost an appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court, resulting in enhanced discretion for local judges in out-of-state placements, DCS Director James Payne went to the legislature and won for himself the final say. Now, local courts can order out-of-state placements in defiance of DCS; but they have to pay the cost out of their own stressed budgets, making the option pretty much moot. * * *

What is lost with the law change is a third-party referee -- the appeals courts -- that can untangle disputes between counties and the state, such as the one that arose over a Madison County teenager and resulted in the Supreme Court loss for DCS. Even if DCS pays the bills and deems itself the proper determiner of children's best interests, most citizens would prefer to have a check on any state agency's power.

In yesterday's entry the ILB wrote: "Construction Work in Progress (CWIP)" was a major issue in the Marble Hill debate in the early 1980s." Mike Smith of the AP has a story today subtitled "Lawmakers will debate when to let utilities pass on building costs." Some quotes:
There are no nuclear power plants in Indiana, but lawmakers are expected to wrestle next year with whether to offer an incentive that could boost prospects for building reactors in the state.

Members of the legislature's Regulatory Flexibility Committee are scheduled to discuss nuclear energy in Indiana on Sept. 22, and the panel's co-chairmen -- Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort Wayne, and Sen. James Merritt, R-Indianapolis -- already have staked out opposing positions.

The debate centers on whether utilities should be able to charge customers for the cost of building a nuclear plant as soon as construction begins, rather than having to wait until the reactor is operating. Current state law allows only utilities building so-called "clean coal" power plants -- those that release less carbon dioxide -- to charge customers for construction that is still in progress. * * *

Moses pointed to Public Service Co. of Indiana's failed effort to build a nuclear plant near Madison in southeastern Indiana. [ILB - This was Marble Hill] PSI told stockholders in 1973 the plant would cost $793 million, but after a decade that saw double-digit inflation, construction delays, intensified federal regulation and high interest rates, the estimate soared to $7 billion.

A task force appointed by then-Gov. Bob Orr recommended in 1983 it be canceled and PSI not be allowed to recover its costs from customers. PSI, which eventually merged with Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. to form Cinergy Corp., abandoned the project in 1984 after spending more than $2 billion. Moses said the utility and its stockholders had to eat the costs.

Merritt said allowing utilities to recover costs from rate payers while building nuclear plants would be a "powerful incentive" for establishing them in Indiana. He supports the position of the Nuclear Energy Institute, which considers nuclear energy a source of clean-air, carbon-free electricity.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 14, 2009 09:44 AM
Posted to Indiana Government