Taxes not the only topic on state table

INDIANAPOLIS -- As the 2002 session of the Indiana General Assembly reaches its midpoint this week, tax restructuring and the state's budget deficit aren't the only things still on the table.\nPledge bill loses momentum\nOther issues and legislative proposals are still alive, at least in some form.\nBills in the House and Senate to mandate that schools have a U.S. flag in every classroom and have teachers lead the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence are not moving anymore.\nBecause of concerns over government mandates and the separation of church and state clause in the First Amendment, the bills have been replaced by resolutions that simply encourage schools to do those things.\nHowever, there is a bill alive in the Senate that would require all public schools to display a framed, 11-by-14-inch saying of "In God We Trust" in every classroom.\nSen. Johnny Nugent, R-Lawrenceburg, opened the committee presentation of his bill by saying it had nothing to do with religion, just patriotism. Then he offered an amendment to his bill that would prohibit schools from using taxpayer dollars to pay for the framed sayings.\nHe suggested that schools could easily raise private money to meet such a state mandate, and said he had a phone number that schools could call to get a good deal on the framed mottos.\nSpeeding amendment withdrawn\nFor the first time since 1995, when Congress lifted the national maximum speed limit of 65 mph, a speed limit bill with no amendment baggage could clear the Indiana House.\nRep. Robert Alderman offered an amendment to the bill on the House floor last week that would have more than doubled speeding fines for big trucks. His target was 18-wheelers, but after making a point about the highway scourge he considers speeding truckers, he withdrew his amendment.\n"Clearly there is an issue out there that we need to deal with, and I wanted to raise awareness of that issue," said Alderman, R-Fort Wayne.\n He withdrew his proposed amendment, he said, because he did not want to take a "hip shot" at ruining the chances of a clean speed-limit bill passing the House and getting sent to the Senate.\nCommunity college proposal\n There's a Senate bill still alive that's primarily aimed at Stan Jones, the state's commissioner for higher education.\n It would essentially dissolve the Ivy Tech State College-Vincennes University partnership and give almost complete control of Indiana's new community college system to Ivy Tech.\n The tensions and turf wars have been simmering for months, so it's no surprise the issue has spilled into the General Assembly. The bill squeaked to passage in committee and is now eligible for consideration in the full Senate.\nIts chances of becoming law seem slim, but its intent to begin with seems rooted in simply sending a message to Jones, Ivy Tech and Vincennes University that the ultimate boss in Indiana is the General Assembly.\n"The Legislature is just trying to apply some pressure to them to settle their differences, and I think if they settle their differences, the bill will go away," said Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville.\nOf course, every bill still alive is just that and only that at the midpoint of 2002 session of the General Assembly.