'Energize' plan heads to Senate

INDIANAPOLIS -- When the House passed a retooled version of Gov. Frank O'Bannon's economic development plan, the governor and his legislative staff could only celebrate so much.\n"They are already working in the Senate," O'Bannon said of his administrative lobbyists.\nThe package could face a darker future there. Republicans control the chamber 32-18, and many are opposed to the bill's primary plank -- borrowing against any portion of future tobacco settlement payments to fund economic development initiatives.\nSenate President Pro Tem Robert Garton has likened the idea to taking out a high-interest payday loan.\nPassing the bill in the House was no easy task, but Democrats and Republicans in that chamber close a weeks long divide in just hours Tuesday.\nDemocrats who control the House 51-49 accepted some GOP additions to the plan to keep it alive. Then, after congratulating each other for coming together, members passed it by an overwhelming 90-9 vote.\n"Ninety to nine is just a great vote for the people of the state of Indiana," O'Bannon told reporters.\nThe cornerstone of the plan would borrow against future tobacco-settlement payments to fund research-and-development ventures and move products to market. It also includes money for rural development and so-called technology parks -- high-tech versions of industrial parks.\nThe House faced a midnight Tuesday deadline for advancing the bill to the Senate, but its passage heading into the day was in question.\nThe parties had spent weeks arguing about the plan, and it was clear Monday that Democrats did not have the 51 votes to pass the bill by themselves. That is because Rep. Craig Fry, D-Mishawaka, said it was laden with pro-business provisions he could not support.\nFailing to pass the plan would have dealt a blow to O'Bannon. He has spent months promoting his Energize Indiana proposal as a vital step toward economic recovery, creating jobs and diversifying the state's economy.\nWith just hours to spare Tuesday, Democrats agreed to include some proposals that House Republicans had been seeking for weeks.\nThe compromise included the addition of tax breaks to manufacturers that use old equipment, an extension of tax credits for money businesses spend on research and development, and tax credits for some college students who remain in Indiana after graduation.\nDemocrats also agreed to formation of a commission that would do an in-depth study of state government to find waste and duplication among agencies, and a new advisory panel on state economic-development efforts. Only hours earlier Monday, Democrats had rejected those ideas.\nHouse Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said a deal was needed to keep a good bill alive.\n"The art of legislation is compromise, and in this state that art is raised to the highest level because we are a divided government," he said, urging members to vote for the plan.\nHe suggested later that Republicans "had a meeting of the minds" and decided to support the overall plan because they did not want to be tagged as obstructionists who killed the bill.\nHouse Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, offered his own suggestion for why Democrats waited until Tuesday to include some GOP planks.\n"My assessment of it is they wanted to get right up to the eleventh hour to see if there were enough (Democrat) votes for the Energize program to pass on its own," Bosma said.\n"When it became extraordinarily clear today that was not going to happen, there was no alternative but to compromise on some of our economic plan."\nRegardless, Bauer said the House had sent a strong message to the Senate.\n"It's now not only the governor's program, but an overwhelming bipartisan program sent over from the House," Bauer said. "So certainly, men and women and reason will have to calculate that into what they want to do"