Senate Republicans to make changes in jobs plan

INDIANAPOLIS -- Republicans who control the Indiana Senate plan to fold some parts of Gov. Frank O'Bannon's economic development plan into their own proposal, but it will not be funded by borrowing against future tobacco settlement payments.\nThe Senate's top fiscal leader said the GOP plan will be funded with other money for just two years -- not for 10 years as envisioned by the Democratic governor.\n"A 10-year plan just doesn't mean anything," said Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst, R-Greenwood. Virtually anything passed during one legislative session can be undone in the next, and appropriation levels for major programs rarely stay the same beyond two years.\nO'Bannon, who promoted his so-called Energize Indiana proposal at the Statehouse on Tuesday, said a two-year plan would be more susceptible to future changes.\n"It does not make the commitment we need to make," O'Bannon said at a news conference to promote the state's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund.\nEarlier this month, the Democrat-led House passed a retooled version of O'Bannon's plan. The primary plank would borrow against future tobacco payments to fund research and development ventures and move the products to market.\nIt also includes money for rural development and so-called technology parks -- high tech versions of industrial parks.\nUnder the House bill, the state would sell off 35 percent of its future tobacco payments in bonds for a lesser $504 million lump sum up front. O'Bannon had sought more than $600 million by selling off 40 percent of future payments.