General Assembly passes budget plan, sends package to governor

INDIANAPOLIS -- The General Assembly passed a two-year, $22.7 billion state budget and companion economic-development package early Sunday, sending the proposal to Gov. Frank O'Bannon. He said he intends to sign the bill.\nThe House voted 61-37 to send the package to the Senate, which voted 34-16 to approve it. Both chambers then adjourned the legislative session three days before the statutory deadline.\nThe plan would ensure that all of the state's 294 public school districts get more money, despite the state's $800 million budget deficit. The increases were made possible in part by freezing funding for prisons and Medicaid over the objections of the governor, who sought more money for both.\nThe budget included several provisions designed to jump-start the state's lagging economy by creating more jobs and spurring business investment. They included $75 million to foster research and development ventures between business and universities and move their products to market.\nO'Bannon and many legislators from both parties sought the economic-development intiatives, so they were rolled into the budget bill in hopes of winning bipartisan support for both. Democrats have a 51-49 advantage in the House, while Republicans control the Senate 32-18.\nThe bill also would allow casinos to stay open 24 hours a day to bring in more tax revenue for the state and county governments. Under current rules, they can stay open 21 hours a day.\nFiscal leaders had reached a tentative agreement on the big-ticket items Friday night, including funding for schools, universities, Medicaid and state prisons.\nBut legislators spent all day Saturday revising and reviewing details in the spending bill, and partisan differencs over various provisions continued into the night. It appeared as if many of the snags had been resolved by 9 p.m., but some lawmakers wanted more time to review the plan.\n"We are as close as we're ever going to get," said Sen. Luke Kenley of Noblesville, a top budget negotiator for Senate Republicans. "I believe if we don't get it done tonight, we'll only get farther apart."\nEven though the statutory deadline for ending the session was not until midnight Tuesday, many shared Kenley's fear: If lawmakers went home without passing the bill, they would find more faults with it and the delicate deal would fall apart.\n"I believe we will have a vote this evening, and I believe it will pass. That is what I believe right now," House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said late Saturday afternoon. "This is the Legislature, and anything can happen, but signs are very positive."\nThe budget proposal would steer $495 million in new money to schools over the next two years and ensure that all of the state's 294 districts get an increase.\nThe overall increases would amount to 2.3 percent the first year and 1.9 percent in 2005. But school districts could transfer money from their capital project funds, or raise property taxes for those accounts, and use the extra money to pay for utility and insurance costs.