Legislators push bills as session ends

INDIANAPOLIS -- As the 2004 session neared a midnight Thursday deadline for adjournment, lawmakers were prepared to pass several bills with bipartisan support and send them to Gov. Joe Kernan.\nAmong other things, the bills would impose new restrictions on some repeat drunk drivers, open some child abuse records to the public and increase penalties for using electronic devices to change traffic lights from red to green.\nLawmakers also reached a tentative compromise Thursday on legislation that would create a commission to recommend pay increases for legislators, judges and prosecutors. Unlike an earlier version of the bill, the increases would not take effect without lawmakers voting to approve them.\nBut even with hours left in the session, some lawmakers in both parties were calling it a disappointment. It appeared there would be no major proposals to create jobs or provide property tax relief for those hit hard by reassessment.\nPartisan, election-year tensions already ran high in the closely divided House when lawmakers convened in early January. Two months later, they were even more intense as the deadline for ending the session closed in.\n"The issues of power and control of this chamber have literally dampened any opportunity to do positive things, and that is maybe the most unfortunate circumstance we have," said Rep. Robert Alderman, R-Fort Wayne.\nLawmakers met into the evening Wednesday, some scrambling to salvage legislation that seemed doomed days or weeks ago, or even from the start.\nHouse Republicans, still seething at Democrats for denying their attempts to debate and advance a proposed state constitutional ban on gay marriage, said they were shut out this session and ready to seek revenge on the campaign trail.\nDemocrats control the chamber by only 51-49, and all 100 seats will be on the ballot in November.\n"It's time to look for a new coach, it's time to shake up the starting lineup," said Republican Minority Leader Brian Bosma. "This season is over, the next season will start before we know it."\nHouse Democrats shrugged off Bosma's comments.\n"I guess there is only one group of people who can make a determination as to whether they are correct or not, and that is individual voters in each of the 100 districts," said Speaker Pro Tem Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, IND.\nThe House did pass some bills Wednesday, including one that would require children up to age eight to ride in booster seats while traveling in vehicles.\n"No matter how you vote, I hope no one will question your interest in children, your commitment to children and their protection," said Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington. "But we believe strongly that this will save lives."\nThe House approved the bill 68-26 and sent it to Gov. Joe Kernan for consideration.\nBut it seemed doubtful many of the session's other major proposals would be resurrected in last-minute negotiations and pass the Democrat-led House and Republican-ruled Senate.\nRepublicans were still frowning on Kernan's top priority, saying a state facing a $1 billion deficit could not afford to expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten.\nBut Democrats still were pushing variations of the proposal, saying its early learning benefits to children were worth the costs.\n"We cannot afford not to do it," said Rep. Gregory Porter, D-Indianapolis.\nDozens of other Senate bills were derailed last week when a partisan dispute over a gay marriage ban proposal virtually paralyzed the House. Tensions subsided on Tuesday and with bipartisan backing, the chamber sent several bills to the governor's desk.\nHouse Republicans said Wednesday that there was not enough time left to advance gay marriage legislation. They accused Democrats of blocking other proposals, too, including those to create jobs and rid state government of "scandal."\nThey displayed a mock scoreboard at a Statehouse news conference to illustrate their point. It showed Republicans being shut out 6-0.\nDemocrats say the House GOP push for a constitutional ban on gay marriage is election-year grandstanding. And they have accused Republicans in both chambers of rejecting full-day kindergarten simply because it was proposed by Kernan, a Democrat seeking a full term as governor this year.