INDIANAPOLIS – In a Tuesday news conference held halfway through the ongoing legislative session, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun pushed property tax savings and budget cuts — expressing little concern that federal slash-and-burn tactics would hurt the state.
He also highlighted priority health, education, and public safety bills. “Everyone’s listening to what I ran on. The ‘freedom and opportunity’ agenda is ringing well across the board,” Braun told reporters.
Legislation originating in the House or Senate will switch chambers when lawmakers reconvene next week. Among them is Senate Bill 1 — what’s left of Braun’s property tax relief plan. Senators backed away from significant portions this month. Now, it’s heading to the House.
“Speaker (Todd) Huston knows that he’s probably going to be in … the catbird seat to please Hoosiers and local governments. I’m going to be out there as an advocate again to get it in the right place. So you haven’t seen the end of it,” Braun said.
He emphasized collaboration in finalizing the proposal.
“In this administration, … there’s been more collaboration with the Legislature than we’ve seen in a long, long time. They’re coming to see me at the residence. We’re having meetings with everyone in here,” he said.
Braun acknowledged that Indiana’s Constitution affords the governor a weak veto, so it’s more effective when used on measures that passed on narrow margins. That’s because lawmakers can overturn a veto with a simple majority vote.
But if that solution doesn’t materialize, he said, “I’m not going to be afraid to use any of the tools that I have here as governor of Indiana.”
Braun also threw his support behind a contentious attempt to force traditional public schools to share property tax dollars with public charter schools, stressing his support for school “choice.”
“I think those resources ought to be shared, and we’ll find the resources to do it. And we’ve not taken anything away from public education,” he said. “We’ve committed that it’s the most important thing we do in our budget. So I’m going to be interested in making sure that everyone gets resourced.”
Read the rest of the Leslie Bonilla Muñiz story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
