Posted on 01/17/2012 7:09:50 AM PST by MichCapCon
INDIANAPOLIS — When the Democrats showed up on the Indiana House floor today, most of the drama went out the window.
According to most observers, the biggest obstacle in the way of Indiana becoming a right-to-work state was a threatened walk-out by House Democrats. But faced with $1,000 per-day fines, for what would basically have been a work stoppage, the Democrats backed down.
Now that the Democrats have returned, right-to-work legislation is expected to begin moving in both the House and Senate. The legislation could be well on its way to Gov. Mitch Daniels by the end of the week or next week. If House and Senate bills differ, however, it could take somewhat longer for a finalized measure to reach Daniels’ desk.
Indiana Senate Bill 269, passed last Friday in the state Senate Pensions and Labor Committee, would make it a Class A misdemeanor to require an individual to join or remain in a union or to pay any dues, fees or other charges to that same labor organization.
The legislation would not apply to public-sector employees. Daniels essentially established right-to-work status for Indiana’s public sector in 2005 by executive order.
In spite of the Democrats' return, some bumps could still appear in Indiana’s road to right-to-work status.
It’s expected that an amendment to exempt trade unions from the legislation will be offered in the Senate. If that were to pass, it could well mean that House and Senate versions of the legislation wouldn’t mesh and several more weeks would be needed to get a final version completed.
Another potential problem could arise if the Democrats decide to walk out again, but at the moment that does not appear to be likely.
“The return of the Democrats means that we can now get to work on right-to-work and other good conservative legislation,” Republican Sen. Jim Banks told Capitol Confidential. “It will be good to get back to work.”
Republicans hold commanding majorities in both the Indiana House and Senate. Their 37-13 margin in the Senate is enough to create a quorum whether any Democrats are present or not. In the Indiana House, Republicans hold a 60-40 majority. That's seven shy of the 67 required for a House quorum. Last year, House Democrats ran away to Illinois rather than allow a vote to be taken in the House on right-to-work legislation.
After that happened, the Republicans pushed through legislation to fine members $1,000 a day if their unexcused absences prevented quorums. What’s more, according to polling, last year's walk-out by the Democrats was very unpopular with Hoosier State voters.
The House version of right-to-work legislation, House Bill 1001, is expected to be brought up in Committee on Tuesday.
Awesome!
This will force Michigan to do the same or risk losing companies across the border.
Fantastic! I’ve always liked Indiana and thought it was the best of that geographical tier of states. Indianapolis has been for a long time one of the best of big Northern cities.
This to me is BS. No one should have to join a union and pay money in order to work in a chosen profession. All union membership should be voluntary.
The rat cancer is in remission
So much for principle, eh?
Looks like Indiana is going to be another state that Boeing will not be able to open up a factory. /sarc
Little at a time my friend. Political fights need to be won over time. That is one thing we never learn from the RATS. They are very good at “slow poisoning”. GOP went “all in” on the union issue in Ohio and got severe backlash. Worse, that legislation was overturned by voters.
According to the article, Indiana’s public employees have ALREADY been right-to-work since 2005.
“The legislation would not apply to public-sector employees. Daniels essentially established right-to-work status for Indiana’s public sector in 2005 by executive order.”
The follow-up sentence indicates the good Guv is in agreement with you.
Liberals have no one to blame but themselves.
I don’t think this is a small development. Indiana could be the first of a number of states to go the right to work route.
Each state that enacts right to work is bordered by other states, who are then out of necessity required to consider it themselves.
It’s interesting that most union shop states are flat broke, while right to work states have righted their ships, for the most part.
Good to see the Repubs call the JACKASSES bluff, and stand firm. Now Indy can get back on track to a path of growth again. But only if they cut out some of the other nonsense passed recently...
http://www.naturalnews.com/032485_Indiana_police_state.html
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2011/07/indiana-supreme-court-strikes-blow-to.html
http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2011/06/indiana-supreme-courtt-deals.html
No wonder the Democrats stayed...their biggest cash cow remains untouched.
Now my hopes that angry leftists would leave us here in WI and head to IN have been dashed.
Bears repeating. Trying to ram through too much at once also created a lot of drama in Wisconsin. Doing it in a dozen bills over the course of a year accomplishes the same thing and avoids giving the Dems an excuse for drama.
Later in the year, another bill can be introduced that guts the public school unions, followed a few months later by one addressing police and fire unions. Don't give too many people something to be upset about at any one time. The tactic worked for the Dems over many years.
Does the order apply to local and state workers, or just state public employees? The big target is the local teachers unions, followed by police and fire unions.
Just another little example that Dems and liberals don't want to use their own money to implement their “progressive” schemes.
What hypocrites.
Good point.
My memory of the situation is that the executive order took care of teachers, cops, firefighters and the like, while this new legislation would address the non-public workplace.
I did some checking on the web and it appears that the reason Governor Daniels was able to de-certify the public unions with an executive order (unlike, say, nearby Govs. Walker and Kasich) is that the unions were established in the first place by Daniels’ predecessor, the clueless and gutless Evan Bayh.
The big thing will be to bar the unions from automatic dues collection via payroll withholding, and to allow people to not join unions. Union money is a big part of Democrat fund-raising. Take that away, and their ability to create trouble is greatly reduced.
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