STATEHOUSE—State Rep. Woody Burton (R-Whiteland) was floored on Tuesday when he received a more than 50-page document, outlining 349 amendments filed by House Democrats to make changes the state budget bill.
House Republicans filed 12 amendments; House Democrats filed 337 amendments.
“According to the Legislative Service Agency, a non-partisan agency that works with all legislators, this was the biggest amount of amendments filed under a single bill,” Rep. Burton said.
“They have continuously stated our agenda was too radical and that we were ‘hurting the middleclass.’ However, their amendments would have raised taxes on the middle class by spending more than half a billion dollars in state expenses.”
Two issues that were addressed during the budget discussion yesterday included the state’s CHOICE program and the Access Johnson County Public Transit system.
The Community and Home Options to Institutional Care for the Elderly and disabled program or CHOICE, enables residents who don’t qualify for Medicaid to receive in-home care instead of nursing home care. In addition, the Access Johnson County Public Transit provides the necessary resources for transportation needs to Johnson County residents.
“CHOICE and Access Public Transit are programs I personally hold very dear and it pained me to have to vote against amendments that would have provided them with additional funding. But Indiana’s current revenue intake isn’t where it needs to be in order to give what we wish or want.
“Although we are rushing to make deadlines, we are still in the early stages of the budget-writing process. As that process progresses, I pledge to try to give every advantage to our community and ensure the process is fair and balanced for our state.”
