Statehouse Update

Halftime at the Statehouse

The first week of February marked the midpoint of the 1998 General Assembly. The Legislature only was in session on Monday and Tuesday of that week as members worked their way through bills left on the agenda.

February 2 was the last day that bills were eligible for second reading in their house of origin. Any bill that had not passed through second reading by that evening -- also the deadline for floor amendments -- was not eligible for further consideration. While the Senate moved through its agenda, parliamentary disputes in the House stalled progress, resulting in more than 50 bills still awaiting action when the day ended.

This means these bills effectively are dead as they were drafted. It also means that the authors of these bills may be searching for opportunities to amend the language of these dead bills into others that have survived the process to this point. Thus, it's likely there will be a flurry of committee action as we move into the second half of the session.

February 3, then, was the final day for third readings of surviving bills in both houses of the Legislature. The third reading vote is the final action taken on any piece of legislation and is the final hurdle a bill must clear in order to move to the other chamber for further consideration.

Into the Second Half

The week of February 9 marked the start of the second half of the 1998 session, which essentially is a rerun of the whole legislative cycle.

Bills that cleared the House now move to committee hearings in the Senate, and vice versa. The process we saw in the first half of the session will be repeated until the waning days of the session. In the final days, conference committees will be appointed to iron out differences in bills that passed both houses but in different forms. Regarding the timetable, there's a new wrinkle in the works. Both House and Senate leadership indicated early this week that they are aiming for adjournment by February 27 -- two weeks before the mandatory adjournment deadline of March 14.

Little Focus on Higher Education Issues

There's been no action on any spending measures that affect higher education generally or Purdue specifically. Both of the bills that addressed funding for the Cooperative Extension Service never got a hearing and, thus, died at the midpoint of the session. It now appears that if any funding issues are addressed it will be very near the end of the session, which is neither unusual nor unanticipated. Purdue's message continues to be: "If a decision is made that allows for some additional state spending, then Purdue requests that serious consideration be given to the five initiatives" (see the January 19 issue of Statehouse Update for background on the initiatives).

But at this point in the session, there are very few other legislative issues that are still moving through the system that have any impact on Purdue.

Status of Bills

In our last issue, we reported on several bills that did have ties to Indiana higher education. Since then, two of the bills have passed. Here's an update on where things stand:

• Senate Bill 378 -- Mike Gery (D-West Lafayette): This bill would have directed universities to disregard savings in a state savings program from the calculation of awards for need-based financial assistance. It was assigned to the Senate Education Committee. No action was taken, so it died without a committee vote.

• House Bill 1217 -- Sheila Klinker (D-Lafayette): Would have required all persons representing themselves as sports agents in Indiana to obtain a permit from the secretary of state, and specified bonding, permits and penalties. It went to the House Economic Growth and Regulatory Relief Committee and passed out of committee, but it died for lack of a third-reading vote.

• House Bill 1235 -- Brian Hasler (D-Evansville): Requires that all children who have not completed the first grade before July 1, 1999, be immunized against hepatitis B, and requires schools to add hepatitis B to the student's immunization report. It also would have required all residential higher education campuses to deny matriculation unless the student provides documentation of immunization. After it received a "no-pass" from the House Ways and Means Committee, it was amended to remove the higher education element from the bill. It passed the House and was referred to the Senate Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.

• House Bill 1244 -- William Cochran (D-New Albany): Establishes two spinal cord/head injury research centers, one at Purdue West Lafayette and the other at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis. It was referred to the Ways and Means Committee, then passed in the House. It's now in the Senate Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.

• House Bill 1304 -- Claire Leuck (D-Fowler): This measure would have permitted a deduction for adjusted gross income for contributions from an IRA to institutions of higher education in calculating Indiana income taxes. It did not pass out of the Ways and Means Committee.

• House Bill 1357 -- Larry Buell (R-Indianapolis): It would have authorized higher education institutions to utilize both variable rate and temporary financing as an alternative to long-term bonds for major construction projects. It did not pass out of Ways and Means because no third-reading vote was taken.

Purdue and Partnerships

A recurring theme we try to share with you in this newsletter is the day-to-day impact Purdue University has on the people of Indiana. Here are some recent items in the news that reflect that mission:

• Small high-tech businesses and entrepreneurs are partnering with Purdue to leverage their skills and government seed money into business and educational opportunities and new jobs. A key case in point is the strengthening of an ongoing partnership between Purdue and West Lafayette's Bioanalytical Systems Inc. with an agreement announced February 9 on a master sponsored-research agreement.

  "This partnership is the formalization of a long-standing relationship among colleagues and friends that has grown as Bioanalytical Systems has grown," says Purdue President Steven C. Beering. "We've taken the next evolutionary step beyond conventional university support for start-up businesses." The company, based in the Purdue Research Park, was founded in 1974 by Purdue chemistry Professor Peter Kissinger to manufacture instrumentation, develop software and provide services for biomedical and chemical research. First-year sales of $17,000 have blossomed into $16 million in sales by the now-public company with some 200 employees.

• A sponsored research agreement between Caterpillar Inc. and Purdue has netted some $2 million in research projects and the employment of more than 500 Purdue students and graduates over the past two years. Caterpillar, which has a plant in Lafayette, is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment and a global supplier of diesel engines.

• Demand for Purdue graduates remains strong. New 1996-97 statistics show a 7.8 percent increase in the number of employers coming to West Lafayette for interviews, representing nearly 800 firms. Nearly 22,000 interviews were conducted -- up 7.5 percent from the year before. For students accepting jobs, starting salaries topped $40,000 for electrical and computer engineers.

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