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Saturday, May 05, 2007

Ind. Gov't. - Still no reliable and permanent record of Governor's actions available

In this ILB entry from April 28th, titled "Ind. Law - 'Daniels vetoes film industry bill' - Concerns about maintaining a permanent historical record," the ILB again expressed concern about the lack of preservation of Indiana governors' signing statements, veto messages, and related materials.

I have to say now that it appears the Daniels' administration has a worse record than earlier administrations.

Here is a page, still available online (but who knows for how long, as it is no longer directly accessible), of Governor Kernan's calendar from March 2004 - a short session.

From this page one can access Kernan's signing statements (e.g. - " Kernan signs HEA 1285, says it is needed to protect law enforcement officers personal information") and could access his veto messages, had there been any that month.

From this page (again, apparently still available only by fluke), one can access Governor O'Bannon's calendar from May 2003. Here are veto messages for HEA 1660 and SEA 440, for example, from a list of a number of signng statements and veto messages.

But, as I've written in the past, the only other source I can locate for this material would be the House and Senate Journals, in the case of the veto messages, at the time the year's journals are complete and accessible. In the case of the signing statements, there appears to be no source, other than these links that may disappear at any time.

This AP story today reports that:

Gov. Mitch Daniels signed several bills Friday, including one that would make Indiana’s minimum wage consistent with the federal rate and another that would make it a crime to commit sex acts with animals.

Daniels vetoed a bill that would increase attorney fees in some cases where Medicaid liens are recovered.

Indiana’s current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is the same as the federal rate. Rep. John Day, D-Indianapolis, filed legislation that would increase the state rate to $7.50 an hour but settled for a compromise that passed that would tie future increases to the federal rate. * * *

Daniels said he vetoed one House bill because it would mandate a threefold increase in the lawyers’ share of recoveries in certain personal injury cases where a Medicaid lien exists against any compensation a plaintiff might obtain. Those would include cases in which there was no demonstrable prospect that total recoveries to reimburse Medicaid would increase as a result.

“The more likely outcome of higher attorney fees would be less money flowing back to taxpayers and the Indiana Patients Compensation Fund,” Daniels wrote in his veto message.

So what do we see when we visit Gov. Daniels' press calendar for May 2007? As of this writing, a blank calendar.

However, there is a very small spark of hope. Since I last visited this "Latest press releases" page two days ago, new information has been added. There are now links to the three veto messages, HEA 1429 (Medicaid attorneys' fees), SEA 490 (interior designers' licensing), and HEA 1388 (movie tax incentives). There is also a "sort of" press release/signing statement.

However, where are the Daniels' documents from prior years? The link on the page to "News Release Archives" leads to the blank monthly calandars.

Where does this leave us in this era of digitized information?

A Suggestion. How about some concerted state effort at preserving this history in a consistent manner and making it readily accessible?

[See also this April 30, 2006 ILB entry.]

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 5, 2007 10:01 AM
Posted to Indiana Government