BEDFORD – The Bedford Chamber of Commerce, with the help of StoneGate Arts and Education Center, hosted a breakfast with Legislators Friday morning with State Senator Eric Koch, and State Representatives J. Michael Davisson and Chris May.
Senator Koch (R-Bedford) spoke to those present about the current status of Senate bills by bringing attention to the amount of bipartisan support most of the bills have during the latest session.
“Indiana tends to have more bipartisan support when it comes to issues across the state,” said Koch. “This is seen less and less across the country, but having 148 Senate bills receiving that support shows the commitment of these individuals.”
One of the bills Sen. Koch focused on was Senate bill 1, which will refund $125 to each taxpayer due to an overwhelming amount of surplus that has a built-in trigger to release the funds to the taxpayers.
Representative May (R-Bedford) then echoed what Sen. Koch spoke of, with a focus on getting taxpayers as much as possible on returns.
“The goal and focus are to get taxpayers as much money back as we possibly can,” May said. “We are working to do the best we can on that front.”
Representative J. Michael Davisson (R-Salem) then mentioned an additional focus of a bill he authored that would allow parents to be empowered when it comes to their child’s education.
“House bill 1223 focuses on allowing parents to receive more communication from their child’s school, by allowing them to be more involved and feel their school is a family-friendly environment,” said Davisson.
The floor was then opened to the public to make comments to the Legislators, and a few community members took the opportunity to speak.
Lawrence County Veterans Affairs Officer Brad Bough continued to advocate for a closer Veterans Affairs hospital and services in Southern Indiana stating the closest is in West Lafayette. This was noted by the Legislators and requested that he continue to advocate for these services.
“I would personally like to see that happen for Southern Indiana. I feel, however, that there isn’t enough demand for that in the eyes of the other legislators,” said May. “I encourage you to continue to advocate for this because I agree, I would like to see more veteran help.”
Workforce and homelessness were also topics discussed during the breakfast and were addressed by the Legislators as an area to focus on for the future.
Another House bill that was mentioned was HB 1004, which will help jails across the state in handling Level 6 felons, by creating the option to send them to the Department of Corrections (DOC) and create more space for the County Jails.
“In the past, there weren’t a lot of options in dealing with Level 6 felons, and that caused overcrowding,” said May. “This bill is set to help alleviate the overcrowding possibilities by sending these individuals to the DOC which will provide them with the necessary programming and attention to help them.”
Near the end of the open discussion, North Lawrence Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Ty Mungle discussed the continued need to have students in school learning.
“There has been pressure to move to more e-learning days due to the pandemic. I understand the reasoning, but the best thing for the children is to be at school,” said Mungle. “They receive free lunches, medical attention with the nurses, and free Wi-Fi to use for their studies. Most of the students don’t have that at home, so it is important to keep them in person as much as possible.”
