DeLaney: Republicans remove measure for fiscal transparency during least transparent time of session

Today, the conference committee report was released for Senate Bill 256 that removed an amendment by State Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) that passed the House unanimously last week. The amendment would get to the bottom of the Family and Social Services Administration’s $1 billion “accounting error.”

“Make no mistake – this is a cover up,” DeLaney said. “When the Republican administration makes a billion-dollar mistake, the Republican legislature has choices to make. They can try to get to the root of it and hold people accountable, or they can try to bury the issue. They can make sure that families with seriously disabled children are protected from this error, or they can let the poorest among us suffer.  

“Refusing to even attempt to uncover how this mistake occurred and prevent something of this nature from happening again shows that the wrong choices have been made.

“Hoosier taxpayers deserve to know what exactly happened to their hard-earned money. It is telling that provisions to increase fiscal transparency were removed behind closed doors during the least transparent part of the legislative process.”