Porter introduces Democrat budget, highlights issues with Republican budgets

Ahead of deliberations on the state budget, Ranking Democrat on the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) today revisited House Democrats' budget proposal and pointed to issues with the House and Senate Republican budget proposal. 

Porter pointed to several highlights of the House Democratic budget proposal that were not included in either Republican budget, including:

• ·         Ending the On My Way Pre-K pilot program and transitioning the pilot into a statewide Pre-K program;
• ·         Property tax relief by providing a $200 homestead credit to provide relief for CY 2023 billings, to be paid in early 2024;
• ·         Increasing the standard homestead deduction from $48,000 to $56,000; 
• ·         Fully funding the Governor’s Public Health Commission request; and
• ·         Fully funds a new mental health provider scholarship program. 

He also pointed out flaws in the House and Senate Republican budgets, including:

• ·              No real expansion of Pre-K funding;
• ·         Overfunding the Pre-1996 Teacher’s Retirement Fund with $1 billion additional dollars, since TRF will be fully funded without need of a state appropriation starting in 2028;
• ·         Allocating $1.25 billion dollars in cash to cover state capital project cost overruns, some of which could be easily bonded and the cash funding could be allocated elsewhere; 
• ·         School funding does not keep pace with inflation; and
• ·         Funding school vouchers at 400% of the federal poverty level (House Republicans only). 

“The Senate Republican version of the budget is certainly better than House Republicans’ budget, but Hoosiers still deserve better from their hard-earned tax dollars,” Porter said. “Republicans don’t want to invest in the people – so they’re locking up the budget surplus in already-overfunded retirement obligations and insisting on paying for huge capital projects in cash rather than making good use of the Triple-A credit rating they love to boast about.

“In contrast, I offered a budget amendment to truly invest in the people through programs like universal pre-K, additional long-term property tax relief and fully funding the Governor’s Public Health Commission funding request. As budget negotiations continue, I will continue advocating for these much-needed programs.”