Gov. Mitch Daniels and a number of Hoosier legislators agree that the $5 million cap Indiana law sets on the state’s liability for a single event was inadequate to compensate the 58 victims injured and the families of the seven people who died at last summer’s Indiana State Fair stage collapse. How to resolve that inequity produces less agreement.

The overall issue comes down to these questions:

•Was the stage collapse such an anomaly that making additional payments only for its victims is justified?

•Or is it better for the state to establish new limits that would apply both to stage collapse victims and victims of any future calamity?

Each of the conflicting questions can reasonably produce a “yes” answer with justification.

Hoosiers would have to go back nearly 50 years to find a similar disaster, one which also occurred at the state fairgrounds. An explosion at the fairgrounds coliseum in 1963 killed 74 people and injured 400. The chances of a similar event are so small, perhaps a one-time payout to relatively few people is warranted.

Still, citizens are generally best served by uniform laws. The current caps on the state’s liability – up to $700,000 per person with a maximum payout of $5 million per event – were set in 1974. A Democratic lawmaker has proposed raising the caps to adjust for inflation, which would result in $1.3 million per person and $22 million per event. But the bill, so far, isn’t moving in the General Assembly.

State Rep. Jeff Espich plans another approach. He would have the state pay all the medical bills of the injured, which seems not only reasonable but appropriate. He also would give families of each of the people killed in the collapse an additional $400,000 on top of the $300,000 they already have received – bringing their individual payment to the $700,000 state law already sets for individuals.

As chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Espich will have much say in how the state handles this tragedy.

His proposal would have the effect of keeping in place the individual caps but removing the total per-event cap for victims of the stage collapse. If this is appropriate for stage collapse victims, it should be appropriate for any event for which the state is liable. Lawmakers should consider simply lifting the per-event cap.

Indiana is essentially self-insured for such liabilities, so it’s appropriate that state law dictate how much liability the state government will assume. In striking a balance between protecting taxpayers and adequately compensating victims of the state’s apparent negligence, lawmakers will be challenged to establish a policy that is equitable. Espich’s proposal isn’t perfect, but it appears to be a good starting point.