INDIANAPOLIS – Legislative language to possibly save the job of IPFW Chancellor Michael Wartell remains alive after a Senate committee on Wednesday added it to another higher education bill.
A bill passed the Senate this session by a vote of 49-1 but has not been heard in the House.
So on Wednesday, Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, added the provision of Senate Bill 155 to House Bill 1200 in the Senate Education Committee just in case.
The measure prohibits state universities from using age to remove those in high policymaking positions.
Both Indiana University and Purdue University have policies that force high-ranking officials to retire from their administrative jobs when they reach 65.
Under Purdue’s guidelines, Wartell, who turned 65 in November, is required to retire in June.
But the bill would be effective upon passage by the full legislature, the latest of which would be in mid-March.
Under the bill, universities would still have the right to fire or remove employees for other reasons – just not age.
House Bill 1200 now goes to the full Senate.
Golf carts
A House panel Wednesday unanimously passed legislation allowing counties to authorize the use of golf carts on county roads.
Senate Bill 113 was amended slightly but generally gives counties the same authority granted to other municipalities several years ago.
The bill requires that drivers of golf carts be licensed, stay off state roads and use the carts only from sunrise to sunset.
The number of passengers allowed also must be limited.
The legislation now goes to the full House.
Smoking ban
Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday he hopes legislators will send him a statewide smoking ban bill with a short list of exemptions.
Daniels has been backing the effort to put legal limits on smoking in public places and businesses but declined to say whether he supported a push by some legislators to continue allowing smoking at bars.
“I’m willing to sign whatever bill the legislature sends me,” Daniels said. “I think we probably should keep the exceptions as narrow as possible in the interest of employees.”
A state Senate committee is expected to take action next week on a House-approved bill that gives bars an 18-month exemption to the ban. That proposal would prohibit smoking in nearly all public places and businesses but still allow it at Indiana’s 13 casinos, private clubs, retail tobacco stores, and cigar and hookah bars.
Senate Public Policy Committee Chairman Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, said last week he believed the current exemptions are needed for the bill to get through the legislature before this year’s session ends by mid-March. He said adding other exemptions – such as for nursing home residents – could be considered by the committee.
School bus fees
A legislative committee has endorsed a bill that would prohibit Indiana’s public school districts from charging fees for school bus service.
The Senate’s education committee voted 7-3 Wednesday in favor of the proposal.
It follows objections from parents in a suburban Indianapolis district who last fall began facing bus fees of at least $40 per month per child.
Leaders of the Franklin Township district say eliminating free bus service was necessary to help close an $8 million budget shortfall.
Attorney General Greg Zoeller has said he believes the district acted unconstitutionally by contracting with an outside agency and then imposing the arrangement on parents.
The House approved the bill last month. It now faces consideration by the Senate appropriations committee before advancing to the full Senate.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
