INDIANAPOLIS —Indiana House Democrats want to put the “right to work” issue on the ballot, and majority Republicans say they’ll give them a vote on whether to do just that.
Ahead of a House vote that could take place next week, Democrats intend to offer an amendment to the contentious measure that would let voters, instead of lawmakers, decide whether Indiana should become the 23rd state to adopt a right to work law.
It’s one that is unlikely to pass, since Republicans have hefty House and Senate majorities. Still, Democrats want to be on the record in favor of putting the decision to voters, and they want Republicans on the record opposing such a move.
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said he would prefer that those elected to the Indiana General Assembly make the decision, but that since minority Democrats want an up-or-down vote on whether to have a statewide referendum, he’ll allow it.
“If a majority feel that this should be sent to the taxpayers or the voters to decide, instead of their elected representatives, then we’ll abide by that,” Bosma said. “I’m not afraid of the vote.”
That was a guarantee that seemed to satisfy a concern of House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, who earlier Monday said he was afraid Republicans would use procedural blocks to avoid a vote on the Democratic amendment.
If Republicans had decided to block that vote, he said, Democrats might stay off the House floor, as they’ve done for four days in the first two weeks of 2012’s session, instead of participating in a Tuesday session where the House is scheduled to consider amendments to the right to work bill.
“We want an answer before we participate in a sham and a fraud,” Bauer said. “We want the answer before we walk in.”
His concern: An Indiana House rule blocks lawmakers from offering amendments that mirror other bills that have been introduced in the same legislative session.
Rep. Rich McClain, R-Logansport, has offered a measure – House Bill 1296, which was filed Monday morning – that would ask Hoosier voters on the November 2012 ballots whether they support a right to work law.
What Bauer said Friday is that he hopes majority Republicans don’t use the so-called “bill pending” rule to block a vote on the statewide referendum.
Bosma's answer: No problem.
“I’ve made a commitment to them that we’ll not raise that issue, and that seemed to be satisfactory,” Bosma said.
“I think it’s a very reasonable amendment to offer, and we indicated there’d be full and fair discussion and debate and amendments here, and I indicated we wouldn’t use parliamentary means to avoid a referendum.”
Asked whether he feared that Democrats would go out of their way to seek reasons to boycott the House again, Bosma answered: “Yes.”
Aside from constitutional amendments, referendums are relatively rare in Indiana.
In recent years, lawmakers have required referendums to make sure the majority of a county’s residents approve before a casino can be located there. They’ve also allowed each of Indiana’s more than 1,000 townships to vote on whether to keep their assessors.
In 2010, voters approved a constitutional amendment that caps property taxes. And the General Assembly also created local referendums for schools that are seeking to raise money. They can ask voters to approve property taxes above those constitutional caps.
Last year, the General Assembly took steps toward amending Indiana’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage and to guarantee hunting and fishing rights. If lawmakers approve the exact same language in either 2013 or 2014, those amendments would both be on the November 2014 ballot.