INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana lawmakers acted on several high-profile bills Tuesday, voting to pass a workplace smoking ban and allow counties to reorganize their government offices.
House Democrats also pushed forward a plan to restore funding to programs cut under the governor's proposed budget.
Here are the highlights from a long, busy day and night at the Legislature:
County executive: The Senate passed a Kernan-Shepard bill to reorganize county government by replacing the three county commissioners. Senate Bill 506 passed 30-19.
The bill gives the county commissioners three options: to switch to a single, elected county executive and give the county council legislative powers; to combine the commissioners and council into a seven-member board of supervisors; or to put the whole question to voters in a referendum.
If it goes to a ballot question, however, voters would have just two options: choosing either a seven-member board of supervisors or keeping the status quo.
Sen. Bob Deig, a former Posey County councilman and commissioner, opposed the county executive bill.
"Until you actually walk in the shoes of the county commissioners, you have no idea what it's really like," Deig, D-Mount Vernon, told senators.
Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said she had "very serious reservations" about the reorganization process, but said she voted for the bill just to keep it moving.
"I think that we ought to give people more options than what we are giving them in this bill, if they want to reorganize," Becker told the Senate.
Smoking ban: The House voted 70-26 to approve a modified workplace smoking ban. House Bill 1213 prohibits smoking in enclosed spaces where the public gathers, but includes many exceptions. Casinos such as Aztar in Evansville would be exempt as would nursing homes. A "home rule" provision that allows communities to impose their own smoking bans was added.
Bill author Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said he was not happy with all of the changes, but he urged House members to send the bill to the Senate.
The casino industry lobbied hard to be exempted from the bill, something anti-smoking activists had opposed doing.
"In our discussion with City Council members, all of us would be concerned about a smoking ban that didn't exempt casinos," Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel said Tuesday. "What we have heard from the casino industry is that in Illinois, when they did something similar and had a smoking ban on their facilities, business dropped off considerably."
State budget: House majority Democrats moved forward with their version of a one-year budget with sharp differences from Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' proposal.
Their plan was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee on a 14-9 party-line vote. Combined budget plans by House Democrats would spend about $14.5 billion in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. That compares to about $14.15 billion the administration proposed in spending.
The Democratic plan would increase spending for higher education by 1 percent, and restore a 1 percent cut Daniels implemented this year.
Daniels had proposed cutting basic spending for colleges and universities by an average of 4 percent over the next two years, and would have deleted the $3.5 million annual subsidy for public broadcasting.
Rep. Dennis Avery, D-Evansville, requested the public broadcasting funding be restored; and the Democratic budget proposal does so: It partially funds public radio and television at $3.2 million.
"I don't know how some stations would afford these kind of cuts," Avery said. "Public radio and TV is important to my constituents. I have been told (the cuts) would really sacrifice significant programming, if that were to be funded as the governor proposed."
Evansville Courier & Press staff writer Dan Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.