INDIANAPOLIS — Unwilling to wait any longer for absent Democrats to return, Republican state lawmakers have devised a strategy to move this year's frozen legislative session forward without the minority party's presence.
On Monday, the Senate will begin shaping a budget. Republican leaders there have pledged to work with their party's House members on a new spending plan and to begin merging both chambers' top priorities into larger bills.
Meanwhile, House Republicans voted to increase daily fines of the missing Democrats to $350, and Republican Speaker Brian Bosma of Indianapolis will have the authority to confiscate their public and private paychecks to make sure those fines are paid.
Gov. Mitch Daniels said Thursday's developments are sad but necessary because Democrats have "forfeited their right, really, to participation."
"The speaker has bent over double backward to meet really unreasonable demands, and it is still not enough," he said.
While the latest moves allow lawmakers a path forward, they do not solve the larger issue: Republicans and Democrats remain at loggerheads over education and labor bills, and no end to their dispute is in sight.
That's important because the House cannot vote, and therefore no bills can become law, unless at least six Democrats return so the chamber has the two-thirds quorum required by the Indiana Constitution to conduct business.
"We're in uncharted waters," said Senate President Pro Tem David Long, a Republican from Fort Wayne. "No one has seen this before, and that's a bad thing to say."
All the top-ranking Democrat, House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer, would commit to Thursday was that his party will not show up Monday, and will continue to take things "day by day."
It was an ominous sign, though, when he said Bosma "threw down the gauntlet" and suggested that Republicans just adjourn the House for the next few weeks, until it is time for the House to cast its final votes on the bills put together and passed by the Senate.
Important deadlines are coming up. State law requires the session adjourn by April 29. Beyond that date, legislative action has to take place in a special session, and at taxpayers' expense.
More important, though, is June 30. That's the day the two-year budget expires. If lawmakers haven't passed a new one, all state functions except police and prisons shut down July 1.
Complicating matters is that Republicans might opt to hold back a vote on the budget, or include other portions of their agenda in the budget, to make sure that Democrats don't just come back for a single vote to approve a spending plan and then leave again.
"It won't be a catch-all for everything, but ultimately our rules allow the budget to carry more" than most bills, Long said.
And lawmakers are just getting started on the process of redrawing Indiana's congressional and state legislative district maps — something that has forced shorter boycotts the last two times it's been taken up.
"The future of the democratic process is at stake," Bosma said. "Those who are determining whether or not the democratic process works, perhaps internationally, are watching right now."
Though Thursday's moves were expected, they came just hours after the two sides appeared to have bridged most of their differences.
In a letter sent to Bauer on Wednesday night, Bosma offered a concession on House Bill 1216, the labor bill that Democrats have identified as reason they remain holed up in the Comfort Suites hotel in Urbana, Ill.
Government construction projects worth more than $150,000 currently have to pay workers a minimum "common construction wage." The bill originally sought to make that set amount apply only on projects valued at more than $1 million. Bosma's offer was to lower that amount to $350,000.
Bauer's response Thursday morning was that the offer was a good step, and he believes the two sides can reach an agreement on the issue as early as next week.
That was too much for Bosma, who said his offer was a "firm and final" one.
"We're done with this back-and-forth moving target," Bosma said. "Time has expired."
Daniels, meanwhile, again said he is willing to call a special session to make sure his agenda items, including a sweeping overhaul of Indiana's education system, receive votes.
He said he is "never in favor of a special session" but added: "We'll have one if necessary."