The 2018 session of the Indiana General Assembly is over and it ended with several key bills dying and House and Senate leadership not too pleased with each other.
House and Senate Republicans failed to reach agreements before midnight on legislation concerning funding for school safety, autonomous vehicles, and numerous tax credits.
House Speaker Brian Bosma said some of the blame rested with the Senate leadership for adjourning early Tuesday which helped clog up the legislative calendar.
Outgoing Senate President Pro Tempore David Long the problem was that lawmakers just couldn’t reach agreement on key issues.
Long denied that his departure and the complicated matters because some lawmakers who would like his job were lobbying their fellow Senators for support. Bosma believes that it did.
The two sides had explored an offer by Governor Eric Holcomb to extend session by one hour by using his legal authority to call for a special session, but it was unclear whether Holcomb’s legal authority could be used in that way.
Long says he hopes that after some time has passed the two sides can look at possibly coming back and resolving the outstanding issues. Bosma sounded less pessimistic.
Despite Wednesday’s fallout, both Long and Bosma say they accomplished quite a bit, getting at least 90 percent of the agenda they had been pushing.
You can hear both Long and Bosma in the Leon-Tailored Audio above.
Each segment is about 12 minutes long.
You can also watch the Facebook video feed from both Long and Bosma by clicking here.
