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Recently, a group of Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP attorneys had the opportunity to attend the Indiana Governor’s Conference for Women. More than 1,000 people attended this inaugural event, which was co-founded by Billie Dragoo and Deborah Collins Stephens. Billie and Deborah are both influential Indiana women business leaders who are deeply invested in our community.

For years, Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP has supported the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, or IACT, as a corporate sponsor. However, our attorneys like to go the extra mile when it comes to supporting this excellent organization by offering educational opportunities, as well.

Indiana’s Nov. 6 election saw a sizable group of new legislators elected to both the Senate and House of Representatives.

Of the 150 lawmakers, four members of the Indiana Senate are preparing to serve their first term, and there are 25 freshman members of the Indiana House.

Following the elections on Nov. 6, 2012, Republicans hold a supermajority in the Indiana Senate and Indiana House of Representatives. Republicans hold 37 of the 50 seats in the Indiana Senate and they gained nine more seats in the Indiana House to achieve a 69-31 majority. This “quorum-proof majority” gives Republicans enough seats to conduct business in both chambers without any Democratic members in attendance.

On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the expansion of Medicaid envisioned in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was an option, not a mandate for states (see the full text of their opinion here). While upholding the expansion of Medicaid, the Supreme Court limited the power of the federal government to secure compliance by penalizing states that refuse to expand their Medicaid programs. Chief Justice John Roberts said that the federal government could not compel states by cutting off all of the federal money they receive for existing Medicaid programs.

Indiana University Bloomington recently announced a 5.5 percent increase in tuition and fees in response to declines in state funding, and it is not alone among Indiana colleges and universities. What will the continuing decline of state funding for higher education mean for Hoosier students?

The Commission on State Tax and Financing Policy discussed two important topics at their meeting last week.  They covered the impact commuters have on local option income tax (LOIT) revenue and issues relating to how LOIT is distributed among governmental units.

On Monday morning, the Commission on State Tax and Financing Policy will meet to discuss the following agenda items: