Indiana House Panel: Right to Work

The Statehouse scuffle over the “right to work” stopped and then seemed to start up again, almost immediately after it stopped in the first place. Tons of different supporters for the labor union were seated in the Statehouse on Tuesday to hear the State of the State address, which was delivered by Governor Mitch Daniels. He made this proposal one of the most important components during his speech and his plans for the year of 2012.

The supporters were chanting throughout the hallways of the building during the governor’s speech, which lasted for approximately thirty minutes. Many of the labor supporters arrived in truckloads and there were more than a hundred protestors outside of the building.

Some of the legislative Democrats actually skipped the speech. Senator Tim Skinner, D-Terre Haute refused to stand up when Daniels arrived and entered inside of the chamber. Instead, he looked down while the governor was talking about the “right to work.” This scene was surely interesting.

The last information is that a meeting took place in the early morning. The meeting only lasted for an approximate six minutes. The Republican chairman, Representative Douglas Gutwein, allowed the Democrats to offer no changes of the documents and then end the debate. The minority party’s members were howling afterward. Representative Clyde Kersey, D-Terre Haute has said, “I think the light of democracy just went out in the Indiana House.”

Democrats were very angry with the turn of events that took place and did not show up during a time when the House Speaker, Brian Bosma, was trying to call people together during the afternoon.

Republicans control approximately 60 of the 100 seats of the House. Democrats can only boycott if they want to stop a specific legislation that they do not like or are not too fond of. Democrats have even filed a complaint, stating that the House committee procedures were ignored during the process.

The House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, has said, “I don’t know what will slow them down or stop them, other than what we’re doing.” Republicans instantly shot back, stating that the debate was something that was simply not necessary. The joint meeting between the House and Senate labor committees took about five hours of testimony on the “right to work” bill. These bills, House Bill 1001 and Senate Bill 269 are identical bills. Several different meetings were held, which has totaled up to about 18 hours of testimony on the particular issue.

Many Republicans believe the outcome was pretty much certain before the committee got together. Republican Jerry Torr has said, “I didn’t choose the way the meeting was handled this morning, but everybody knows on the committee how everybody was going to vote.”