Guest Column

Interim study committees are an integral part of the legislative process. They allow legislators the opportunity to conduct in-depth studies on critical issues facing Hoosiers across the state. In these committees, we receive public testimony and work out the details of proposed legislation before it is introduced in the 2014 session.

I am privileged to serve on the Pension Management Oversight Commission (PMOC). PMOC is charged with studying topics related to pensions, annuities and retirement benefits for public employees, teachers and public safety officers.

The commission has reviewed a variety of matters throughout our meetings this summer. They included the retiree health benefit systems of the Indiana State Police, the recent Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) Annuity Savings Account (ASA) changes and the Indiana Judicial Retirement System.

The commission also discussed whether we should endorse a voluntary municipal disability program for Emergency Medical Service workers and whether we should endorse a voluntary private sector state-assisted retirement plan. In addition, we debated whether certain public pension retirees, survivors and beneficiaries should receive cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to their benefits or thirteenth pension checks.

At our final meeting this week, the commission made several recommendations to the General Assembly. One of recommendations was regarding post retirement benefit adjustments for members, survivors, and beneficiaries of the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund (PERF) and the Teachers’ Retirement Fund (TRF). The commission recommended that the General Assembly adopt a new formula for annual post retirement benefit adjustments for PERF and TRF. The formula takes both years of service and current annual benefits into account.

Another topic we discussed was Annuity Savings Accounts (ASAs) for PERF and TRF members. In July, the INPRS board voted to privatize ASAs offered to public employees and teachers. Under private management, which uses market rate, the interest rate would be considerably lower than being under INPRS management. Under INPRS, the accounts earned a fixed interest rate of 7.5 percent, which is well above market rates. The commission recommended that INPRS pursue an option that would keep the annuitization of ASAs in-house and not proceed with a third party contract. Instead, we recommended that INPRS periodically establish an interest rate that will not create an unfunded liability in their managed funds.

I look forward to further discussing these, and many more, matters before the General Assembly in January. The work accomplished in interim study committees lays the foundation for the upcoming session. As I wrap up my interim duties and anticipate the start of the 2014 session I would like to hear your feedback. Please feel free to contact me anytime by phone at 317-232-9863 or via email at h58@iga.in.gov.

We all think domestic violence happens somewhere else. Like any crime, it is easier to deal with it when we think it doesn’t affect us – but unfortunately that is not the case. I would like to share a story with you about a woman I know; her name is Bonnie.

Bonnie was a petite woman, especially compared to her 6-foot-8-inch, 240 pound husband. They had three children who were all physically and mentally abused by their father. He would beat the two oldest children and when he did, Bonnie would step between them and take the blows; many times being knocked unconscious.

Bonnie was eventually able to get a restraining order and she and the kids moved in with her mother. One night the father broke into the house and kidnapped Bonnie with a shotgun to her head – all while the two older children watched.

That night the youngest son, who was four years old and had slept through the kidnapping, woke up in a police car with his brother and sister. They were being taken to the children’s guardian home. That four year old had no idea what was going on — he just wanted his mom. After several days, Bonnie escaped from the car where she was being held while he was asleep and eventually her husband went to prison.

Bonnie never gave up. She remarried and worked to make a better life for her family. Her oldest son eventually ran for Congress and served his country for 30 years in Washington, D.C. Her youngest son went into real estate and became a vice-president for the largest real estate company in Indiana. He later ran for public office and has served the last 26 years in the Indiana General Assembly.

Although this may sound like a fictional story, it is not. It is the story of my family. I was the four year old who woke up in the police car to find his mother missing, and his family torn apart.

Domestic violence can happen to anyone of any race, age or gender and it affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels. It is a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. The abuse comes in many forms including physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological.

Nonviolent Alternatives is an organization in Greenwood that offers a Batterers Intervention Program. The classes address all types of inappropriate or abusive behavior including emotional abuse, mental abuse, verbal abuse, substance abuse and physical abuse. If you are interested in learning about the men’s, women’s and online groups they offer, please contact them at 317-859-9555 or www.nonviolentalternatives.com.

The Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence is a statewide alliance of domestic violence programs, support agencies and concerned individuals. They provide technical assistance, resources, information and training to those who serve victims of domestic violence as well as promote social and systems change through public policy, public awareness and education. They also offer a 24 hour statewide hotline: 800-332-7385. To learn more about domestic violence, discover how you can help and to find resources for victims, visit www.icadvinc.org.

We may think that we do not know of anyone affected by these crimes, but that is simply not the case. Too many people are affected by this crime. Speaking out, even though these are painful memories for my family, helps raise awareness and lets others know that they are not alone. Silence only protects the perpetrators. Speaking out saves. I encourage you to join me in raising awareness during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Th is i s wah t mnay dys lxe ics wh en see  rea ding. You may not know what the previous sentence says, but one in five people do – that’s the number of people in the U.S. who are dyslexic. According to the International Dyslexia Association, dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that may affect an individual’s ability to read, write, spell and pronounce words. The degree of difficulty a dyslexic person has with such tasks varies from person to person.

This summer at the Johnson Co. Fair I had the opportunity to meet Greenwood resident Cheryl Clemens who shared with me about Indiana’s Decoding Dyslexia organization. Decoding Dyslexia is a grassroots movement driven by Indiana families to raise awareness about dyslexia among parents, educators, community leaders, legislators and the general public. Indiana was the 13 start a Decoding Dyslexia group and did so in February of this year.

Cheryl and other members of Decoding Dyslexia met with me and other legislators at the Statehouse last week. They shared with us more information about dyslexia and what we can do to create change in Indiana.

Despite the commonness of dyslexia, misconceptions about the learning disability still remain. Dyslexia occurs in people of all backgrounds and is unrelated to intelligence. Dyslexia does not limit one’s ability to think, speak or be creative. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Some filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg have dyslexia in addition to business leaders like Charles Schwab. Even Apple founder Steve Jobs had dyslexia.

With appropriate teaching methods dyslexics can learn successfully. The method of instruction the Decoding Dyslexia group recommend was the Orton-Gillingham approach. This technique was developed by Dr. Samuel Orton, a neuropsychiatric and pathologist, and Anna Gillingham, an educator and psychologist. It is a multisensory, phonics-based method that utilities the three learning pathways through which people learn – visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Simultaneously hearing, seeing and feeling the letters helps to ensure automatic memory. This method is not only critical to the success of dyslexic students, but it provides a strong foundation for all students.

The Orton-Gillingham approach was used in a pilot program in two of the lowest performing schools in the Indianapolis Public School district last year. The program consisted of daily instruction for students in kindergarten through second grade using the Orton-Gillingham approach for 30 minutes of the 90-minute reading block. The teachers were trained prior to the school year and received daily lesson plans in addition to monthly, grade-level specific professional development.

The results of the pilot program were phenomenal. At the beginning of the year, only 22% of all kindergarten students met benchmark goals, but by the middle of the year that number increased to 92%. These students were able to blend short-vowel words by the end of the first quarter as well as read and write short-vowel words with blends by the middle of the third quarter.

I am encouraged by the success seen in this pilot program. Since dyslexia is not defined in administrative code and there are not clear policies and procedures in place regarding it, some students do not receive the assistance they need. As a member of the Commission on Education, I think it is important that we take a look at this issue and do what we can to ensure a bright future for all Indiana students.

I recently attended the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Annual Meeting in Chicago.  More than 1,200 state legislators, citizen groups, policy experts, and business leaders from around the nation attended.  This conference allows state legislators to share policy ideas from around the country.  We had extensive discussions about national healthcare, state funded healthcare programs, economic development, state fiscal reform, education issues; including but not limited to CHOICE programs and Charter schools, and many others.

Many of these discussions will assist me in creating policies that will benefit Indiana.  ALEC is one of several groups, such as the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), that hold these types of annual meetings.  I believe these groups, which engage in information sharing, are beneficial and informative.  Overall, it was a very positive experience.

One discussion topic, that I believe is a major concern, was the federal government attacking our freedom of speech.  This has been shown with the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) investigation of conservative groups and threatening of their 501(c) 3 statuses.  We have to stand up to these bullying tactics the federal government is using to stop people and groups from expressing their views.

On the first day of the ALEC conference, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) sent a letter to companies and members requesting information about their participation with ALEC and if they had donated to the organization.  Individuals or companies that donate to 501(c) 3 organizations, like ALEC, are supposedly protected by the IRS and the Supreme Court.  They are protected so that they won’t suffer from political coercion.

Senator Durbin has no right to threaten anyone who might have a different opinion than him.  Not only did he send out a letter threatening people who support ALEC, but he also had individuals there demonstrating against ALEC.  While they have the right to be there and express their views, supporters should have that right too.

Senator Durbin also accused ALEC of supporting, “stand your ground” laws in his letter. He wanted to use this topic as a way to instill fear in the people supporting ALEC. He is using a hot topic such as the “stand your ground” laws to push his own agenda. He even stated in his letter that he would use the responses from the letters during a Senate committee hearing.  “Stand your ground” laws weren’t discussed at the conference nor does ALEC have a model policy on it.

We, as a country, need to stand up against this type of harassment. Regardless of the political party, we can’t sit back and let the federal government take away our rights and freedoms.  Too many people have sacrificed and died to preserve the freedoms that many of us take for granted today.  It would be a shame for us as a country, to allow bullies to disregard our rights for their own political gain.

I had the opportunity to attend the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit last week. NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation’s 50 states. They provide research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues.

Sessions on education, fiscal policy, health care, immigration, veteran’s affairs, elections and more were the focus of the four-day summit. I was specifically asked to attend the NCSL summit because of my role on the Pension Management Oversight Commission, which studies topics related to pensions, annuities and retirement benefits for public employees, teachers and public safety officers.

During one of the summit sessions we discussed the pros and cons of two types of retirement plans: defined contribution and defined benefit.

A defined contribution plan requires that an individual account be set up for each participant in the plan. The most common type of defined contribution plan is the 401(k) plan. With a defined contribution plan, a percentage of income is placed in an account to be invested each year. It’s called “defined contribution” because you can only contribute a fixed maximum amount to the plan each year. This type of plan allows employees to make pre-tax contributions to their own retirement accounts. Some employers will also chip in a percentage or match contributions made by employees.

A defined benefit plan pays a retiree a specific benefit based on years of service and salary level until they die. Both the employer and the employee are able to contribute to a defined benefit plan, although in some cases an employer may be the sole contributor. Funds in these plans are pooled and investments are managed professionally. Defined benefit plans are more costly for employers, therefore most private sector employers have recently scaled back dramatically or eliminated these plans altogether.

Another topic of discussion was the management of state pension liabilities and litigation. We are fortunate here in Indiana to have a stable retirement system, unlike places like Detroit or California. The Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) is among the largest 100 pension funds in the U.S. with approximately $25.7 billion in assets under management at fiscal year-end 2011. The fund serves approximately 447,000 members and retirees representing more than 1,400 employers including public universities, school corporations, municipalities and state agencies.

I appreciate the exchange of ideas and in-depth conversation at the summit. An important part of the legislative process is input from others – and that includes you. Please feel free to contact me anytime by phone at 317-232-9863 or via email at h58@iga.in.gov.