>> The governor proposes inflation relief.

The Indiana Supreme Court rules for Holcomb in his fight against lawmakers.

Plus, a new tourism campaign and more on Indiana Week in Review for the week ending June 10, 2022.

>> Indiana Week in Review is made possible by the supporter of the Indiana public broadcasting stations.

>> This week, Indiana lawmakers plan to return to the Statehouse by the end of June to send one billion dollars in surplus state revenues back to Hoosiers after Governor Eric Holcomb announced his inflation relief plan as people deal with high prices across the state.

>> Many have called for Indiana to suspend the gas tax amid record-high prices.

Republicans have resisted, in part because they argue so many out-of-state people also pay the gas tax.

Holcomb's proposal is intended to be broader relief than suspending the gas tax would provide.

His plan would give anyone who's filed a tax return About $225.

Republican legislative leaders are already backing the plan and say they'll work with the governor to meet in special session by the end of June.

Senate Democratic Leader Greg Taylor says he supports Holcomb's plan but also notes that it's just temporary relief.

Taylor says he wants the state to explore long-term help for people struggling financially.

And House Democratic leaders question why it's taken the governor and Republicans so long to act, when Democrats proposed virtually the same idea months ago.

>> Is this the best way for the state to help people hurting from inflation?

It's the first question for our Indiana Week in Review panel, Democrat Arielle Brandy Republican Jennifer Hallowell, Jon Schwantes, host of Indiana Lawmakers and Niki Kelly, editor-in-chief of States Newsroom Indiana.

I'm Indiana Public Broadcasting Statehouse reporter Brandon Smith Arielle Brandy, is this the right way to help Hoosiers struggling financially?

>> I think when you look at the cost of gas right now, I was talking with friends and family and looking at what folks have been saying online.

The talk of gas is everyone's topic right now.

When you look at the $225 and how much it costs to fill up a truck or SUV you're looking at about $150 and that is only going to get you through the week, maybe a little into the next.

I don't think that's a real solution for Hoosiers as we look at the path forward.

Democrats have thought about short term solutions, they B wanted to pause the state gas tax and holding oil companies accountable for price gouging, something that would be helpful.

Long term effects the democrats have been looking at how we can move forward with things like the jobs act, the competes act, those are all things I think will benefit Hoosiers in the long run.

For me, $225 is only going to get me maybe into the next week when I'm looking at filling up my gas tank and that's what most Hoosiers are looking at thinking about this.

>> The main topic has been the high gas prices.

Certainly it's visible.

It hits you immediately.

But people have been struggling with high prices across the economy including at the grocery store and that's I think what republicans said, let's not suspend the gas taxes, let's put money in people's pockets to spend however they want.

Is this the best way to go about helping Hoosiers struggling financially?

>> I think it is.

I think it's the only way to provide relief that's kind of fair for Hoosiers.

So overall challenge is inflation.

Right.

And these are federal policies that we can't really impact at the state level.

So what this does and the issue with suspending the gas tax, there's a couple of things.

One, this $225 per taxpayer refund is a bigger monetary impact than if you suspended the gas tax for three months and if you suspend gas tax, you're not ensuring that savings makes its way to the person who is paying at the pump because there's all kinds of things in the middle that we can't control what their prices are.

So it may go down momentarily and then go back up and you can't impact that.

This is the most sure way to make sure that Hoosiers get some relief for whatever they're paying for all in higher prices right now.

The other issue with the gas tax is that it also is benefiting people driving -- traveling from outside the state.

This is directed to Hoosiers and I mean it's a billion dollars.

It's mea meaningful.

It doesn't replace everything at the pump.

It's making up that piece and giving relief right now.

That on top of the other taxpayer refund they are getting $125, you know, really starts to add up.

So I think it's the best way you can at least help the situation while frankly at the federal level we have to see a change in policies to aim at the inflation problem.

>> Speaking of inflation, economists and a lot of republicans have been saying, the reason we have inflation is because Joe Biden sent everybody a bunch of money they didn't need.

Aren't we doing that on a smaller scale in the state of Indiana.

Won't that make inflation worse?

>> Yeah.

The federal level is trillions but Wwhen you add the taxpayer refund, $1.5 billion just in taxpayer dollars going out if this proposal moves forward.

>> Which we expect it to.

>> Right.

Exactly.

I mean, I'm not an economist but if the idea is you're flooding the market with money, yeah, I mean, I think it will have that impact.

Now governor Holcomb tried to differentiate a bit by saying the federal stuff, you know, we basically printed money, we FLODF flooded the market.

It's money Hoosiers earned and giving back to them but I'm not sure it matters in the scope of whether it will still cause inflation.

>> Yeah.

I'm not an economist either but Michael Hicks put out a thread this morning or yesterday who said his rough back of the napkin calculation, maybe a little better, but it will add a percent to inflation in Indiana over the next year.

To that point John Schwantes, do the people care whether 1% added to inflation?

>> I think they will be glad to see the money.

I think a lot of people in Indiana are hurting, families are struggling especially noticeable at the gas pump but also in the grocery store and I think any help is welcome.

I don't think they're necessarily thinking about -- they're not doing the same calculation that Michael Hicks was doing perhaps, so I think that's in the short term.

So to that extent, I guess, any help is good.

One of the reasons the state has the wherewithal to help people though is the federal government during Coronavirus not only the trillions dealt with checks written to individuals and families, but let's not forget that states received a lot of funding as well.

And other government entities at different levels, local, county and so forth that freed up other money.

So one reason the state of Indiana is flush with cash right now and yes, tax revenue has been great.

>> Yeah.

>> But it was aided I think to a certain extent and -- >> And even the rebound in tax revenues which was a lot faster than everybody thought it would be because a bunch of people just got money.

>> And they were right.

So the fact of the matter is though and I don't think anybody in the general assembly is suggesting -- this is about easing pain.

It's not about solving long-term deeply entrenched economic problem.

Really there's only one governmental entity that has any say in that matter and it's not a state agency.

It's a Federal Reserve.

And that really is the only show in town in terms of what can be done in the short term.

Other than that, these are s global issues.

We live in a global economy.

And it's a global economy still struggling in many ways with a pandemic.

This is going to have to just work itself out.

In the meantime for those suffering, this is welcome.

>> Time now for viewer feedback.

Each week we pose an unscientific, online poll question.

This week's question: Is Gov.

Holcomb's plan to send $225 to Hoosiers the best way to provide inflation relief?

Yes.

No.

Last week's question: Is Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks's criticism of Indiana's competitiveness negated by Lilly's new $2 billion Investment in the state.

20% say yes and 80% say no.

If you would like to take part in the poll go to WFYI.org/IWIR and look for the poll.

>> Governor Eric Holcomb has won his lawsuit against the Indiana General Assembly over an emergency powers law.

The Indiana Supreme Court ruled recently in a case that dates back to April 2021.

>> Republican lawmakers were frustrated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic's early days.

They felt sidelined and disagreed with many of the governor's decisions.

So, they wrote a law, HEA 1123, that allowed them to call themselves into special session during a public emergency, without the governor's approval.

Under the measure, calling that “emergency” session requires a resolution by the Legislative Council, a 16-member committee made up of legislative leaders.

Holcomb sued, arguing that the Indiana Constitution gives the governor the sole power to call a special session.

>> The Indiana Supreme Court largely agrees with Holcomb.

In a unanimous decision, Chief Justice Loretta Rush writes HEA 1123 is unconstitutional.

And that comes largely from the difference between a law - passed by both houses and, typically, signed by the governor - and a resolution, which is only approved by that Legislative Council.

Rush says lawmakers can call themselves into a special session, but they must pass a law to do so during their regular session.

The ruling says a special session triggered by a Legislative Council resolution (as would be the case under 1123) violates the state constitution.

>> So the chief justice and the court said hey, there's a way to do this but it can't be this.

Do you think lawmakers will continue to pursue this idea?

>> I haven't heard any rumblings they will.

They certainly could.

Hopefully we'll never found ourselves in a pandemic and months and months after emergency kind of power situations.

They did take kind of other actions, putting guardrails and different things in place geared toward that.

But I guess I don't feel like there's the same kind of angst to do something that there was before.

I want to point out the fact that we had a governor and a general assembly in a kind of fair and honest disagreement and a lawsuit that lasted some period of time and we were able to still get through a legislative session and do all kinds of things, this situation didn't impede all of the work they needed to do and I think that that's frankly kind of a good show of democracy and how we could work together when we need to.

>> Democrats didn't like it from the beginning.

Do you think the voters though at this point -- you talk about that angst.

I think there was frustration among regular Hoosiers that wanted lawmakers to do something about it.

Has that died down enough that lawmakers can let this issue lie?

>> I would say so.

I think the issue that we're really looking at now is that it's taxpayer dollars that keep fronting these lawsuits that we keep going through and the Indiana GOP doing their partisan politics and bringing it into these issues makes it harder for us to get through of what we need to do in the general assembly and move forward as the state of Indiana.

When folks that are just regular people who are not connected to politics are looking at this and they learn the process in which this happens and that their tax paying dollars are used to fund this, other legislation we have seen pass or things we're going through with the GOP I think it will be frustrating for them to learn this and maybe today is the first day they hear that news.

>> I want to talk about Tyler Keenan.

Not the first time I've said that sentence on this program.

Speaker Houston, senator Braid sent out statements disappointed in the result but moving forward.

Governor Holcomb didn't celebrate much in his statement.

He said I'm glad we could do this in a respectful way.

Todd Ra Rakita attacked the Supreme Court.

How unusual is that in and of itself?

>> Especially coming from a lawyer.

>> You could be sanctioned for that.

I don't think it rose to that level.

>> But basically he took the national talking points of oh, you know, the Supreme Court rewrites and legislates from the bench and he applied that to the state Supreme Court.

It was a 5-0 decision by five republican appointed Supreme Court justices and he still tried to make it political.

Like I mean, I couldn't have -- I was a bit surprised and definitely disappointed that, you know, even in that situation he couldn't take sort of the honorable path and say I respect the decision and we're going to move forward.

>> In terms of why this sort of thing matters, the attorney general's office I suspect will appear before the Indiana Supreme Court again and again and again and again almost every month if not every month.

Does that affect that relationship?

>> Are people thinking with their heads or their hearts?

We would like to say no.

That the members of our state's high court are people who can either dismiss political rhetoric for what it is which is political rhetoric or that they can rise above and they don't want to play the same games I guess you might say and I'll take it at face value.

I don't think they would.

On a human level, of course, if somebody questions you and your authority and calls you names, maybe somehow in the back, you know, in the subconscious it might have some impact.

It's a clear why he did it.

It's anti-establishment.

It's any existing governmental structure I think to some people whether it's a cohort, it doesn't matter what it is, and he's never missed an opportunity to take advantage of that.

And I don't think republicans whether it's angst or the motivation is not there, we have a short attention span generally.

We're already on to guns, abortion.

We're already on to trans rights.

This is not -- maybe if there were an activist liberal democratic governor with the same makeup of the general A ass assembly, unlikely.

But given the circumstances now, no, I think that's the last thing anybody wants.

>> State officials want Indiana's new tourism campaign “IN Indiana” to be a “really big megaphone” that helps people promote the Hoosier State.

>> Elaine Bedel is the head of Indiana's tourism agency.

She calls “IN Indiana” a kind of headline.

Anyone can use the template, for free, to pair with their own slogans that help promote Indiana attractions.

>> life is better in indiana' speaking to our quality of life and place and that hoosier pride we all have.

'build your future' encourages our graduates to stay right here and find that first or second job Governor Eric Holcomb says the campaign is meant to be flexible and adaptable in a way that can be magnified beyond the state government's efforts.

>> now, it's going to have the power of one voice in indiana, with all the diversity and all the options available at the grassroots level, at the ground level >> Indiana paid an outside firm already under contract to develop the campaign using existing budget dollars.

And it will spend $3.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to promote the state, using the new campaign.

>> Niki Kelly, will this tourism campaign matter if Indiana doesn't put major resources behind it?

>> Yeah.

I don't know.

I think that's generally the issue behind most tourism campaigns.

$3.5 million sounds like a lot to every day Hoosiers but for a statewide campaign and also -- >> Why you're putting -- >> You're putting it nationally because you're trying to get people to live, work and play here so to speak.

They would definitely have to put some more money into that but you know, it's a good start, I guess.

>> And made possible by federal funds which helps.

She talked about -- secretary Bedel talked about this and they were going to target Louisville and St. Louis with the money they have but they are going to measure the effectiveness of the campaign with an eye towards going to lawmakers once they have that data and saying look what we were able to do with this amount, please give us money to do more.

We haven't seen that out of Indiana tourism in the past and somebody put it this way to me, everybody is chasing pure Michigan.

It's the most well known other than whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

>> Well the Indiana -- >> I don't think a lot of people remember that one.

I don't know that we're going to get to that level.

But is this the start of putting our money where our mouth is when it comes to trying to attract a billions and billions of dollars industry.

>> Look at her professional credentials.

She was very successful financial manager and adviser.

Her private clients I think were always wanting to know where are my investments, where have you placed them paying the kind of return your fees justify.

She's sensitive to return on investment and giving people a bang for their buck if you say.

So I think the notion of being very careful about the placement and the democrat g-- gem demographics and the targeting it makes sense.

You can go out and do some sort of blanket buy that we're in all 50 states, you might be at 2:00 a.m. on public access in all 50 states but what does that give you?

I think this is starting with those markets where we can have an impact and then perhaps leverages that through analysis and benchmarking to secure additional funds.

>> I want to talk about the campaign itself.

There's a real logic that I like which is that it's state government using dollars wisely.

They know they only have so much money but they are making available for free for anyone who sign as licensing agreement, they can use it for their own brand, product, promotion, every day Hoosiers could use it but every day Hoosiers can use it if they want to which is maybe the reverse of this.

Does this have potential to be misused in a way that won't help Indiana?

>> Kind of sign some sort of agreement -- [ Talking over one another ] >> There's ways you can Photoshop it which we have seen start to happen.

Is there a double edge sword to this particular campaign?

>> Well, some say that all press is good press.

So perhaps it will elevate the profile of the campaign and it will circulate more.

So you can go viral in lots of different ways.

Honestly, I think it's genius.

I think it's great that it's something that is customizable and lots of people can put their own brand into and will give it a lot more legs and reach.

I really do.

And I've been at least privately somewhat critical of some of our past efforts.

>> A fan of honest to goodness Indiana.

>> Some things I just didn't feel like really got us where we needed to go.

I hope frankly that this is hugely successful.

I hope that we can use this for talent, you know, recruitment.

>> They talked about that.

It's not just about visiting Indiana.

>> We need advertising that gets people to move here.

And I think this allows you to do that.

>> Do the benefits of this, which takes a different route than in the past, do the benefits outweigh any of those risks?

>> Think the risks we run into, people can customize it to how they want, you can see the negative things that could come out, I think also too as the state as a whole we need to make ourselves more marketable.

We're not where we need to be when it comes to the education system.

When you're looking at the overall picture of Indiana and where it ranks right now to make it attractive for people to want to stay here, also, too, we know brain drain is existent especially for young professionals, for us to get them to stay, we have to think ways which we can keep Hoosiers here and how we're going to bring more people into this state that we think claim as so beautiful and encouraging for folks to live here, how are we going to do that, make that marketable in the right way when we know the negative things exist and we are not where we need to be ranked.

>> Middle school students will now be taught the foundations and function of government, and their role as citizens.

From WFYI's education desk, Eric Weddle reports Indiana's new civics curriculum is finalized.

>> An Indiana law passed last year requires all students entering sixth grade to take a civics course.

Tuesday the State Board of Education unanimously approved what the students will learn.

The curriculum covers topics like the Bill of Rights and how elections work.

The standards require which historical documents should be taught, but it does not give specific examples of American history to cover, such as slavery.

Those decisions will be left up to local schools.

All public, charter and state accredited private schools must offer the civics course to students starting in the 2023-24 school year.

>> Jon Schwantes, I think, or at least hope, that everyone can agree teaching civics is incredibly important.

But how they're taught is maybe just as important.

Do these standards hit the mark?

>> Nobody is going to be happy with any specific set of guidelines.

>> But there also is flexibility.

>> There is flexibility.

I don' did teach it before.

We always have put a premium on teaching si Ci Civics.

We are sorely lacking that background as citizens.

It's evident in the turnout.

In the disengagement people have.

I was disappointed it didn't specify viewing of this show as a requirement which I think now using that flexibility may incorporate that and I may take it from a 9 out of 10 perhaps up to 10.

>> Yes, there are standards, flexibility.

How much of this is the person in the classroom?

>> I want to point out to people who thought we weren't doing this before.

Of course we were teaching this before.

It was just in social studies or U.S. government class but I like they're emphasizing it specifically.

I hope it really helps with that.

>> Finally, the state is inviting people to pair their own slogans with its new tourism campaign, IN Indiana.

>> Jennifer Hallowell, what's your slogan for the new campaign?

>> My long time personal slogan, do more better.

>> Do more better in Indiana.

Arielle?

>> That one is tough.

I thought about this on the drive down here and for me we need to get our infrastructure together.

>> Better infrastructure in Indiana.

>> I mean I can't steal the play in Indiana.

>> A lot can happen in your Indiana Week.

>> IN Indiana.

>> There you go.

>> That's Indiana Week in Review for this week.

Our panel is Democrat Arielle Brandy, Republican Jennifer Hallowell, Jon Schwantes of Indiana Lawmakers and Niki Kelly of States Newsroom Indiana.

If you'd like a podcast of this program you can find it at wfyi.org/iwir or starting Monday you can stream it or get it On Demand from Xfinity and on the WFYI app.

I'm Brandon Smith of Indiana Public Broadcasting.

Join us next time because a lot >> The opinions expressed are solely those of the panelists.