Several of the 79 bills recently signed into legislation pertained to education, and one of them led to a discussion to create more databases in the open source INSPIRE.
Indiana Senate Bill 84, signed March 12, allows Indiana legislatures to obtain research resources at university libraries across the state for no cost.
Phil Sachtleben, associate vice president of governmental relations, said that's not much of an issue at Ball State University, where the $1 visitor's fee is waived for public employees, military personnel and Ball State alumni.
On the topic of open source information, the General Assembly started talking about expanding the INSPIRE database, which is free for Hoosiers who set up an account through the Web site inspire.net.
Thousands of journals and magazines are available through the database, and subscriptions are paid for by the state library. Sachtleben said university libraries may also pay for additional narrowly focused and highly scientific publications in what's called "enhanced databases."
Senate Bill 84 calls for a survey of legislatures to see if there's anything missing from the database.
"I'd be surprised if there's anything that comes from this," Sachtleben said.
He said the General Assembly is considering adding another couple hundred publications to the database.
Other bills affecting the educational arena include House Bill 1193, which calls for public schools to submit documentation annually about law enforcement matters regarding juveniles, and House Bill 1367, which calls for public schools to transfer funds from capital projects and transportation to the operating budget.
Daniels signed 57 bills on March 12. In the week following, another 22 were signed into law.
Highlights included a one-year delay on unemployment insurance tax increases and incentives designed to create jobs.
More Information:
Fast facts-
Indiana General Assembly closed shortly after midnight March 13
79 bills have been signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels since the General Assembly closed
57 were signed on March 12
22 were signed March 17
Bills that will effect education in Indiana-
Senate Bill 84: General assembly access to research resources- Visitor fees at Indiana universities will be waived for Indiana legislators.
House Bill 1193: Juvenile, education and law enforcement matters- Public schools will have to submit documentation annually about student arrests, use of law enforcement at schools and the number of cases where the school agree with law enforcement student arrests.
House Bill 1367: Flexibility of property tax cap funds for schools- Public schools can move funds from areas such as capital projects and transportation to offset $300 million cuts in operating costs.
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