Oxycontin News Blog

Indianapolis - Gov. Mitch Daniels has vetoed legislation that would have given tax breaks to the film industry, saying it would cost the state too much money.

The bill would have given a 15 percent refundable tax credit for media projects produced in Indiana, including film or television projects costing more than $100,000 and commercial, music or new media projects costing more than $50,000.

Rep. Jerry Denbo, D-French Lick, had said a dozen film producers had expressed interest in filming in Indiana if the state offered the incentives.

Denbo had brought in a number of film-industry officials - including Indiana native Angelo Pizzo, screenwriter and producer of the movies "Hoosiers" and "Rudy" - to support the bill.

Daniels said in his veto message issued late Friday that tax credits and other financial incentives make sense when there is a "significant return" in the form of new jobs and economic activity that would not have happened otherwise.

But he said much of the activity that would have gotten tax credits, including advertising productions, corporate media productions and digital media productions, already were occurring in Indiana without incentives.

He also said the 15 percent tax credit applied to an unreasonably wide variety of production-related expenses, including legal fees and script acquisitions. The result would be a price tag of $30 million over the next two years, which Daniels said was too high.

"Regrettably, a good idea became in the end a Christmas tree of giveaways at the expense of Hoosier taxpayers," Daniels said.

Indianapolis - The General Assembly has approved a proposal that would withhold paychecks from Indiana coroners unless they receive training, and would outline ways to determine the identity of a dead person.

The bill is in response to a 2006 crash that drew national attention after the misidentification of two Taylor University students, one dead and one alive. The legislation now heads to Gov. Mitch Daniels for consideration.

After an April 26, 2006 crash, the Grant County coroner's office said Whitney Cerak had died and that classmate Laura VanRyn, 22, was severely injured. VanRyn's parents sat by her bedside in a hospital for five weeks, only realizing that the woman was not their daughter when Cerak began to emerge from her coma. Cerak has since recovered and is attending Taylor University.

Under the bill, coroners would have to determine the identity of a dead person by one of four methods: fingerprints, DNA analysis, dental records or positive identification by at least one the deceased person's immediate family members if the body was reasonably recognizable.

Indiana's 92 county coroners are elected and training is optional. The only requirements for running for coroner are living in the jurisdiction of the office and being at least 18 years old.

The Indiana State Coroners Training Board has offered instruction to coroners and their deputies for several years. The Indiana State Coroners Association supports the required training in the bill, and has been working to provide more training for coroners.

Under the bill, county officials could withhold the paychecks of coroners and deputy coroners if they do not complete the required training.

Indianapolis - New methadone clinics would be banned temporarily in Indiana while the state studies whether regulations on them are sufficient under legislation that cleared the General Assembly on Friday.

The bill would place a moratorium on new clinics through Dec. 31, 2008, and would also impose a $150 annual fee on methadone providers for each out-of-state resident they treat.

Indiana has 13 clinics that administer methadone, a synthetic opiate that eases withdrawal pain for users of heroin or prescription painkillers such as OxyContin. The state approved two more clinics last year - one in Valparaiso and one in Indianapolis - after lawmakers partially lifted a previous moratorium that had banned new clinics for at least 10 years.

Most of the existing clinics, including one in Jeffersonville, are along the state's borders. Some lawmakers say that is because neighboring states more strictly regulate the facilities.

Of the nearly 10,000 patients served by Indiana's methadone centers in 2005, nearly half were from other states.

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