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Greetings!
While the IACED public policy team made good progress in the early part of the 2011 Indiana legislative session (see our blog and articles below), the General Assembly currently remains out of session. Legislative activity is stalled at the Statehouse.
The House of Representatives has not had a quorum of 67 members since February 21 when House Democrats left for Illinois, citing labor and education reform issues. House leadership has begun imposing fines of $250 a day on the missing members, hoping to compel them to return to work. House leadership has pushed the deadlines for final passage in the first legislative chamber well past the original February 25 deadline.
On the other side of the Statehouse, work is being completed in the Senate. However, the Senate is proceeding cautiously, as some committees have only a few bills that have been assigned. Other committees have more bills assigned, but are holding some aside as vehicles, should legislation pending in the House fail to gain final passage.
Resolution of this stalemate does not appear to be happening anytime soon. Due to the inability of the House to convene, they have been unable to assign Senate bills to committee, thus Senate bills, remain in limbo until a quorum can be achieved. Once the House is able to achieve a quorum, it is likely bills will immediately be assigned to committee for consideration. The committee schedule is likely to be a short one, but sufficient time still remains to advance most legislation.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House leaders remain engaged in intense and partisan budget battles with the Obama Administration and the U.S. Senate.
Two days before a federal government shutdown, a two-week Continuing Resolution (CR) was signed into law - the fifth since the 2011 fiscal year began. On March 8, the Senate will likely vote down H.R. 1, House budget bill to fund the rest of FY11 and vote on their own Appropriations Committee bill to cut $6.5 billion, beyond the $4 billion cut last week in the CR. Neither appropriations bill will pass with 60 votes, leaving House and Senate leaders to resume negotiations with the White House led by Vice President Biden. Both rural and urban housing and economic development programs have been targeted in all of the budget proposals, but H.R. 1 represents the most dramatic cuts these programs overall in an effort by House leadership to achieve a goal of reducing the federal budget by $60 billion. Leaders in the Senate proposed cutting $6.5 billion from the current Transportation and Housing and Urban Development authorization, but that is still $12 billion above H.R. 1. Negotiations must yield a compromise by March 18 or Congress and the Administration will be forced to either pass another CR or face a government shut down. As advocates for your community and IACED members, you understand how the economic downturn has affected Hoosiers. We ask that you join us in reaching out to lawmakers to let them know these cuts will have devastating consequences in our communities, still struggling to recover. Please see our Action Alert below for more information about the proposals and how to contact legislators.
Regards,
Andy Fraizer
Executive Director
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Last Call!! 2011 Membership Invoices Due For those who have not sent in their membership forms, please note that the deadline for the Membership Directory Listing is March 15, 2011.
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IACED would like to welcome the following new members to our association:
- Church Community Services
- Morse & Bickel, P.C.
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Urgent Action Regarding the Federal Budget Required
Under House-passed budget, H.R. 1, programs that are the core of many IACED member organizations' operations are threatened. H.R. 1 would cut Department of Housing and Urban Development's budget by $5.7 billion, $2.5 billion of that would come from CDBG cuts. In addition, the Section 811 housing for the disabled program and the Section 202 housing for the elderly program would be cut by 70 and 71 percent, respectively. HOME Investment funds would be cut by $175 million and the Sustainable Communities Initiative would be terminated. The Senate CR would still cut HUD's Community Development Fund by $70 million, but it would freeze current funding levels for Section 811, Section 202, CDBG, HOME and the Sustainable Communities Initiative.
Cuts proposed in the House and Senate are not the only ones that threaten IACED members' operations. The President's FY12 budget proposal cuts Section 502 loans by 80 percent and eliminates the Self Help Housing program. Section 502 has helped nearly two million families by providing direct loans to households whose annual income is $27,000 on average. The president's budget still proposes $300 million in cuts to CDBG funds and it seeks tocut all SBA funding by 45 percent. Those changes would be extremely detrimental to community revitalization and small business growth and expansion in Indiana. The housing and economic recovery is still very fragile. Now is not the time to make dramatic cuts to successful programs that effectively leverage public and private funds to rebuild our communities. Please contact your Senators and Representatives today and tell them that these programs are not only a social safety net, they are an investment in stopping the cycle of poverty, helping low-income families build wealth, creating new jobs, rehabilitating neighborhoods, supporting youth programs and decreasing crime in Indiana. Please click here to find contact information for legislators. Read a detailed account of what House leadership and the White House have proposed, read our blog post, here.
Read the National Low Income Housing Coalition's call to action, here.
Read details on potential job loss in Indiana if H.R. 1 is passed, read the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Association's action alert, here.
To read more about how these budget proposals affect rural development programs, read the National Rural Housing Coalition's budget chart. |
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Trainings, Events, and
Technical Assistance |
You need current and reliable information to set your vision. You need expertise to ensure the strategy is executed at the highest level. IACED can help you achieve both. We offer a wide variety of training and professional development services that are designed to help our members get what they need to make the most of their organization's talent and resources. trainings. Financial Literacy Train the Trainer IACED is currently offering several Financial Literacy Train the Trainer sessions in partnership with the Purdue Cooperative Extension. For details on the program, see our blog announcement. Below is a list of dates and locations, also located under our training information section of our website:
- Charlestown, IN -- March 28, 2011
- Rochester, IN -- March 22, 2011
- Paoli, IN -- March 16, 2011
- Indianapolis, IN -- March 15, 2011
We are in currently in the process of finalizing dates for other 2011 trainings. Click here for the latest information about IACED's trainings. |
Please check IACED's blog for a current list of trainings that are being conducted by various IACED partner organizations. Please remember that IACED is NOT involved in the organization or delivery of these trainings. Questions regarding these trainings should be directed to the specific partner listed.
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IACED Offers Quality Technical Assistance
Whether you are running an organization or trying to design a new program or project, it can feel like a considerable weight. Our job is to help share the load! IACED provides members with a wide range of direct technical assistance. For more information contact IACED Program Manager, John Marron. |
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Frank Hagaman
Long time housing advocate and community leader, Frank Hagaman, announced on February 22 that he would be leaving Partners In Housing (PIH) to improve Hoosier communities through new venture, the Marion County Land Bank. Mr. Hagaman's legacy at PIH, an organization that helps homeless individuals and families achieve self-sufficiency by combining affordable housing opportunities with critical support services, speaks for itself. The organization has received 14 different community development, affordable housing and preservation awards for its work in creating 400 units of supportive housing and serving over 500 families and individuals. His leadership will be of great service to the land bank efforts in Indianapolis as Marion County currently has over 14,000 vacant, abandoned and foreclosed properties. These vacant homes not only reduce property values and county tax income, they invite crime that can devastate communities. We look forward to hearing about his work on this complicated, but important issue.
Contact Kathleen Taylor if you would like to see your organization featured in IACED's monthly Member Spolitlight column.
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Funding Opportunities
USDA Rural Development Accepting Grant Applications The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently accepting applications for its Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) Program. The RBEG program provides grants for rural projects that finance and facilitate development of small and emerging rural businesses, help fund distance learning networks, and help fund employment related adult education programs. In order to compete for funding from the Indiana state allocation of grant funds, applications must be received by USDA Rural Development not later than 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 15, 2011. Applications should be sent to the Area Specialist for the county where the project is located. Please read our blog post for more information. Ongoing Opportunities Please check out our Time Sensitve Funding Opportunities and the Ongoing Funding Opportunities sections of the IACED website for updated information. You can access the member only area of the website with your IACED-supplied username and password. Please take advantage of these unique programs to support your work in enacting innovative, progressive change in Hoosier communities. |
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Around Indiana
IACED Partners with Ball State University and Indiana Humanities Council for Community Conversations
IACED is partnering with the The Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University again along with the Indiana Humanities Council to generate community conversation to help regions in Indiana address their most challenging concerns.
The workshops, typically a day-long meeting, convene community leaders and citizens from public, private and non-profit sectors to address major community challenges, discuss best practices and possible solutions, and offer access to resources, technology, and expertise. Proposals are currently being sought and the deadline to submit a letter of interest is March 18. For more details, click here.
IEDC Unveils Statewide Entrepreneurship Initiative
Officials at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation unveiled an non-profit, Elevate Ventures, that they claim will bring in $30 million in federal public and private funds to support Indiana entrepreneurs. The program aimed at matching new ventures with industry investors will increase their probability of succeeding. The Daniels Administration points to a similar strucutre in Ohio that was able to secure $1.3 billion in funding. Read more about this initiative, here.
Non-Profit Property Tax Exemption: 2011 General Assembly Update
On February 15, the Indiana General Assembly's Ways and Means Committee amended HB 1285 dealing with nonprofit property tax exemption. This legislation is high on IACED's priority list for the 2011 General Assembly. The amendment sends the issue of property tax exemption for charities to an interim study committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy. This amendment passed 16-0.
The amendment is in response to concerns from a February 11 Ways and Means Committee hearing that the bill as written could expand the number of nonprofits that receive tax exemption (which was not the intent of the bill). The intent was simply to clarify that property owned and used for charitable purpose shall remain tax exempt. As IACED members have experienced for the last several years, nonprofits cannot afford for assessor by assessor interpretation of property tax exemption. For more information, click here.
Governor Daniels Signs Law Addressing the Unemployment Fund
The measure is aimed at balancing Indiana's unemployment fund that is currently $2 billion in debt. In order to return the money borrowed from the federal government, the House passed passed a bill that would both raises taxes on businesses and cuts weekly payments to unemployed workers. Democrats, who have been absent from the House since Feb. 21, listed this legislation as one reason for their departure. They cite the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency's estimate that the bill would reducte unemployment benefits by 25 percent.
The new law reduces business tax increases approved in 2009 that were to take effect this year. The tax revenue from this plan is about 15 percent below the previous plan's increases. To read more, click here.
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Across the Nation
Midwest Manufacturing Boost with Tech Partnership
The Obama Administration announced a public-private partnership to help Midwest manufactuers access high-tech computing. The $4.5 million plan will speed designs for future products within small and medium manufacturers and suppliers in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois, according to Administration officials.
The program is part of the administration's focus on innovation and competitiveness to boost the economy. The $2 million investment from the federal government will be matched by $2.5 million from Deere & Co., General Electric Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and The Proctor & Gamble Co. For more information, click here.
January Drop in Home Sale Agreements Demonstrate Beleaguered Recovery
According to the National Association of Realtors, fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in January. In fact, their index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes fell nearly 3 percent last month to 88.9. That figure is higher than the housing bust low of 75.9 in June, but it shows the housing market is struggling to reach a healthy level despite other indicators that the economy as a whole has begun to recover.
The previously owned home sales are traditionally good indicators of the health of the housing market since there is a one- to two-month lag between a sales contract and compeleted closings. To read more, click here.
Economic Development Administration Cluster Mapping Project
The U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA) is embarking on a new project aiming to provide policymakers and development practitioners across America with rich data and tools for understanding industry clusters in every region of the country. The EDA will also equip them with tool kits and case studies to help develop strategies and a directory of active cluster initiatives throughout the country.
The project lead is The Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School. They are looking for organizations who are involved in cluster-based economic development in their region. If you are a part of such an organization, you can get involved in the EDA Cluster Mapping Project. Click here
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Website Opens for Business
Congress enacted financial regulatory reform legislation last July that created a new federal agency to protect American consumers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) mission is to make consumer financial markets work better for American families.
This independent bureau within the Federal Reserve System is charged with enforcing clear and consistent rules for banks and other financial lenders to ensure they compete on
a level playing field and that let consumers see clearly the costs and features of products such as mortgages and credit cards.
Advocates and interested persons can post suggestions at for the Bureau at http://www.consumerfinance.gov/openforsuggestions. Bureau personnel will be actively responding to suggestions and engaging electronically with consumers and interested persons. To read more on our blog, click here
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