Governor Signs Numerous Bills Including Job Training for Unemployed, Local Government Reforms

Indianapolis – Governor Mike Pence today signed SEA 298, Voluntary Veterans’ Preference Employment Policy, which allows private employers to give preference to veterans, as verified by the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, in the hiring, promoting or retaining of qualified applicants or employees. The bill passed the House and Senate with unanimous and bipartisan support.

“Our Hoosier heroes deserve our utmost respect, and we owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid,” said Governor Pence. “The legislation I sign today will ensure these courageous men and women have every opportunity for success in their chosen careers after putting their lives on the line for our freedom. I applaud the members of the Indiana General Assembly for recognizing the dedication and sacrifice of the members of our armed forces through this important legislation.”

The Governor also signed bills regarding job training for unemployed Hoosiers and reform of local governments:

• HEA 1497 – which bolsters the Jobs for Hoosiers program that requires individuals filing for unemployment to visit a WorkOne center within the first four weeks of receiving benefits and requires a person collecting unemployment to participate in certain reemployment services including an orientation to services available at a One-Stop Career Center, labor market and career information, and skills assessment.
• HEA 1104 – providing the State Board of Accounts (SBOA) with the ability to focus its resources on local governments at highest risk of loss due to fraud and noncompliance with statutory requirements.

Marilyn Odendahl for www.theindianalawyer.com

A defendant was unable to get his revocation of probation overturned, but he is heading back to court for another sentencing after the District judge failed to give reasons for imposing a two-year jail term.

Christopher Boultinghouse was placed on supervised release after he finished serving 77 months for unlawfully possessing a firearm in interstate commerce following conviction of a felony offense. While on probation, he tested positive for drugs multiple times and failed to inform his probation officer within 72 hours that he had been arrested in a neighboring county.

Boultinghouse represented himself at the revocation hearing before Chief Judge Richard Young in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The District Court found the government did establish that Boultinghouse violated the terms of his supervised release and it revoked his probation.

Given Boultinghouse’s violations and his criminal history, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines recommended a sentence within the range of 21 months to 27 months. The range was capped at 24 months.

After the penalty phase hearing, the District Court ordered him to serve 24 months, the maximum permissible term of incarceration. However, the court did not cite the factors, which are set by statute for the judiciary to consider, for imposing that length of sentence.

Boultinghouse appealed his sentence, arguing the District Court did not articulate a rationale for the sentence.

The unanimous panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and remanded for resentencing in United States of America v. Christopher Boultinghouse, 14-2746. The appellate court held it could not conduct a meaningful review of the sentence without knowing the reasoning of the District Court.

“The range in this case was narrow one as a result of the statutory cap,” Ilana Rovner wrote for the court. “One might be tempted to say that no explanation is needed to justify a sentence of 24 months versus 21 months. But this strikes us as a perilous path to go down. Even small differences in the sentence matter to the defendant, and we do not think that the district court’s obligation to explain its sentencing decision may be excused simply because the stakes may see less significant to us.”