State Sen. Vaneta Becker’s (R-Evansville) bill to encourage better reporting of infant health problems caused by drug addiction in mothers gained final legislative approval today. Senate Bill 408 now heads to the governor’s desk, where it could be signed into law.

Drug-related health problems in newborns, known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), can arise when mothers abuse drugs while pregnant. NAS can cause infants to experience drug dependency, seizures, slow weight gain and many other dangerous symptoms.

SB 408 requires the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) to facilitate study and collaboration among medical experts in order to determine best practices for identifying and reporting NAS cases.

“SB 408 will bring everyone to the table to talk about this tragic health concern among newborns,” Becker said. “These discussions will hopefully lead to better awareness of NAS, stronger strategies to deter drug abuse by pregnant women and more effective treatments for infants born with drug dependencies.”

According to the Indiana Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force, the overall rate of newborns being diagnosed with NAS has tripled over the past decade. In 2009, approximately one infant born per hour in the United States had signs of drug withdrawal.

SB 408 passed both the House of Representatives and Senate unanimously.

We have now reached the end of the 2014 legislative session. As you can imagine, ten weeks is not a very long time to tackle all of the important issues that we are faced with, however, I believe that the end product of this session is something we can all be proud of.

At the beginning of session, Speaker of the House Brian Bosma presented the House Republican agenda with other members of our caucus. The agenda included several fundamental issues including cutting taxes, connecting crossroads to communities, equipping our workforce, preparing children for their careers and stopping burdensome regulations. Now that this year’s session has officially come to a close, here is how we addressed each of these issues and delivered on our promises.

One of Indiana’s biggest strengths is its business tax climate. Our fiscal integrity and pro-business policies have allowed us to continue to attract jobs to our state, while other states have found themselves in the red during the recession. In continuing with this reputation and remaining competitive with our neighboring states, it was time that we did something about the business personal property tax (BPPT).

All of our neighboring states either do not have a BPPT or collect it at a lower rate. After receiving input from all interested parties, we wanted to give counties the option of exempting businesses from this tax on new property and increasing the abatement period for counties that wanted to exempt the tax for up to 20 years. The optional exemption will serve as another tool for local governments to use in attracting businesses and investment to their communities.

A favorable tax climate is a very important factor that businesses consider, in addition to infrastructure, workforce development and education. Our state’s expansive transportation network is critical to the Hoosier economy, with 1.7 million jobs depending on them in industries such as tourism, agriculture and retail sales. House Bill (HB) 1002 addresses this issue by transferring highway construction funds already allocated in our 2013 budget to be used immediately. HB 1002 allows a transfer of up to $400M in state funds to be used with upwards of $1.6B in federal dollars supplementing our investment for statewide road construction projects. We recognize the importance of our highway system as the Crossroads of America, and I support connecting Hoosier communities with this appropriation.

Another thing that has made Indiana stand out from many other states is our impressive rate of job creation. Indiana’s unemployment rate has been steadily dropping and is now below seven percent. It can still stand to be even lower; however, we can’t do that without adequately equipping our workforce. That’s where HB 1003 comes in. HB 1003 ensures that Hoosiers

possess the necessary skills to work in a competitive job market by providing additional incentives to employers who partner with education institutions to provide internships in high wage, high demand jobs.

The task of equipping our workforce must start long before high school and college though. In fact, it must start before a child ever gets on the school bus for kindergarten. Children living in poverty are less likely to be enrolled in pre-K programs or have meaningful educational experiences prior to entering kindergarten. Thus, they are more likely to be further behind their peers when they begin their K-12 education. This is particularly an issue in Indiana because we are one of very few states that doesn’t have a publically supported preschool education system.

HB 1004 is historic for Indiana as it establishes a preschool pilot program for students of low-income families. The program is limited to families at 127 percent of the federal poverty level and below, allowing low-income families the opportunity to send their children to pre-school.

While it’s good to pass new laws and provisions to promote a better Indiana, there is another often overlooked duty of the legislature – to repeal measures we have previously passed that are not working or are outdated. In fact, some previous measures are not only ineffective, they are harmful. That’s why the House passed HB 1005. HB 1005 repeals government regulations that are restrictive or just plain detrimental. Taking this important step ensures that we don’t overstep our bounds and that we respect the freedom and liberty of individual Hoosiers as well as businesses.

I hope that now you have a better insight into why I believe this session was such a great success, and I look forward to continuing to build on that success during the interim.

By now it’s settled on most people, including Democrats, that the loss of Alex Sink to David Jolly in Florida’s 13th Congressional District was, in the words of the New York Times, “devastating” to Democrats. It’s a district Ms. Sink carried in her unsuccessful race for governor against Rick Scott, a district that Barack Obama carried in his two elections, and a district that demographically now favors Democrats. In addition, Ms. Sink raised more money and ran a better campaign than Jolly. Even Bill Clinton lent his efforts to her campaign. And yet she lost.

What should particularly alarm Democrats is that Ms. Sink, who was not in Congress in 2010 and therefore did not cast a vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act, ran what Democrats considered a “textbook” campaign when it came to dealing with ObamaCare. She said she wanted to fix it, not repeal it; and she attempted to paint Jolly as a right-wing extremist on abortion, Social Security privatization, and in wanting to repeal ObamaCare. And yet she lost.

Even someone as reflexively partisan as Paul Begala said Democrats shouldn’t try to spin this loss.

But there’s another, broader point worth making, I think. It is that Barack Obama, who was the embodiment of liberal hopes and dreams, is turning out to be a one-man political wrecking ball when it comes to his party–and to liberalism more broadly.

The evidence is scattered all around us, from the epic defeat Democrats suffered in the 2010 midterm, to the (likely) lashing that awaits them in 2014, to collapsing trust and confidence in the federal government, to an agenda that is unpopular virtually across the board. Add to that the rising disorder and chaos in the world that is the predictable result of Mr. Obama’s disengaged and impotent foreign policy.

The American people, having lived with the Obama presidency for more than five years, have come to the conclusion–later, I think, than they should have–that he is incompetent, weak, and untrustworthy. And that judgment is directed not just at Mr. Obama; it is implicating his entire party.

Barack Obama produced a health-care proposal that was a liberal dream for a half-century. It is a bitter irony for him, and a predictable result for many of us, that having achieved it, it may well set back the cause of liberalism for years to come.

Liberals wanted Mr. Obama. Now they have him. And now they may be undone by him.

Source: Peter Wehner