Indiana House narrowly passes scaled-back bill to limit some school referendums to fall elections

The Indiana House narrowly approved a bill Thursday that will limit when some school tax referendums can be presented to voters.

There are three types of school referendums: capital referendums, for specific building projects; operating referendums, which help overall school funding; and school safety referendums.

Rep. Bob Behning’s (R-Indianapolis) bill, HB 1376, originally required that all three types could only be offered in general elections. But a change on the House floor means the bill now only limits capital referendums to the fall. The others can go before the voters in primary elections, too.

Behning said many more people vote in general elections.

“I think all would advocate, especially when it comes to raising taxes, that we need the greatest number of people possible,” Behning said.
 

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Rep. Tonya Pfaff (D-Terre Haute) said local school districts should get to decide when to put up a referendum.

“Some pass in the primary; some pass in the general,” Pfaff said. “Either way, the system works.”

The bill passed the House 52-42 and now heads to the Senate.
 

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.