DESPITE VETO THREAT, ANTI-CRIME BILLS SENT TO O'BANNON

INDIANAPOLIS - The General Assembly sent Gov. Frank O'Bannon several bills
designed to get tougher on crime without giving him the money he says is
needed to expand prison operations.

O'Bannon had warned legislators late in their session that unless they
increased funding for the Department of Correction, he would consider
vetoing any such legislation.

"If there is to be no additional funding for Department of Correction
expenses in the next biennium, it would be irresponsible for me to sign
legislation that significantly increases the number of persons committed to
the department," O'Bannon said in an April 23 memo to the Senate.

The governor had not rejected any bill as of late yesterday afternoon, but
his press secretary, Mary Dieter, said he had not backed away from the veto
threat. Because of procedural hoops that had to be negotiated, dozens of
bills - including some anti-crime legislation - had yet to reach his desk.

Among other things, the legislature passed bills designed to crack down on
methamphetamine; expand the definition of identity theft; make a second
conviction for public indecency or possession of drug paraphernalia
felonies; and make it a felony for registered sex offenders to change
addresses without informing a law-enforcement agency.

Some of the bills were passed before O'Bannon made the veto threat, but he
had not acted on most of them as of yesterday.

O'Bannon had said for weeks that he needed an extra $26 million to open and
staff 1,576 new beds at two state prisons to meet a projected increase in
adult male felons.

But budget bills passed by the Democrat-led House and Republican-controlled
Senate denied him the increased funding, as did the compromise two-year
spending plan the legislature passed early Sunday morning before adjourning
the regular session.

O'Bannon plans to sign the budget bill into law, even though it essentially
freezes appropriations for Medicaid and prisons at current levels. Minutes
after the General Assembly adjourned, he touted economic-development
initiatives and funding increases for education over worries about the
state's bottom line.

A provision in the budget bill appears to give judges additional discretion
to send some nonviolent offenders to community correction programs dealing
with mental illness and substance abuse instead of putting them behind
bars. It also directs an advisory board to develop such programs.

But the legislature rejected O'Bannon's request for authority to release
some inmates convicted of Class D and C felonies early to keep the prison
population down.

Some lawmakers bristled at O'Bannon's veto threat.

"It's going to be bad for the safety of citizens," Sen. David Long, R-Fort
Wayne, told his colleagues in the Senate last week. "It sets a terrible
precedent."

But Larry Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defender
Council, said he welcomed O'Bannon's veto threat.

"I applaud the governor for reminding the legislature that they need to
choose: If you are going to put more people in prisons, you have to give"
corrections money to increase facilities and staffing, Landis said. "You
can't have it both ways."