Wes Culver (Taxpayer Friendly)

Watchdog Indiana Home Page Indiana General Assembly & Governor Ratings Legislative Voting Record

Address: 2020 Elkhart Road, Suite B, Goshen, IN 46526
Phone: (574) 533-6300
E-mail: H49@in.gov; wesculver@wesculver.com; wes@wesculver.com
Website: http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/homepages/r49/; www.ElectWesCulver.com

2013 General Assembly Voting Record
Voted YES on House Bill 1001, which is Taxpayer Friendly because the 2013-15 state budget makes better use of the existing state Gasoline Tax and state Sales Tax revenues from gasoline purchases with NO NEW TRANSPORTATION TAX INCREASES to increase transportation funding for INDOT by 11%, cities and towns by 34%, and counties by 23%.
Voted NO on House Bill 1011, which is Taxpayer Friendly because construction of a costly light rail transportation system cannot be approved by a new central Indiana transit district before March 14, 2014.
Voted NO on House Bill 1117, which was Taxpayer UNfriendly because it created the possibility for a minority of county income tax council members representing a minority of the county population to impose a county-wide motor vehicle excise surtax and wheel tax. 
Voted YES on House Bill 1313, which is Taxpayer Friendly because it (1) supports the establishment of a 2013 interim committee to study local government regulation of  residential leases and (2) prohibits a local government from adopting regulations for landlord licensing, mandatory landlord classes, and rental inspection and registration fees until July 1, 2014.
Voted YES on Senate Bill 319, which is Taxpayer Friendly because it prevents a significant shift of the property tax burden to farm working families by (1) using the current soil productivity factors until 2015 and (2) requiring the Department of Local Government Finance to confer with the College of Agriculture of Purdue University and submit a 2013 interim study committee report on soil productivity factors.

Watchdog Indiana Candidate Questions - November 6, 2012, General Election
1. QUESTION: What are your priorities regarding the 2013-2015 state budget? ANSWER: DID NOT RESPOND.
2. QUESTION: Should the non-transportation appropriations from the state’s Motor Vehicle Highway Account be transferred to the state’s General Fund so more of our Indiana Gasoline Tax dollars can be properly spent to meet our transportation needs? ANSWER: DID NOT RESPOND.
3. QUESTION: Should the Automatic Taxpayer Refund law be (a) improved to make refunds more likely, (b) kept as it is, or (c) eliminated? ANSWER: DID NOT RESPOND.
4. QUESTION: Do you pledge to maintain both the Homestead Standard Deduction and the Homestead Supplemental Deduction without ANY change? ANSWER: DID NOT RESPOND.
5. QUESTION: What is your position regarding township government reform? ANSWER: DID NOT RESPOND.
6. QUESTION: What is your position regarding redevelopment commissions oversight? ANSWER: DID NOT RESPOND.
7. QUESTION: Do you wish to make some additional comments about your candidacy? ANSWER: DID NOT RESPOND.

2012 General Assembly Voting Record
Voted YES on House Bill 1003, which is Taxpayer Friendly because (1) public access to government meetings and records is improved and (2) it is less likely that public agencies will intentionally violate the Public Access Laws.
Voted YES on House Bill 1005, which contains six Taxpayer Friendly local government Conflict Of Interest provisions and sixteen Taxpayer Friendly local government Nepotism provisions.
Voted NO on House Bill 1376, which is Taxpayer UNfriendly because (1) the automatic taxpayer refund excess reserves trigger is increased from 10% to 12.5% and (2) Hoosier working families will possibly receive an automatic taxpayer refund every even-numbered year instead of every year.

2011 General Assembly Voting Record
Voted YES on House Bill 1001, which includes among its 16 Taxpayer Friendly state budget provisions no tax increases and an operating surplus in both the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years with a satisfactory reserve balance on June 30, 2013.
Voted YES on House Bill 1002, which is Taxpayer Friendly because (1) charter schools have the potential to help increase the academic growth of lower socioeconomic students, (2) the number of Indiana nonprofit private colleges and universities authorized to create charter schools is limited, (3) the Indianapolis mayor is the only Indiana mayor who may authorize charter schools, (4) conversion from a public school to a charter school is sufficiently stringent, and (5) property taxes are NOT improperly used to support charter schools.
Voted YES on House Bill 1003, which uses state K-12 tuition support money to fund scholarships for nonpublic school students and is Taxpayer UNfriendly because (1) nonpublic private and parochial schools are not equally open to all children, (2) nonpublic school budgets are not approved by a directly elected public body, (3) evidence-based research does not support greater school choice as a means to achieve overall educational improvement, (4) it is very likely unconstitutional, and (5) state tuition support dollars would go to nonpublic schools that are not uniformly distributed throughout the state.
Voted YES on House Bill 1022, which would have implemented a number of Taxpayer Friendly local government provisions related to nepotism and officeholder conflict-of-interest.
Voted YES on House Bill 1074, which provides that school board members selected by election must be elected at November general elections and is Taxpayer Friendly because the greater voter turnout in general elections will make it more difficult for local vested interests to unduly influence school board elections.
Voted YES on House Bill 1583, which passed as part of House Bill 1004 and is Taxpayer Friendly because the 1% homeowner property tax cap and ten homeowner property tax deductions are allowed in the year of a property transfer if the property is determined to be exempt in the year following the transfer year.

2010 General Assembly Voting Record
Voted YES on House Joint Resolution 1, which gives voters statewide the opportunity to amend the Indiana Constitution to (1) make the 1% - 2% - 3% property tax caps permanent and (2) protect homestead property tax deductions from legal challenge.
Voted YES on House Bill 1001, which contains 21 Taxpayer Friendly government ethics reform provisions including a 365-day wait after leaving the General Assembly before a legislator can become a lobbyist or legislative liaison, the reporting of certain expenditures by the legislative liaisons of state agencies and state educational institutions, and a reduction from $100 to $50 in the minimum reportable amount for the total daily gifts given by a registered lobbyist to a legislative person.
Voted YES on House Bill 1086, which contains 7 Taxpayer Friendly provisions including the HJR 1 Constitutional Amendment ballot language.
Voted YES on House Bill 1367, which contains 5 Taxpayer Friendly K-12 education provisions that preserve and protect instructional programs.
Voted YES on Senate Bill 23, which delays the scheduled increase in unemployment insurance premiums for one year until 2011.
Voted YES on Senate Bill 396, which mandates an adjusted six-year average that eliminates the highest value to calculate the base rate for the assessment of agricultural land.

2009 General Assembly Voting Record
Voted YES on House Bill 1001 SS, the 2009-2011 special session budget bill that (1) provides enough resources for good government AND (2) satisfactorily protects Hoosier working families from state and local tax increases. A YES vote supports a budget that is sufficiently Taxpayer Friendly. A NO vote would have shut down much of state government.
Voted NO on Senate Bill 374 to allow Regional Transportation Districts, which are new tax-imposing levels of Indiana government controlled by boards with unrestricted powers where most board members have no real connection to the taxpayers' community, to be established WITHOUT a referendum of affected voters.

Watchdog Indiana Candidate Questions - November 4, 2008, General Election
1. QUESTION: Do you pledge to vote in 2009 for the exact same version of Senate Joint Resolution 1 that passed in 2008? ANSWER: Unless property tax assessments are locked in we haven't gained anything. For me to be fully supportive of the 1-2-3 property tax it needs to have assessment's valuation of properties locked in at a reasonable 2%+- annual cap. It is important to lock in assessments with the 1-2-3 tax measure to ensure the government does not artificially raise assessments in order to get more taxes. I want even more protection then what we are currently offered. I would vote for the 1-2-3 as a compromise if we can't lock in the assessments, but I feel we need to work at doing this right and permanently. RECORD (www.indystar.com/2008race): Yes. And the assessed valuations’ annual increase should be capped at 2 percent annually. Though the current property tax proposal is not perfect, it is better than having no caps. People could be assured their taxes won’t go higher and at the same time be looking for ways to lower our property taxes. In other words, it creates a ‘ceiling’ for property taxpayers, but does not create a ‘basement’ on how low they could go. I’d like to work at ways of lowering the 3 percent property tax on businesses. Also, the 2 percent rate on rentals is hurting low-income renters more than landlords.
2. QUESTION: Do you wish to make some additional comments about your candidacy? ANSWER: I am all about lowering the cost of government and passing that savings on to taxpayers.

Watchdog Indiana Candidate Questions - May 6, 2008, Primary Election
1. QUESTION: Do you pledge to vote for Senate Joint Resolution 1 in 2009? ANSWER: I'm for Senate Joint Resolution 1.
2. QUESTION: Do you wish to make some additional comments about your candidacy? HAS NOT RESPONDED.

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This page was last updated on 04/29/13.