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General Assembly & Governor Ratings Legislative
Voting Record Greg Steuerwald (Taxpayer Friendly)
Watchdog
Indiana Home Page Indiana
General Assembly & Governor Ratings Legislative
Voting Record
Address: 932 St. Andrews Drive, Avon, IN 46123
Phone: (317) 718-0690
E-mail: H40@in.gov
Website: http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/homepages/r40/
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 YES 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 YES 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.
DID NOT VOTE as a
member of the House Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform on a bill that
combined the following local government reforms passed by the Senate in SB 348,
SB 452, SB 506, and SB 512: (1) develop and approve a Library Services Plan by a
Public Library Service Planning Committee (with an "opt out"
referendum provision) in every county (except Marion County) to help more
effectively use working family dollars currently spent on library services (with
the option to equitably replace public library property taxes with a county
economic development income tax); (2) prohibit employees
of a local government unit from serving as elected officials within the same
local government unit; (3) move the elections of municipal officers to
even-numbered years; (4) move all school board member elections to the November
general election in even-numbered years; (5) establish the use of vote centers
as an option for all counties; (6) require a city clerk-treasurer in a third
class city to attend fiscal officer training provided by the state board of
accounts; (7) allow a single County Chief Executive Officer or County Manager;
(8) allow the County Council or the Board of County Supervisors
to exercise both the fiscal and legislative powers of the county;
(9) provide for voter-initiated referendums on county government
reorganization; (10) repeal the requirement that political subdivisions must
approve local government reorganizations initiated by voters; (11) assign the
Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations four responsibilities
to identify and monitor good local government practices; (12) prohibit
County Manager nepotism; (13) repeal unproductive reporting requirements;
(14) continue to elect the County Assessor; (15) abolish on January 1, 2013,
each township board in every county (other than Marion County) and make the
county fiscal body also the fiscal body and legislative body of each township;
(16) require a township when formulating an annual budget to consider whether
the part of the ending balance in each township fund in excess of 10% of
budgeted expenditures should be used instead of imposing additional property
taxes for the ensuing year; (17) prohibit a relative of a township officer or
employee from being employed by the township in a position that would put the
relative in a direct supervisory or subordinate relationship with the officer or
employee; (18) require a township trustee's annual report to list separately
each expenditure to reimburse the trustee for the trustee's public business use
of personal property; (19) require each township office to include the address,
phone number, and regular office hours (if any) of the township office in at
least one local telephone directory; (20) prohibit a public meeting or a public
hearing of a township official or governing body from being held in a private
residence; (21) require the State Board of Accounts to submit an annual township
examination report to the executive director of the Legislative Services Agency
and to county councils.
Voted YES 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.
BACKGROUND: Senate Joint Resolution 1 passed
the Indiana Senate 40-7 and the Indiana House 79-20 on March 14, 2008, and
was signed by the Governor on March 19, 2008. SJR 1 amends the Indiana
Constitution to cap homeowners' property tax bills at 1% of assessed value,
rental and agricultural property at 2%, and business property at 3%. For
property taxes first due and payable in 2012, 90 of Indiana's 92
counties must have a homeowner property tax cap that is 1% of the gross
assessed value. Until 2020, existing debt service prior to July 1, 2008,
is exempted from the 1% homeowner gross assessed value cap in Lake and St.
Joseph counties ONLY. The result of these two existing debt service
exemptions equates to a 1.88% homeowner cap in Lake County and a 1.52%
homeowner cap in St.
Joseph County. The homeowner caps for Lake and St. Joseph counties must become
1% in 2020. The exact same version of SJR 1 that passed in 2008 must again pass in the General Assembly in 2009 to put the 1%
constitutional homeowner property tax cap amendment on the 2010 ballot. We
the people can then vote to make the 1% homeowner property tax cap a
permanent part of the Indiana Constitution. Never has it been so easy to separate those who are part of the
property tax relief solution from those who are part of the property tax
spending problem. A General Assembly candidate who pledges to
vote for Senate Joint Resolution 1 in 2009 is part of the
solution, otherwise the legislator is part of
the problem. QUESTION: Do you pledge to vote in 2009 for
the exact same version of Senate
Joint Resolution 1 that passed in 2008? ANSWER: Yes,
I voted for it once and I will vote for it again.
Watchdog Indiana Candidate Questions - May 6, 2008,
Primary Election
1. BACKGROUND: Senate Joint Resolution 1, which contains a meaningful
homeowner property tax cap amendment to the Indiana Constitution, passed
the Indiana Senate 40-7 and the Indiana House 79-20 on March 14, 2008. For
property taxes first due and payable in 2012, 90 of Indiana's 92
counties must have a homeowner property tax cap that is 1% of the gross
assessed value. Until 2020, existing debt service prior to July 1, 2008,
is exempted from the 1% homeowner gross assessed value cap in Lake and St.
Joseph counties ONLY. The result of these two existing debt service
exemptions equates to a 1.88% cap in Lake County and a 1.52% cap in St.
Joseph County. The caps for Lake and St. Joseph counties must become
1% in 2020. SJR 1 must again pass in the General Assembly in 2009 to put the 1%
constitutional homeowner property tax cap amendment on the 2010 ballot. We
the people can then vote to make the 1% homeowner property tax cap a
permanent part of the Indiana Constitution. Never has it been so easy to separate those who are part of the
property tax relief solution from those who are part of the property tax
spending problem. A General Assembly candidate who pledges to
vote for Senate Joint Resolution 1 in 2009 is part of the
solution, otherwise the legislator is part of
the problem. QUESTION: Do you pledge to vote for Senate
Joint Resolution 1 in 2009? ANSWER: Yes, I
voted for it last session and intend to do so in the next session.
2. QUESTION:
Do you wish to make some additional comments about your candidacy? ANSWER:
I cosponsored HJR 4 which would have capped state spending
as well as the local units of government. I’m also reintroducing my sales tax
holiday next year. One weekend in august any retail purchases under a certain
amount will be exempt from sales tax. It didn’t get a hearing this year.
2008 General Assembly Voting Record
Voted YES on Senate
Joint Resolution 1, which amends the Indiana Constitution to
include a cap beginning 2012 on homestead property tax in 90 counties at 1% of gross assessed
value. Until 2020, existing debt service prior to July 1, 2008, is
exempted from the 1% homeowner gross assessed value cap in Lake and St. Joseph
counties ONLY. The effective constitutional homeowner property tax caps in Lake
and St. Joseph counties are 1.88% and 1.52% respectively until their 1% cap takes
effect in 2020.
Voted YES on
House
Bill 1001, which phases in the SJR 1 constitutional property tax caps by
2010. Also, 2008 property taxes are reduced 26% from the prior year. An increase
in the sales tax from 6% to 7% and county-wide local option income taxes will be used to
replace the property tax revenue reductions that result from the property tax
caps.
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