If it’s December, can the Legislature be far behind?
12/12/2022
In what has become a long-standing tradition in northwest Indiana, Unit 1, held its annual breakfast with area lawmakers on Saturday, November 19th at Andorra Banquet Center in Schererville. With almost 40 people attending, including 5 lawmakers, members had a great opportunity to share their stories and concerns and to deepen relationships with those who were just elected (and re-elected) to office.
Sometimes progress takes time—sometimes it gets helped along the way. One of the more concrete accomplishments directly coming out of this breakfast was when a member shared with lawmakers that after graduating 20 seniors last year early, her district was “rewarded” with reduced funding in February because of having fewer students on the February count day. Some lawmakers thought they had addressed this fiscal irony, but in open discussion, it became clear that it had not been rectified. Rep. Hal Slager (R-Schererville) told attendees that he would marshal this issue in the coming session through the budget bill.
This is the kind of meaningful movement that can occur when members meet and greet their legislators. ISTA Government Relations (GR) department urges all local units to schedule one-on-ones with lawmakers or group events like this one in the coming weeks. Legislative Action Teams (or LATs) can reach out to GR through Roni Embry at rembry@ista-in.org for assistance.
Unit 1 members meet with their lawmakers at Andorra Banquet Center at their annual Legislative Breakfast.
Unit 1 UD Deb Porter, Rep. Hal Slager (R-Schererville), Sen. Rodney Pol (D-Chesterton), Rep. Michael Andrade (D-Munster), Sen. Rick Niemeyer (R-Lowell); Rep. Carolyn Jackson (D-Hammond), and LAT Leader Lauren Bridgeman.
