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Senate committee advances bill requiring appointed‑board notices to name appointing officials
Summary
The Senate committee voted 9‑0 to forward House Bill 1509, which would require meeting notices and agendas for appointed bodies to list each appointee, the official or body that appointed them, and the start and end dates of the appointment, and to publish that information online.
The Indiana Senate Committee on Local Government on Thursday advanced House Bill 1509, a measure that would require public meeting notices and agendas for appointed bodies to identify each appointed member, the elected official or body that appointed them, and the beginning and ending dates of each appointee’s term.
Representative Cleer, the bill’s author in the House, told the committee the legislation “recognizes the important work that many appointed officials perform while also recognizing the need for accountability to voters.” The bill would require that the same information be published on either the board’s website or the appointing authority’s website, or, if neither has a website, the state’s transparency portal known as Gateway.
Supporters told the committee the change is intended to give the public a clear way to see which elected officials are ultimately responsible for the actions of appointed boards and commissions. “This is a really good bill because it gives that transparency we haven’t had in a long time in those appointed positions,” Senator Niemeyer said in committee.
A related amendment offered by Senator Bohachik would have treated some paid posts on authorities and special districts as “lucrative offices,” restricting elected executives from simultaneously collecting large outside salaries from appointed posts. Senator Bohachik argued the practice can produce sizable additional compensation — “in many cases … $50,000, $60,000 annual salaries” — for mayors who also sit on sewer, port or other authority boards. Committee members agreed the topic deserved further study and the amendment was set aside for later work.
The committee approved the underlying bill by voice and roll call and moved it forward on a 9‑0 vote.
Votes at a glance: the committee recorded aye votes from Senators Jackson, Yoder, Taylor, Niemeyer, Durnell (explained vote), Schmidt, Toms and Buck; Senator Becker was recorded as excused at the time of the vote. The committee’s action was to report the bill favorably to the next stage for further consideration.
