Indiana House Speaker plans fast start for labor bill
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana's Republican House leader said on Tuesday that lawmakers will almost immediately take up labor legislation that's likely to dominate much of the state's 2012 session after it spurred a Democratic walkout last year.
House Speaker Brian Bosma told The Associated Press that the first hearing on the state's "right-to-work" bill will be on Friday. The joint hearing of the House and Senate labor committees is just two days after lawmakers return to Indianapolis for a brief 10-week session.
The proposal would ban businesses and private unions from signing contracts that mandate all workers pay union dues. Supporters say the law would help attract new business to the state. Opponents call it an attempt to weaken organized labor.
Indiana's House Democrats successfully blocked the measure last year with a five-week walkout that denied House Republicans the numbers needed to conduct daily business. Democratic leaders have so far declined to say whether they'll walk out again this session.
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