Articles
Governor Daniels' Weekly Update: 6/25/08
A look at news and events in the Daniels Administration
Volume 2, Issue 86
June 16 - 22, 2008
State to receive $2.4 million for emergency unemployment assistance
June 19, 2008- Governor Mitch Daniels announced last week that Indiana will receive a $2.4 million National Emergency Grant (NEG) from the U.S. Department of Labor to provide temporary employment for up to 200 workers dislocated by recent severe weather and flooding.
"The past few weeks have shown the caring and pitch-in attitude that Hoosiers bring each other in a time of need, and now we'll have more assistance to help people get back on their feet," said Daniels.
The emergency funds will be used to provide temporary jobs to assist in recovery efforts, including the clean-up, demolition, repair, renovation and reconstruction of destroyed public structures, facilities and lands within affected communities. Funds also will be used for projects that provide food, clothing, shelter and other types of humanitarian assistance, including work on the homes of economically disadvantaged individuals who are eligible for the federally funded energy efficiency program.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD) submitted an application for NEG funds on June 10, two days after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared 29 counties eligible for FEMA's Public Assistance Program. The NEG funds will be administered by DWD.
The state can apply for additional funding as more counties become eligible for public assistance.
Governor thanks Homeland Security employees
June 18, 2008- Governor Mitch Daniels thanked employees of the Indiana State Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last week for their response efforts to the state's recent storms. About 200 staff members were in Indianapolis today for a statewide meeting and the governor stopped by to speak to them.
"This has been a splendid performance. It's what our citizens ought to expect from their state government in times of trouble," said Daniels.
DHS coordinated activities in the state Emergency Operations Center, which was manned 24 hours a day for more than a week, and directed efforts with other state agencies and local emergency management officials to respond to immediate needs.
"I have been very positively impressed by the way, with DHS in the lead, all agencies in state government have acted as one," said Daniels.
Mobile emergency unit to deliver services at Columbus Regional Hospital
June 21, 2008- Governor Mitch Daniels, Congressman Mike Pence and Columbus Regional Hospital Chief Executive Officer Jim Bickel announced last week that the mobile emergency room unit Carolinas MED-1 is on its way to Indiana to provide emergency and other medical services at the Columbus Regional Hospital.
"This is important for Columbus residents. Thanks to Congressman Pence for learning about this possibility and to all who helped bring it here so quickly," said Daniels. The state Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health, and Family and Social Services Administration have worked with Columbus Regional Hospital and officials in North Carolina to bring the unit here and expedite its arrival.
Columbus Regional has been closed since June 7, when flooding forced the evacuation of nearly 160 patients and caused damage to the hospital's basement and first floor. All emergency medical patients in Bartholomew County are currently being transported to hospitals in nearby counties. Hospital officials hope to reopen the emergency department by early August.
The mobile unit, which is based at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, is on its way to Indiana. After arrival and set up, hospital officials anticipate they will begin providing patient care sometime on Monday.
"I am relieved that this temporary emergency room is coming to Columbus. All credit goes to Jim Bickel of the Columbus Regional Hospital and to Governor Mitch Daniels. Their partnership in obtaining this facility for south central Indiana will save lives," said Pence.
The Carolinas MED-1 mobile hospital is housed in two 53-foot tractor-trailers. One is a patient care facility that expands to provide nearly 1,000 square feet of indoor treatment space to deliver life-saving treatments and comprehensive medical-surgical care. It includes six critical care beds, seven general beds and one dental chair. It has level-1 trauma center capabilities, a full pharmacy, laboratory, radiology and ultrasound services and diagnostic capabilities.
Secure, High-Tech Data Center Coming to Columbus
June 17, 2008- Columbus-based engine research and development firm Analytical Engineering, Inc. (AEI) announced last week it has established a new sister company in Columbus that will create a secure, high-tech data center and 25 new jobs.
Operating under the company name of Data Cave, Inc., the company will invest more than $7 million to construct a two-story 78,000-square-foot high-security data center adjacent to Analytical Engineering's facility in southern Columbus.
"Creating an environment that attracts new job-creating investment from Hoosier companies and from businesses around the world is essential to Indiana's economic success. Analytical Engineering's decision to start Data Cave and invest in Indiana is an indication that the environment we have created is working," said Governor Mitch Daniels.
Data Cave will begin construction of the new reinforced data storage center in July and will begin hiring information technology technicians to maintain the center's servers and network infrastructure later this year.
The new center, which will serve as an off-site secure electronic data storage center for businesses around the globe, will employ high-tech tools such as biometric hand scanner access, redundant fiber optic connectivity, supplemental power protection and a reinforced exterior to protect customers' data from threats ranging from hackers to Mother Nature.
"Data Cave is a natural expansion of many of our core competencies into a growing market," said Caleb Tennis, president of Data Cave. "Locating this facility in Indiana adjacent to our sister company just makes sense. By doing so, we are able to build the infrastructure of the facility at a lower cost than many other locations and have access to our current mix of highly talented professionals. Those competitive advantages, coupled with the training programs and credits provided by the state and local community, will provide us a great pool of resources to grow this new business."
IN THE NEWS
Payments may help cash-strapped local governments
Bedford Times-Mail
June 21, 2008
By Mike Lewis
BEDFORD - Cash-strapped local governments in Indiana will get a little early help from the state.
About $620 million worth, all told.
Friday Gov. Mitch Daniels announced the state would send $620 million to Hoosier counties. In most cases, the money will arrive months ahead of schedule.
For counties, cities, schools and other local governments, the early money is welcome because property tax bills are late.
Earlier this year the Indiana Legislature made several significant and well-publicized changes to the property tax system. Local governments and the companies they pay to prepare the bills are, in many cases, still trying to catch up with the changes.
As a result, the entire system is running later than normal.
Usually, Hoosiers pay their property taxes in May and November. This year, in all but six Indiana counties, bills haven't even been sent out.
"We're getting very close," said Billie Tumey, Lawrence County auditor. "We're hoping to (send out bills) in the next couple of weeks."
According to the governor's office, the $620 million is not an additional payment, but an advance of what counties would normally receive two weeks after they have billed property owners. So far, six Indiana counties (Adams, Madison, Owen, Porter, Tipton and Vanderburgh) have sent spring propety tax bills. And only Vanderburgh has received its share of the $620 million.
"Now what we can do is give advances to local units," Tumey said. "It will create more of a tax flow for them."
Daniels also said the wicked weather, which have caused many counties extra expenses, was a factor in his decision.
"In years past, a bankrupt Indiana state government withheld money from schools and localities, in effect borrowing from them against their will," Daniels said in a prepared statement. "Today's action to advance funds is the exact opposite, a prepayment in order to get cash where it's needed and protect localities from having to borrow money."
Daniels said the state is able to make the advance payments because it will end fiscal year 2008 with sufficient reserves. The funds will be sent to counties within the next two weeks.
Evansville Courier and Press
June 22, 2008
The Issue: Marauding waters take a toll.
Our View: Disasters bring out the best in people.
From Iowa to Indiana, Midwesterners this June have found themselves coping with the devastation of personal disaster unlike any in recent years. The flooding has seen entire Iowa communities washed away. It has seen levees wiped out in Illinois. It has seen not only valuable possessions but entire homes lost in Indiana. And it has been described as one of the worst agricultural disasters ever.
Only when the waters recede and the cleanup and recovery begin in earnest will we know the full measure of damage left by the flood of 2008.
In the meantime, it is worth noting that what we always find remarkable - though never surprising - when natural disasters strike is the toughness, the compassion, the generosity, the energy that people never fail to exhibit as they rush to help those most in need.
During the recent flooding in Indiana, no story was more telling than Courier & Press staff writer Garret Mathews' report Thursday on inmates at the Branchville, Ind., Correctional Facility giving the American Red Cross a check for $4,000 to be used for flood relief.
Imagine that, inmates under the watch of the Indiana prison system found a way to do something positive and substantial for the relief effort.
But there's more. Some inmates worked on the front lines as well, helping on sandbag crews in Southern Indiana along with the National Guard.
Their money came from a program at the correctional facility called PLUS (Purposeful Living Units Serve). More than 100 inmates are involved in the program, which prepares them for life on the outside. They raise funds in various ways, among them selling popcorn and soft drinks on movie night.
Help has come from everywhere: churches, businesses, organizations, individuals and, of course, official Indiana.
The state called out the National Guard and personnel from at least 11 other state government agencies to work on rescue, relief and protection.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels called off a planned trade mission to Japan in order to stay on top of the flood relief effort.
Sometimes when disaster strikes we hear complaints about how this or that agency failed to respond quickly and compassionately. We haven't heard it this time.
In Hazleton, Ind. - a town all too familiar with fighting floods - Fire Chief Mike Ellis said, "I could not ask for more from the state. They have been very receptive to our needs."
That is the positive side of this natural disaster. It can be of little consolation to those who have lost everything, but still, it may help just a bit to know that people care.
'Health plan off to strong start for uninsured'
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
June 20, 2008
By Niki Kelly
INDIANAPOLIS - About 10,000 previously uninsured Hoosiers now have medical coverage under a new state program created by the Indiana General Assembly and Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Lawmakers raised cigarette taxes in the 2007 legislative session to 99.5 cents a pack to fund the Healthy Indiana Plan for up to 130,000 Hoosiers.
Since the state began processing applications in December, almost 48,000 have been received, with 6,801 waiting to make their first payment and 10,058 already receiving coverage.
"We're off to a great start in just a few short months, and many people who previously didn't have coverage now have affordable health insurance," Daniels said. "We've got more work to do to get more Hoosiers enrolled."
Several segments of adults without disabilities ages 19 to 64 are eligible for the program:
- Parents or caretaker relatives of dependent children with family incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
- Childless adults with family incomes less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
That threshold is $20,800 for a single person or $42,400 for a family of four, according to 2008 guidelines.
Each recipient is provided with a $1,100 Personal Wellness and Responsibility Account to pay for medical costs. Contributions to the account are made by the state and each participant, based on ability to pay.
No participant will pay more than 5 percent of his/her gross family income on the plan.
When medical costs exceed $1,100, enrollees have access to a basic commercial benefits package with a maximum annual coverage of $300,000.
Two plans are being offered: one from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and another from MDwise with Ameri- Choice.
To be eligible, participants must have been uninsured for at least six months and can't be eligible for employer-sponsored health insurance.
Shelley Ross was one of HIP's first enrollees. Since obtaining her coverage, she's had the cataract surgery that she once thought was financially out of reach.
"I had my surgery in January and was able to see out of my right eye again as soon as I was wheeled out of the operating room," Ross said. "It's amazing, and I am grateful for the work that is being done to help fill a serious gap in our health care system."
Mitch Roob, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, said so far there are three main reasons for denial - not meeting the economic guidelines; not paying the required premium or having access to employer-sponsored health care.
But he points out that the insurance is being used in all 92 Indiana counties.
In Allen County, for instance, more than 300 residents are receiving benefits.
FSSA is keeping myriad statistics on the enrollees. For instance, about 66 percent have been female. The majority - about 88 percent - are white; with 7 percent black and 2 percent Hispanic. Program officials are trying to increase the enrollments for minorities.
Also, the age distribution has been relatively consistent - about a quarter between 40 and 49 and about 22 percent in their 20s, 30s and 50s each.
'Executive does his part to help state startups'
The Indianpolis Star
June 22, 2008
By Daniel Lee
Kent Parker is chief operating officer of a publicly traded Silicon Valley software company. But he happily makes his home in his native Southern Indiana.
He's just the kind of guy Indiana officials, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are seeking out as they try to invigorate the state's yet-to-blossom tech economy.
In this case, Parker -- whose family roots in Indiana date to around 1815 -- came to them. The COO of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Ariba recently walked up to Gov. Mitch Daniels, who was touring flood damage and sandbagging efforts in Southern Indiana, and handed him his business card.
"I've got a pretty thick Rolodex of contacts, and I would love to help people with mentoring," Parker, 46, New Harmony, said in an interview.
Parker, who has an engineering degree from the University of Evansville, was part of the team that built coffee-shop chain Caribou Coffee. After that he helped run Pittsburgh-based FreeMarkets, a business services and software company that merged with Ariba in 2004.
After being handed that business card, Daniels e-mailed Nathan Feltman, Indiana secretary of commerce, and Bruce Kidd, director of entrepreneurship for the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
Kidd soon was in contact with Parker. "I gave him a little homework assignment," Kidd said.
He asked Parker to encourage East and West Coast venture capital firms to look at Indiana startups, especially those working with the state's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund.
"We want VCs to find our companies," Feltman said. "We're no longer afraid of a VC from Boston or Silicon Valley coming and investing in our company and moving it."
Feltman said Indiana is becoming known as a low-cost, business-friendly environment where tech and life-sciences companies can attract talented workers and thrive.
During a lunch last week with Star journalists at Downtown eatery King David Dogs, Daniels was asked about the state's entrepreneurial culture. "It needs cultivation, honestly," he said.
Yet the governor talked excitedly about the challenge and importance of helping startups.
"One in 1,000 is going to blossom into a Zimmer, a Biomet, a Cook," Daniels said. He mentions Musical DNA Software, which plans to establish its headquarters and development center Downtown in the Stutz Business Center, as an intriguing company.
Parker also sees great potential in Hoosier innovations.
But Parker -- who has invested in farmland and historic preservation near his home -- moved to New Harmony for other reasons. "Back home again in Indiana has a very strong pull," he said.
Indeed it does. Other Indiana natives working in this nation's crowded and costly business hubs undoubtedly feel that pull.
