U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly today helped the Senate pass a bipartisan legislative package that he negotiated, co-wrote, and helped introduce last November with a number of colleagues. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act passed the Senate on a 67-31 vote and would reduce regulatory burdens on community banks and credit unions — including for the 103 community banks and 154 credit unions in Indiana — as well as provide new protections to consumers. The bill previously passed the Senate Banking Committee in December with strong bipartisan support.

Voting for this bill was a no-brainer,” said Senator Todd Young. “Small businesses employ nearly half of the private workforce in Indiana, and these small business rely on credit unions and community banks to expand and hire more workers. Reforming the one-size-fits-all regulations that have crippled small lenders underDodd-Frank will help accelerate job creation and economic development in Indiana.”

This legislation reforms regulations that subject small community lenders to the same regulatory and compliance demands as big Wall Street banks, which harms creditworthy businesses and individuals. It also includes important consumer protections for veterans, senior citizens, victims of fraud and people who fall on tough financial times.

Donnelly, a member of the Banking Committee, said, “This legislative package is an example of what we can achieve by working together and shows Democrats and Republicans can break the gridlock. I’m proud my bill passed the Senate, because it would provide regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions in Indiana to make it easier for Hoosier families to get a mortgage and for small businesses to expand. And it includes a number of new consumer protections related to student loan borrowers, free credit monitoring for servicemembers, free credit freezes for all Americans, and protections for veterans from VA billing delays and predatory mortgage lending. I look forward to the passage of my bill in the House, so that it can head to the president’s desk.”

Last week, Donnelly spoke on the Senate floor about the legislative package. To see his remarks, click here.

Donnelly helped write and voted for the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act when he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and continues to support the important reforms included in the law. Donnelly’s bill maintains the key elements of Dodd-Frank to ensure the safety and soundness of our financial system.

This bipartisan regulatory relief package is carefully written to provide needed regulatory relief to Main Street community banks and credit unions, which have been inadvertently burdened by rules and regulations intended to hold Wall Street accountable. This package would promote economic growth by making commonsense reforms to increase mortgage and small business lending, while protecting consumers. Federal banking regulators have reported that the number of small business loans is down 41 percent since 2008.

The bipartisan Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act has broad support from organizations in Indiana and across the country:

·         Indiana Chamber of Commerce,

·         Indiana Credit Union League,

·         Indiana Bankers Association,

·         Indiana Mortgage Bankers Association,

·         Indiana Association of Realtors,

·         Indiana Manufactured Housing Association-Recreational Vehicle Indiana Council (IMHA-RVIC),

·         Indiana Builders Association

·         U.S. Chamber of Commerce,

·         Credit Union National Association,

·         National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions,

·         Independent Community Bankers of America,

·         American Bankers Association,

·         Mortgage Bankers Association,

·         Consumer Bankers Association,

·         Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America,

·         National Association of Home Builders,

·         National Association of REALTORS,

·         Third Way,

·         National Federation of Independent Business, and

·         Bipartisan Policy Center.

The legislative package has also received positive comments from respected experts such as former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, new Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, among others.

Donnelly-led and Donnelly-supported measures in the package that would benefit Hoosiers:

·         Community Banks and Credit Unions: There are a number of provisions related to community banks and credit unions that would increase their ability to extend credit to Hoosier small businesses and families, while maintaining important consumer protections. Donnelly-authored provisions, among others, include the “Qualified Mortgage” changes to allow more mortgage lending, and longer exam cycles for highly-rated community banks. These provisions would allow small financial institutions to focus on traditional banking to help more families obtain mortgages and small business loans.

·         Free Credit Freezes and Year-long Fraud Alerts in Response to Equifax Breach: Consumers would be able to freeze and unfreeze their credit in a timely manner, free of charge, and set year-long fraud alerts. The Federal Trade Commission and the major credit bureaus would be required to set up webpages where consumers could easily freeze their credit, set a fraud alert, and opt-out of pre-approved credit offers. Donnelly pursued these changes to protect consumers after the massive Equifax data breach that may have compromised the personal information of approximately 145 million Americans.

·         Protecting Veterans Credit: This provision, based off of Donnelly’s bipartisan Protecting Veterans Credit Act, would protect the credit ratings of veterans wrongly penalized by medical bill payment delays by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

·         Protecting Veterans from Predatory Home Lending: This provision would protect veterans from predatory refinancing of their VA home loans. It is based on the bipartisan Protecting Veterans from Predatory Lending Act that Donnelly helped introduce earlier this year.

·         Protecting Servicemembers: This legislation includes a provision that would provide free credit monitoring for all active-duty servicemembers.

·         Student Loans: This provision discharges co-signers (e.g. parents) from student loan debt upon the death or bankruptcy of the student borrower. And, another Donnelly-authored provision, based on previously introduced legislation, would require Treasury’s Financial Literacy Commission to develop best practices for colleges to assist students making financial decisions related to borrowing.

·         Manufactured Housing: This provision, based on Donnelly’s bipartisan Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act, would ensure consumers can receive general financing information from retailers in order to purchase affordable homes.

·         Lead Remediation: A Donnelly-authored provision would require HUD to report on its lead-based paint hazard prevention and abatement policies, best practices, and enforcement to better protect the health and safety of children. Another provision would allow existing Treasury Hardest Hit funds to be used for lead and asbestos remediation.

Reed said school buses would be running from normal start time until about 11a. 

Salem Schools will hold its first eLearning Day on Thursday, March 22.

“We have received permission from the state to have the eLearning date on March 22,” said Superintendent Dr. DL Reed. “We will be sending home letters and have a link online if the child needs transportation.” (see link below)

Salem was approved this week to make up the February 7 school cancellation utilizing this option from the Indiana Department of Education. 

“If any child needs transportation we will make that available through our bus routes,” Reed said. “We are asking that children sign up by Monday at noon so we can coordinate the routes. This is just for Thursday.  If you have internet at home, they don’t have to come in. The transportation is for children who don’t have internet access at home. We will have all buildings open. Staff will be in the computer rooms.”

All three county schools now will be utilizing eLearning day, which is to allow students to practice important 21st century skills away from a traditional classroom setting.

They will be able to work, create and collaborate in order to complete assignments given by teachers. They are encouraged to practice good time management to complete the work before the due date.

In this unique case, the eLearning window has been extended beyond a normal timeframe to allow students to have their Spring Break off as well. The school will require that all work be turned in before the student leaves school on Tuesday, April 3.

Student will need to log into their Google Classroom account to access the eLearning materials. Students have their login information and have been practicing the types of work they will need to do on the eLearning Day.

Additional information will be posted on the school website closer to March 22.

If you have any questions, please send them to: elearningday@salemschools.us

Shoppers will find both familiar and the new when the Mitchell Ruler Foods reopens its doors this fall in the former Jay-C Foods location at 1240 W. Main Street.

Ruler carries products to meet all customers’ basic needs creating a complete
and convenient shopping experience including fresh produce and choice meats.
As part of The Kroger Company, we feature Kroger brands that shoppers know
and trust. 

The 25,372-square- foot store will be entirely remodeled and represents a $600,000 investment in the Mitchell Community.

In addition to a fresh interior and new look, shoppers will discover expanded

fresh produce and meat departments—an ongoing test at the new Ruler stores,
and extensive offerings from Kroger’s private label brands including: Kroger,
Truth organic and “free from” products, and Private Selection.

The new store will feature Ruler’s new look and layout and will aim to surprise and delight
customers with special deals on exclusive items and seasonal fare.

Liz Ferneding, president of Ruler Foods, is eager to reopen. “We are very excited
to expand our footprint in Mitchell, IN!  We are dedicated to continuing to serve
our loyal Mitchell customers a fresh experience in the new location and look
forward to serving new customers in the community with a new modern Ruler
experience while still delivering the low prices and selection our customers love.”

Specific details on the grand opening date and related events will be forthcoming
once the project is underway.

Ruler Foods operates from Seymour, Indiana with 50 stores in six states
(including Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, and Tennessee).

Their mission is simple: “provide quality foods to customers who need or want to save money.”

For more information, visit Ruler Foods online at www.rulerfoods.com
and www.facebook.com/rulerfoods.

The Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR) continues to partner with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to share the top tax filing season concerns referred to as the “IRS Dirty Dozen” tax scams for 2018.

The second scam in the 12-part series is phone scams. Phone scams are designed to threaten taxpayers into paying money toward bogus tax bills. These scams surge during tax season and often trick the taxpayer into paying money to criminals claiming to be from the IRS or DOR.

Most of these phone scams involve con artists making calls claiming to be from the IRS and demanding payment on a fake tax bill. Threats including arrest, deportation and/or revoking a driver’s license are being made to intimidate the victim into paying. Con artists then convince the victims to provide cash payments usually through a wire transfer, prepaid debit card or gift card.

A new phone scam deployed in recent weeks has identity thieves filing fraudulent tax returns with refunds going to the taxpayer’s bank account. The scammer will then call the victim to convince them to send the refund money to the scammer.

The federal government’s Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reports over 12,000 victims who have paid over $63 million as a result of phone scams since 2013.

“If you have an outstanding tax liability owed to the State of Indiana, the Indiana Department of Revenue will contact you first by mail,” said DOR Commissioner Adam Krupp. “While we do communicate regularly with customers over the phone to work through outstanding liabilities or aid customers in making a payment, we will never call to demand payment or threaten a taxpayer.” 

“If Hoosiers ever question any kind of correspondence from either tax agency—DOR or IRS—we  encourage them to call our agency directly to ask questions and confirm what actions need to happen if any.”

Remember DOR and the IRS will never:

• Threaten a taxpayer with arrest or deportation for not paying.
• Demand taxes be paid without giving the taxpayer the opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed.
• Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
• Call taxpayers about an unexpected refund.

If taxpayers think they may be the target of a phone scam:

• Do not give any information over the phone, hang up immediately.
• Call TIGTA at 800-366-4484 or report online at https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml
• Report to DOR by email at investigations@dor.in.gov or by phone at 317-232-2240.

The Washington County Commissioners and Council had a joint special meeting with township trustees on March 1 to determine who will pay for 11 miles of road that currently is not receiving tax money. 

The county is in the process of updating their pavement asset management plant for the Community Crossing Grants and have discovered that the county is maintaining approximately 11 miles of roads of roads not receiving any tax money the maintenance. 

The 11 miles of roads is in incorporated town limits. 

Superintendent Rick Voyles said county road money should not be used to pave roads within the limits. 

The towns need a pavement asset management plan in order to qualify for grant monies. 

The council and commissioners informed the towns that the county would be willing to pay the cost of the pavement asset management plan for the first year only. 

HWC Representative Paul Lincks stated the cost would be $1200. 

Once the plan is done, the towns could contract with HWC to apply for grant monies. 

It was the consensus of the commissioners and council to provide the funding for the plan and decide at their regular March meetings.