For a little more than a year, Grant Superior Judge Mark Spitzer has presided over his local drug court and
has witnessed what he describes as remarkable results from the problem-solving court model.
State lawmakers want to crack down on child support collections and make it tougher for deadbeat parents to not pay what's owed.
Lawmakers are considering legislation that would repeal a last-minute 2009 special session provision that gave the Indiana Department of Child Services key control in deciding whether juveniles should be placed outside the state.
A juvenile justice summit by the Indiana State Bar Association in August has led to the introduction of a bill that would change how students are treated in schools and hopefully decrease the number of school suspensions while increasing statewide graduation rates.
In the first week after the Indiana General Assembly returned, lawmakers addressed several bills during two key committee meetings particularly relevant to the state's legal community.
A legislative committee this week unanimously approved a bill that would cap the fines a court could assess for traffic violations.
Lawmakers rejected a southern Indiana county's request this week for a new judge to run a family court, even though it proposes paying for it locally rather than with state money.
The Indiana General Assembly tried to end the session more than a week before the constitutional March 14 deadline, but impasses on school funding and unemployment insurance caused the legislators to miss their March 4 self-imposed deadline.
Although the deadline has passed to introduce new legislation, St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak has called on legislators to find current bills that will allow amendments to statute in response to two separate car accidents involving police officers.
The 2010 session of the Indiana General Assembly wrapped up Thursday with Gov. Mitch Daniels signing the remaining legislation pending before him.
During the final week of committee hearings before the Indiana General Assembly reaches its midpoint, the legal community watched as many bills died in their current form for lack of a hearing while others remained in play and moved to the full House or Senate for a potential vote.
The Senate Judiciary Committee spent most of its time this week discussing the definition of marriage in Indiana and whether
a constitutional amendment should be sent to voters to make it tougher for courts and legislators to rewrite how they
handle both gay marriage and civil unions.
At the midway point in this Indiana General Assembly session, dozens of bills died this week when one house didn't vote on them while others moved on for further consideration.
Hoosier lawmakers are revising state law following the confusion created by an Indiana Supreme Court ruling last year relating to how convicted sex offenders can be removed from a statewide registry if they believe registration wasn't required at the time of their conviction.
With legislative deadlines fast approaching for the Indiana General Assembly, lawmakers have reached crunch time in moving legislation through for consideration before the short session comes to a close.
The full Senate will now decide whether casinos should be forced to check if certain gamblers winning larger jackpots are on a delinquent child support list, and if those gaming winnings should be automatically frozen and put toward the amount owed.
As this year's legislative session winds down, several bills of interest to the legal community have made it through both
houses, but many remained stuck in conference committee Thursday.
A longtime Indianapolis attorney who's a freshman lawmaker with the Indiana General Assembly is embracing what he calls the most significant local government reform issue expected this session.
The Indiana General Assembly made some of its first votes this week, while four legislative committees discussed an array of issues that may be of interest to the state's legal community.
Magistrates can now be certified as senior judges, and the parents who don't pay ordered child support but gamble at casinos can have their winnings withheld. Those are just two of the many bills Gov. Mitch Daniels has signed into law. The Indiana General Assembly ended its 2010 session March 13, with the fate of the […]