State Representative Jackie Walorski Keeps School in Boundaries

The cchrstl web blog details the lawsuit between the Rhoades family and Pen-Harris-Madison School Corp.  The school was charged for screening Chelsea Rhoades (student) without parental consent.  To escalate the issue, the school also misdiagnosed Chelsea from the mental health screening.  Representative Jackie Walorski wasted no time in addressing the issue.  She was delighted that a federal court ruled in the Rhoades favor.  She also stresses the consequences of crossing the parent-child relationship line.

“I am elated that the federal court is allowing the family the opportunity to pursue this lawsuit,” said state Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Jimtown) “This kind of testing without parental consent led me to go on a petition drive that collected more than 12,000 names and eventually resulted in a state law requiring written parental approval before screenings such as this.

“The court, through its ruling, reaffirms parents’ right to control their children’s mental and physical health and wellbeing,” Rep. Walorski said, “and it sends a message to schools and agencies that they should be very, very careful about interfering with parental prerogatives.”

“There are boundaries to keep schools and other agencies from interfering in the parent-child relationship,” Rep. Walorski said. “Those boundaries should not be ignored or taken lightly, and this case shines a light on that issue.”

State Representative Walorski Brings Aid to Bolin Family

WNDU.com identifies that Indiana is one of the leading states in foreclosures.  At a workshop held by Lt. Governor Skillman, Peggy and Harold Bolin searched for advice and help by explaining their hardships with assessment.  State Representative Jackie Walorski dutifully undertook the Bolin’s case, and is seeking aid for them through the State Attorney General.

Jackie Walorski Works to Improve Economic Conditions for Elkhart County

iStockAnalyst shares the upsetting news of Monaco Coach’s layoffs. Representative Walorski stated that there were many causes, primarily oil prices, that affected the need for Monaco Coach to lay off several employees. She will push for legislation that will halt sales tax on RV’s.

Walorski sent a letter to the governor Thursday requesting state aid due to the elimination of 1,400 jobs at Monaco. Those jobs will be lost by mid-September.

"While there are many factors contributing to these layoffs, the high price of fuel is certainly at the top of the list, thus bottle-necking production. I have personally spoken to CEOs of RV companies that have stated that dealers are not restocking their inventories for fear that they will not move the units. One CEO described the industry as 'frozen,'" she said in the letter.

"I will be offering legislation in January, asking to suspend the sales tax on the purchase of RVs in Indiana, hoping to bump up production and bringing movement back into our Hoosier RV industry. I am hopeful you will be supportive of that concept."

Jackie Walorski instructs at the Women’s Campaign College

State Representative Jackie Walorski served as an instructor for the Women’s Campaign College at IUSB last week.  Several of the attendees, even those from the Green Party, had great words to say about her instructions.

Check them out:

If We Only Connect Blog

Progressives, South Bend

Jackie Walorski's Capitol Letters Blog

Jackie Walorski gives us a round-up of this session on her blog. Here's some of what she had to say.

The 2008 Indiana General Assembly is now in the history books and will certainly go down as a session that delivered some major wins for taxpayers. Especially the 30-40% immediate property tax cut for Elkhart and St. Joseph County homeowners. Let me tell you, those wins didn’t come easily. It was a fight all along the way with those who felt they knew how to spend your money better than you. Not only that, it was a battle to convince them that no Hoosier should ever lose their home because of high taxes. I still firmly believe that until we actually “eliminate” the property tax it will be a source of many court battles and fights between local and state governments. But faced with limited options, this tax plan was the only one that I felt brought some immediate relief to Hoosiers this year.

Jackie Walorski: Spring campaign kicks off

Rep. Jackie Walorski never misses an opportunity to connect with voters in person and online. She’s doing so on Facebook, through an interactive website, and a blog.

This week, we were invited via Facebook to join Jackie for the Wakarusa Maple Syrup parade. You can too. Visit the event page to RSVP for the parade see Jackie in Wakarusa.

We’ve seen large crowds for Jackie in the past with dozens of volunteers in her parades. You'll be happy you joined her.

Walorski, Friend meet with constituents

The Elkhart Truth reports:

Indiana Reps. Jackie Walorski, R-Lakeville, and Bill Friend, R-Macy, joined Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, in Nappanee Saturday morning to meet their voters with legislative update issues. All made it clear that they understood the importance of getting the property tax dilemma under control.

"I hope that somehow we can come up with a compromise in all of this," Friend said.

The trio assured the crowd that House Bill 1001, concerning the property taxes in Indiana, was the No. 1 priority at the moment.

"The bill has already passed in the House," Walorski said. "Now the Senate is piecing it apart and taking a look at each part of it as they make amendments and pass it through. March 1 it will face the last step in becoming a reality."

Walorski’s “Stop Killing Cops” bill sent to Senate

WNDU in South Bend has a great story about a bill strengthening penalties on “cop killers” passing the Indiana House.

Rep. Jackie Walorski calls for spending caps

Rep. Jackie Walorski is interviewed here by South Bend’s WSBT, highlighting the importance of a state spending cap. View the story as text here.

Rep. Walorski made her case in this video for state spending caps while Democrats complained that reducing government is a bad thing.

Walorski:

“One of the things I think, Samuel, is key is that we have a spending cap on the state level,” said Jackie Walorski, R-Lakeville. “I think whatever we impose at the local level of the governor’s bill we impose at the state [level] as well.”

“There certainly is two sides to the equation,” said Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend. “And I certainly want to provide my constituents with meaningful property tax relief, but I also know my constituents expect safe streets and they know that comes from police officers and firefighters and they want streets that frankly don’t have potholes in them.”

Rep. Jackie Walorski listens to constituents

Rep. Walorski attended a Third House session organized by her local Chamber of Commerce recently. Check out the South Bend television coverage here.

To see the video, click on the camera icon above the photo.