Passions for disability advocacy, environment fuel candidates for Indiana House District 47

The two men running for Indiana House of Representatives District 47 both have passions they want to bring to the Statehouse.

For freshman incumbent Robb Greene, R-Shelbyville, that passion is advocating for people with disabilities. For Democrat challenger Michael Potter, of Bargersville, that passion is the environment.

In his one-term at the Statehouse, Greene has already made a name for himself in disability advocacy, earning the Legislator of the Year award from the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Inc. for his work passing into law a tax credit incentivizing companies to hire people with disabilities. Greene’s advocacy is inspired by his son, who is on the autism spectrum.

“I think the beauty of a part-time legislature is, not only does it bring a lot of depth of experience from people’s backgrounds professionally, but it also allows you to bring your passions to the Statehouse,” Greene said. “Mine is in the area of workforce development and employment for people with a disability. As you may know, 80% of people with a disability are out of the workforce. That number is 85% for people on the spectrum, and I frankly find that unconscionable.”

Potter would like to bring his experience with environmental science to the Statehouse. There are several issues before the legislature that could benefit from a scientist’s perspective, such as the water issues surrounding the LEAP district in Lebanon and the renewable energy transition, he said.

“I just turned 50 and it kind of just hit me like nobody is going to do this for me — for us. I almost feel a responsibility to step in and give this a try,” Potter said.

Having an environmental scientist at the table could help steer the state toward policies that would promote renewable energy, Potter said. For example, requiring large energy users to come up with a power plan to put less stress on the electrical grid. He also believes the legislature should be looking at ways to reduce PFAS and microplastics in the environment.

The following are their responses to questions the Daily Journal developed based on issues likely to be brought up in the Statehouse and issues that voters are talking about. Their responses were edited for length, grammar and clarity.

Next year is a budget year, what do you think should be prioritized?

Greene: You’re going to see a lot of property taxes. I’ve been there less than two years, and it’s been front of mind for a lot of individuals in that time. I’ve seen some plans that I’ve heard are going to come out of the Republican caucus for reform, as well as what the new governor may want to institute. So I think that’s going to be a big one. Education is always going to be top of mind and infrastructure. My hope is that we’ll be able to do something meaningful on property tax reform in 2025.

Potter: Teachers and health care. I’ve been listening to the “This Week in Indiana” podcast and it talks about a lot of budget stuff. I haven’t dug too deep into it, but you know there are millions approved for LEAP and Indiana Economic Development [Corporation] and it’s like, well what’s approved for teachers? I like McCormick’s education plan and the $60,000 [minimum salary]. We cannot have teachers below that threshold. I really feel like teachers need to be paid first. … They should be in the same pot with police and fire. Then we have the $1 billion shortfall or missed estimate [for Indiana Medicaid]. I don’t know the details and all of that, but I have a parent in an elder care situation, and so that’s hitting home. I see how these healthcare workers work. They are amazing people. I feel like they’re undervalued when it comes to the formulation of one nurse per 10 patients. … They’re a little short, and unfortunately, it takes tax dollars to pay a lot of that stuff, and we’ve got to come up with the money.

Do you think Hoosiers need property tax relief? If so, could it be achieved without impacting local governments and schools?

Greene: Absolutely, we need property tax reform. The challenge was, when proper the property tax system was originally reformed in 2008, they moved away from assessments by elected officials, and tied it to the market. The thought process was when you invest in real estate, it grows incrementally over time, and you wouldn’t see these big fluctuations. But I don’t think the leaders at the time really understood what would happen in 2020, 2021, 2022, or that the real estate market was ever going to happen where it wasn’t just tens or thousands of dollars in increased value, it was hundreds of thousands of dollars more in some instances. We need to do something to rein in that. Particularly, with farmers, we need to revisit the base rate for agricultural land. I don’t think that’s been working for farmers recently. It’s too complex. You have to have a PhD in economics to even remotely understand how they’ve formulated that. It needs to be streamlined and simplified and work for farmers. I don’t think it’s an either-or decision between choosing between quality of life issues and maintaining services and reforming the system. I think you could find efficiencies within it.

Potter: With seniors on a fixed income, they certainly need to have some relief, or some way to offset, the year-to-year jump [in property value] — that’s significant. I definitely think we need to avoid these year-to-year jumps for everyone. Probably through an auditing process, we need to look at whether these home values are realistic. I feel like if we can’t go out and sell our home the next day for the price they say it’s worth, then it’s not worth that much. They’re just inflating those numbers to get more tax dollars. … The local governments need the money as much as anybody so they can deal with the local roads, local bridges, so we can’t be taking that money.

A recent study says Indiana needs $1 billion to fund needed improvements to local roads and bridges. What could the legislature do to raise this money?

Greene: That study was done by Purdue’s LTAP, the local technical assistance program, and it was released statewide. Obviously it’s concerning. … It is certainly a top-of-mind need that Indiana is going to need to focus on. LTAP did say that they were going to release the report county by county in the coming days. I would love to take a look at what that means for both Johnson and Shelby counties and see the scope of the problem — if there is one — and then have a conversation with our county commissioners, county councilors who deal with that. I don’t want to make a blanket statement. I represent Johnson and Shelby counties, and I want to see what the scope of the issue is long-term, based on what that report says, before potentially coming out with the solution.

Potter: As a second party or a minority party, we need to do our job to let the voters know what’s going on. I think it’s a checks and balances thing. It’s an asleep-at-the-wheel sort of situation. Whereas if they were fighting for their jobs and there was a little more fighting for budgets, there may be more action. We’re behind the eight ball now. There are planning things at the city level for a little more city density. Greenwood is making a major effort at that with their new condos and the redevelopment of the old middle school. With city density comes tax dollar density and so for every foot of road, sidewalk, sewer or water pipe, you’re getting more dollars for each foot. The plan up to this point has been to get as spread out as possible. It’s like “I don’t want to see my neighbors, but I want police, fire, water. I want all the things, but I want to be far away from everyone.” Well, with that our cost per foot of infrastructure skyrockets, which leads to this situation. … Maybe the answer is, the farther away you are from the city center, the higher your taxes, because you’re literally paying for more roads, more infrastructure out to your home.

Do you think the legislature is on the right track with recent education legislation?

Greene: The diploma changes are coming through the Indiana Department of Education. They’re on their second round of public input at this time. I think they’ve got a lot of great feedback from Hoosiers around the state and stakeholders. I think people saw their initial report, and I would encourage everybody to go to the website in the second round and actually give their feedback. … Generations like mine were told, “You have one track go to college. If you don’t go to college, then you have no future.” I don’t think that applies anymore. I don’t think everybody is cut out to go to college, or necessarily find success in college, and so giving more flexibility to people that want to pursue a vocation, or go into the military or produce something, you know, pursue something non-traditional, or even become an entrepreneur. … I’m a big proponent of school choice. I think we’re at 97% of families who can pursue a choice scholarship. I think we should just make it 100%. That’s giving families more of an option to choose what’s best for their child. It is a good thing, just as a special needs dad. I wouldn’t want somebody to tell me I couldn’t choose what the best program would be for my child. And it doesn’t even have to be because you’re dealing with a challenge. It could be a family that says, “Hey, I want to choose a program over here, because they have a top-notch robotics team.”

Potter: I’d like to see public education dollars kept in public education. I understand the need for vouchers. I understand there are many situations within school districts, particularly along district lines, where it makes more sense for a child to go to one school or another. … As a big public school advocate, if vouchers go to private schools, those private schools should no longer be considered private. They don’t get to select if they’re taking voucher money. They don’t get to pick which voucher money they get, which person they get. That becomes a public school situation, and then they should be held to the same standards as a public school, which includes the teaching of science and or not religion, or making a broad education of religion, including all religions, not just the one they particularly selected for their school. … As far as school discipline, truancy, we just have to work. We just have to be diligent. It just takes dedication and coordination with parents, teachers and in progress in a direction, in a positive direction.

Hoosiers’ hospital bills are among the highest in the U.S. Do you think the legislature should act to help curb costs for Hoosiers?

Greene: It’s important to make a distinction. Our house district is very unique in that we have two small, independent hospitals between Major Health Partners in Shelbyville and Johnson Memorial Health here in Franklin, and they are absolutely 100% not the problem. They deliver high-quality care on thin margins and are competing against massive, unaccountable hospital networks. I’d want to know more about what is being proposed. I know Sen. [Mike] Braun has a proposal out. I know there are some individuals within the Republican caucus who are focused on this, and on the Senate Republican side, it’s been an issue. It’s been a concern because Indiana has been an outlier in cost. I want to make sure that players like JMH and MHP don’t get caught up in whatever this proposal ends up being because they are not the problem. It’s the larger networks that I think have created some of the challenges of this and made this an issue in 2025. Indiana has been sort of an outlier in the Midwest. And I think the goal has been to bring us in line with our other neighbors in the Midwest. We want to know why the cost is different from some of our bordering states. So, it’s absolutely a competitive issue.

Potter: It would be nice to have universal health care, where the representatives would be able to break that up and negotiate fair medical costs and fair care. Not only do we pay a lot often, we don’t get a lot of attention, and you’re finding that you have to re-explain your situation to a doctor. … Can the legislature step in? They can. Part of it is, what should they do? What do Hoosiers want as citizens? Because what they’re voting for, to me, doesn’t sound like what the discussions I’m having and have been having for many years. I’ve been in Indiana and Johnson County for about 30 of my 50 years. So the things people say they want they aren’t voting for. The Republican Party of today is not the Republican Party of 10 or 20 years ago. So we need to do a better job as Democrats, getting our word out and again, balancing that legislature. So at least there is a debate again. … At the federal level, there was a little bit of prescription care relief recently provided. Something along those lines, I think is where you go. We’re kind of to this point where it’s about the details. We have to attack them one at a time, whether it’s a procedure or a prescription drug … these are going to be evaluated for this month. We could set up a schedule so that Hoosiers can understand where we’re going.

Do you agree with the cuts made to Indiana Medicaid causing some Hoosiers to lose coverage or pay for it for the first time? Is there a better way the Medicaid shortfall could’ve been made up?

Greene: The challenge that I see with this debate is that it’s a false choice between tightening our belt and only cut or leaving the system as it is to become unsustainable. There’s a third way to look at the services and how they’re delivered. This is an area that is squarely in my wheelhouse for issues and policies, something I care very deeply about. I’ll give an example. So if you’re on if you’re receiving waiver services, we have these perverse incentives that are built into the system, where … you’re limited to $2,000 in personal liquid assets. If you’re married, it’s $3,000, so we’re disincentivizing marriage on a certain point. So people are either not getting married, or they’re co-habitating. … And we’re saying that you can’t build or accumulate wealth. … So, why are we keeping individuals sort of shackled to the system? Further, you’re limited to making $2,829 a month, so $34,000 a year. You can’t live on that and so you’re forcing individuals … to choose between giving up their the services that they need, or potentially will need, or bettering themselves and growing out of that. … We have extreme budget hawks who obviously want to see fewer people on our roles, but we’re not taking a look at the obvious thing. … There’s a lot of opportunity to reshape the system. … There’s a way that, if somebody wants to get their hands dirty — like I’m willing to do — they can get in there, and we can find ways that actually work for people, that also will work for our budget long term. Because if we don’t do something about it, it’s either going to become unsustainable or real people are going to start to get hurt.

Potter: I don’t think anyone should have to lose coverage. We’re in a situation where [my family is] applying for long-term elder care through Medicaid right now. Our waiver is pending and has been for a little under a year, so we fell in that category. … I don’t think we can take care away. That’s a bad road to start down. Again, I’m not there monitoring every dollar and making those payments. I realize there’s a budget issue, but maybe we should let worry a little bit less than we have to develop. … But maybe other programs need to cut back like stipends for bringing businesses in and that kind of thing. And IEDC, with its $100 and something million budget. It doesn’t solve the billion dollars, but you can’t take care away from people.

The lack of affordable housing is an issue facing Johnson County and the state. Is this something you think the legislature should address?

Greene: I do, and I think we’ve done some things in this area. In 2023, we had House Enrolled Act 1005, which created a revolving loan fund for residential infrastructure. It was targeted at communities of 50,000 or less, so 70% of the fund would go to communities that have populations of 50,000 or less, which squarely fits places like Shelbyville, Franklin, Trafalgar, Bargersville. I think that is helping remove a barrier, but I think the government should be fostering a culture of ownership. Because if you’re putting down roots in a community, you’re contributing to the stability of that community. You’re invested in it. You care about the future of that community. There’s value in government fostering a sense of ownership amongst its people, because you’ll see a benefit of that long term when you when you’re when you own land, when you own a home, you’re a part of that community, and you care about its direction, and you’re more invested in the decisions that are made. … So, I squarely think that it’s the role of government to help more Hoosiers realize the American dream.

Potter: If there’s anything a legislature would do, would be to perhaps require a level of planning certification. When with towns that are developing, I feel like a lot of decisions are made by town councils, which don’t usually engage in an engineering company or planning company. At least the plans I’ve seen around Johnson County, I don’t know that that final design is something a planner would necessarily do. … The other thing that can be legislated is, corporate rental agencies buying up homes and then sort of artificially inflating rents. I think we could probably legislate that helped to some extent.

ABOUT THE JOB

What: Indiana House of Representatives, District 47

Term: Two years

Pay: $28,791 annually + per diem of $196 a day (2024)

Duties: Representatives draft and vote on legislation brought before the General Assembly, including the bi-annual state budget.

Area: District 47 includes the communities of Franklin, Fairland, Boggstown, Trafalgar, Fountaintown, Bargersville, Nineveh, and parts of Shelbyville and Edinburgh.