2011 Walk-out Controversy
In February 2011, 37 out of 40 House Democrats refused to show up to a legislative session in protest of a Republican right-to-work bill, which would allow workers to have the option of paying union dues. With the Republicans in the majority, Democrats feared that what they consider to be a radical bill would be easily passed, and many of them relocated across the border in Urbana, Illinois. The move largely took a cue from Indiana's counterparts in Wisconsin, where Democratic lawmakers there hid out in Illinois in protest of a controversial public-sector union bill in the same month.
The Indiana Democratic caucus released a statement on the matter, saying that "By staying here, we will be giving the people of Indiana a chance to find out more about this radical agenda and speak out against it." Republican Governor Mitch Daniels, who had previously urged Republican lawmakers not to pursue a right-to-work bill during that legislative session, stated his hope that Democrats would return to do their jobs. Daniels supported the bill, but not the political timing of it, as it would distract from other parts of his legislative agenda he wanted to focus on.
In early March 2011, Democrats faced a choice of either returning to the state, or paying a daily fine of $250. The Indiana Constitution allows such fines as a way of compelling missing lawmakers to return. Such a tactic was employed as an alternative to sending state troopers after runaway legislators, which Governor Daniels declined to do. Lawmakers returned in six weeks, after they had been reassured that the right-to-work bill would not be on the legislative docket for that session.
Read more about this topic: Indiana Democratic Party
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