The Indiana Publisher

The Hoosier State Press Association Foundation will file an amicus brief in the Indiana Court of Appeals to support Tax Analysts attempt to secure the details of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation/Indianapolis bid for Amazon's second headquarters. Margaret Christensen of Dentons Bingham Greenebaum in Indianapo- lis will draft the brief for the HSPA Foundation. HSPA Executive Director and General Counsel Steve Key believes Marion County Superior Court Judge John Chavis interpreted the relevant statute to have an intent that was not intended when the language was passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2005. Judge Chavis ruled on April 24 against Tax Analysts, a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., and its staff reporter Lauren Loricchio, who have been attempt- ing to collect the 238 proposals that Amazon received. According to Indianapolis Star columnist James Briggs, the Indianapolis bid is becoming an "increasingly rare holdout." The dispute centered on language in the Access to Public Records specifically inserted for the new IEDC in the 2005 General Assembly. H.E.A 1003 was authored by then Rep. Randy Borror, R-Fort Wayne. The bill shifted the state's economic development efforts to the public- private entity. Judge Chavis' ruling focused on language that was part of Borror's introduced version of H.B. 1003. The language allowed the IEDC to keep records related to negotiations between IEDC and industrial, research or commercial prospects confidential at the discretion of the entity if the records were created while negotiations were in progress. The next paragraph stated that "the terms of the final offer of public financial resources communi- cated by the corporation to an industrial, a research, or a commer- cial prospect shall be available for inspection and copying [under the Access to Public Records Act] after negotiations with that prospect have terminated." With negotiation records allowed to be kept secret, Borror included language requiring the IEDC to certify that the disclosed record "accurately and completely represents the terms of the final offer." Key says the language would make IEDC officials think twice about withholding any of the terms in that final offer from the public because they would then be consciously violating the law. There was no dispute before Judge Chavis that IEDC and Indianapolis submitted a response to Amazon's request for proposals and that response included dollar Publisher The Indiana Volume 85, Issue 7 • July 2020 Published on second Thursday monthly See Amicus, page 12 Foundation to file amicus in Tax Analysts appeal • Revised Publication Days? • Staffing Changes? • New Advertising Rates? • New Billing address? Attention Indiana Newspapers: Keep HSPA in the loop with what is changing at your newspaper. Email info to sgoldsby@hspa.com. Two U.S. Representatives plan to file a bill to support local journalism that has the support of both the NewsMedia Alliance and the National Newspaper Association. Called the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, the bill will be sponsored by Reps. Ann Kirkpat- rick, D-Arizona, and Dan New- house, R-Washington. In a letter to her fellow congres- sional members, Rep. Kirkpatrick said the loss of local newspapers "would be devastating to communi- ties, big and small, across the country. Given the economic downturn we are facing, we can no longer wait to take bold, decisive action to preserve journalistic endeavors throughout the United States." The legislation would provide three tax credits aimed to sustain and provide a path to viability for local journalism. Following are the bill's three proposed tax credits: Newspaper subscriptions – A five-year non-refundable credit of up to $250 annually for individual Two U.S. Reps plan to file Local Journalism Sustainability Act See Act, page 2 • Non-profit Tax Analysts and its staff reporter have been attempting to collect the 238 proposals Amazon received for its second headquarters • Marion County Superior Court Judge John Chavis ruled against the release of information on Indianapolis's bid.

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