State Senators Jim Arnold and Karen Tallian joined with State House Representative Tom Dermody Friday morning for The Third House Session.
Hosted by the La Porte and Michigan City Chambers of Commerce in collaboration with Purdue University North Central, the Third House Session provided community members with the opportunity to hear from their local legislators as well as ask questions concerning their community.
"Everyone here is interested in what it is that the legislators are talking about," said Purdue University North Central Chancellor James Dworkin."I think that whether the issues range from education to the environment, to the gay marriage issue, people are interested in what's going on."
The session opened with each legislator speaking about the accomplishments of the house and senate thus far as well as future plans and ideas for improvement.
The session touched on controversial topics throughout the state of Indiana including the HJR-3 amendment, which would define marriage as between one man and one woman; Senate Bill 1, which proposes to cut corporate and property taxes in the state; along with plans to bring money to Northwest Indiana to fund projects such as the KIP project.
Although occasionally cordially disagreeing with one another, all three legislators praised the organizational efforts of the La Porte and Michigan City Chambers of Commerce and Purdue University North Central for hosting the session.
"We're very grateful to the fact that the La Porte Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan City Chamber of Commerce along with Purdue North Central has held this Third House Session, said Senator Arnold.
"It has been an opportunity for legislatures, Senator Tallian, Representative Dermody, and myself to come down here and talk about the legislation that has passed the first half of the session, talk to business leaders and interested citizens and offer them the opportunity to ask questions about what's going on down state."