Gov. Mitch Daniels agreed with a plan to drop the legislation for the time being. Indiana kills 'right-to-work' bill

Republicans in Indiana’s state senate on Wednesday killed a proposed “right-to-work” bill that would have reduced the power of unions in the state.

“It was a mistake,” said Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, a Republican, at a late morning press conference, the Courier-Journal reported.


Long said he is dropping the legislation for the time being and instead will consider the measure in a committee study, a plan with which Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Republican speaker of the House both agree.

Long said he had urged House Speaker Brian Bosma not to pursue the bill “because of the chance it would blow up the session and we would have exactly the reaction we have out there.”

Democratic legislators fled the statehouse on Tuesday to block a vote on the proposed bill, following a similar move by Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin over that state’s proposed legislation to limit collective bargaining rights for public sector unions.

Daniels on Tuesday called on Democrats to return to work and asked Republicans to drop the legislation so they would. “I thought there was a better time and place to have this very important and legitimate issues raised,” he said.