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Indiana’s legislative session begins on Jan. 4. Between COVID-19, redrawing legislative districts and setting the state’s two-year budget, lawmakers will be tackling a lot in the next few months.
Hundreds of bills are filed every year, and it’s difficult for even journalists – who are literally paid to – to keep up with all of them. How can you keep up? Here’s our guide for how to navigate Indiana’s legislative session.
Hundreds of bills are filed every year, and it’s difficult for even journalists – who are literally paid to – to keep up with all of them. How can you keep up? Here’s our guide for how to navigate Indiana’s legislative session.
Indiana legislators scrambled in the final days of their session to make decisions on spending the state’s $3 billion share of the $350 billion in federal coronavirus relief money approved this year for state and local governments.
The bill, SB 5, arose after Hoosiers complained to their lawmakers that local health officials went too far during the COVID-19 pandemic, shutting down or restricting some businesses.
Indiana legislators are returning to the Statehouse for a possible vote on overriding the governor’s veto of a bill giving local elected officials the power to block county or city public health orders issued during emergencies.
The Senate will meet first next week, since both measures are Senate bills. The House will also meet Monday. A simple majority in both chambers is all it takes to override a veto.
The legislation would have barred local health officials from issuing emergency rules that went further than state restrictions.
Indiana lawmakers wrapped up the legislative session with new money for schools and a controversial expansion of school choice, but several other education policy changes have been signed into law that aren't related to the budget.
Senate Minority Leader Greg Taylor voted against the state’s two-year budget, even though it passed the Indiana General Assembly with bi-partisan support.
Doctors in Indiana would be required to tell women undergoing drug-induced abortions about a disputed treatment for potentially stopping the abortion process under a measure that’s been signed into law.
Gov. Eric Holcomb has signed a controversial bill into law that takes away state protections for many of Indiana’s wetlands.
The results of Indiana's takeover of a handful of academically failing schools are mixed, at best. The takeovers didn't get the results officials wanted, and caused a lot of frustration about local control.
The lawsuit argues that the Legislature is “usurping a power given exclusively to the governor” under the state constitution to call lawmakers into a special session.
Holcomb said the Environmental Protection Agency already requires E15 to be labeled and called Senate Enrolled Act 303 an “unnecessary and confusing” additional layer of government.
Supporters of the bill said Indiana’s current wetlands law is too strict — causing home prices to go up and creating conflicts between farmers and state environmental regulators.
The bill, HB 1009, started in the House as a proposal to prevent income earned in worker training programs from counting against government benefits.
Even the session’s finale was altered by COVID-19. “We are going to have a different type of motion this year," Speaker Todd Huston said. "It’s going to be missing a couple of words.”
Indiana’s legislative session came to an end Thursday, though lawmakers expect to return in the fall for redistricting.
The session ended on a note of bipartisanship, with almost every Democrat joining Republicans to vote for the new state budget.
Maybe the biggest surprise of the 2021 legislative session happened on its final day when a new, $37 billion state budget passed with almost no opposition.
Rep. Dan Leonard (R-Huntington) argued it’s only fair to tax unemployment insurance when some Hoosiers received more than they would working at a job paying $20 an hour.
The bill doesn’t place any limits on private businesses. It allows government agencies to continue keeping immunization records for public health administration and provide people with their own immunization records.
Indiana public school and teachers groups are cheering the education funding increase included in the new state budget plan that’s poised for final approval from lawmakers on Thursday.
The executive order tells state agencies they must provide pregnant workers with temporary accommodations like longer break times, the ability to sit or stand for comfort, and a private space for expressing breast milk.
Current law sets the weight limit for trucks at 80,000 pounds. However, if you’re hauling steel, paper or agricultural products, you can get special permits to haul 120,000 pounds.
The state spending plan will put $500 million into Holcomb’s new regional economic recovery program, dubbed READI.
Legislative leaders are calling the new state budget a “historic win” for teachers, students and schools.
Indiana legislators have endorsed a deal allowing the tribal casino in South Bend to become a full-fledged competitor to Indiana’s other casinos.
A bill that aims to help communities with failing septic systems connect to city water and sewer service is heading to Governor Holcomb’s desk.
Republicans override another Holcomb veto and a new revenue forecast projects billions more for the new state budget. Here’s what you might have missed this week at the Statehouse.
Indiana lawmakers will have about $2 billion more to use in the new state budget after an updated projection of state tax revenues was unveiled Thursday.
Republican lawmakers set up a potential court fight Thursday when they overrode Gov. Eric Holcomb's recent veto of emergency powers legislation.
A bill that will give health care providers additional protections from COVID-19 liability lawsuits is on its way to the governor’s desk.
A bill that would get rid of state protections for some wetlands in Indiana narrowly passed the Senate.
The American Board program operates in several other states, and supporters of the bill point out it includes data reporting for the state to evaluate the program's usefulness and quality.
The idea was to make it easier for renewable energy companies to invest in Indiana. Right now the state is a patchwork of different local ordinances — some counties have banned wind farms altogether.
Indiana’s latest anti-abortion measure will likely soon become law after House legislators sent it to the governor Wednesday.
Indiana’s new, two-year, $36 billion state budget is headed for its final negotiation phase after the Senate approved its version of the spending plan Tuesday.
High school courses in areas including cosmetology and culinary arts will keep their state funding in a version of the budget approved by the Senate after language that would’ve cut their funding was removed from the current bill.
Indiana House lawmakers debated a ban on so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports Monday.
A bill that originally aimed to remove protections for Indiana’s wetlands has undergone some big and somewhat contradictory changes.
Indiana Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kevin Brinegar said there’s no reason for legislators to be hesitant in increasing taxes on smoking.
Governor Eric Holcomb vetoed legislation Friday that would allow lawmakers to call a special session during a public emergency.
Jessica Fraser of the Indiana Institute for Working Families says Indiana’s TANF laws are in dire need of an update. Eligibility rules haven’t changed since the 1980s.
House Bill 1191 would now allow universities to put policies in place to make their buildings greener, but cities still wouldn’t be able to do so.
Legislation that would eliminate Indiana’s licenses to carry a handgun in public has been shot down by Senate Republicans.
Local governments in Indiana must prioritize protecting monuments and statues or risk losing funding if the governor signs a bill approved by the Senate Thursday.
Indiana Senate Republicans unveiled their $36 billion two-year state budget proposal Thursday – making a number of changes to the House’s K-12 funding plan and focusing heavily on one-time spending.
A main focus of the bill, SB 353, was requiring voters to include either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number on applications for an absentee ballot.
The legislation mandates that school districts have to get permission from teachers each year before deducting union dues from their paycheck.
The bill change also alters mitigation requirements, which Republican Rep. Harold Slager, of Schererville, said is meant to help property owners cut down costs associated with wetlands upkeep.
Republicans easily pushed the proposal through the Indiana House, but Senate leaders have decided against taking up the bill in the final weeks of this year's legislative session.
Indiana doctors would be forced to tell patients about so-called “abortion reversal” protocols under legislation approved by the Senate Tuesday.
SB 187, requires Indiana State Police to prioritize investigation of anyone who damages or just vandalizes a monument, memorial, statue or other “commemorative” property, both public and private.
Religious organizations would be shielded from many health orders in future public emergencies under legislation approved by the House Tuesday.
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted Indiana Republican lawmakers to change the way local health officials are allowed to do their jobs during a public emergency.
A bill telling pregnant workers they can ask for workplace accommodations without retaliation is one step away from becoming law after it passed a final vote in the General Assembly.
The bill’s Republican sponsors say the proposal is aimed at preventing voter fraud by having similar voter ID requirements for mail voting as the state requires of people casting ballots in-person at polling sites.
Teachers could be required to take extra steps to keep their union membership if legislation headed to the House floor advances.
Bills aimed at increasing police accountability and ensuring Indiana’s public schools receive full funding for all students during the coronavirus pandemic were among 19 measures signed into law by Gov. Eric Holcomb Thursday.
The state GOP says increasing diversity within the party is a grassroots effort, and won't happen overnight.
Gov. Eric Holcomb and the legislature appear headed for a court battle over a bill that would allow lawmakers to call themselves into special session.
Senate Republicans won’t include an increase in the state’s cigarette tax in their budget proposal.
A new amendment in House Bill 1381 allows counties that have restrictive wind farm ordinances to keep them, but also encourages them to allow wind farms in special districts.
Advocates for pregnant women actively oppose HB 1309 that is headed to the Senate floor following a 6-4 vote in the committee.
Emily Weikert Bryant is the executive director of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry. She noted food banks haven’t received an increase in the state budget for more than a decade.
Sen. Chris Garten’s (R-Charlestown) legislation, SB 5, says the local legislative body – county commissioners or a city council – would have to approve any health action that goes further than the state’s orders.
Parents giving consent for their child for an abortion would have to get that consent notarized under legislation approved by a Senate panel Wednesday.
The hydrogen production facility in Terre Haute is part of a state pilot program to test out carbon capture and storage technology.
Holcomb – in an opinion supported by legal experts – said the Indiana Constitution only allows the governor to call a special session.
Environmental groups and some lawmakers worry proposed legislation could pressure regulators to approve pollution permits they would otherwise deny.
A bill that would create a pilot program to study a financing tool for retiring coal plants early passed the House Monday and is headed to Governor Holcomb’s desk.
Proponents of accommodations want to see legislation passed that goes beyond existing protections in federal discrimination and disability laws. Several bills this session that would’ve done that died without a hearing.
The Senate approved a bill Monday that allows the General Assembly to call itself into special session during a statewide public emergency – legislation that could be unconstitutional.
Senate lawmakers opt against major changes to the emergency powers bill. Unemployment fraud legislation is headed to the governor’s desk. And House Republicans block debate on redistricting reform.
As of 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency now allows states to make up their own coal ash permitting program as long as it’s approved by the agency and “as protective as” federal coal ash rules.
The proposed K-12 funding plan in Indiana’s next two-year state budget adds $378 million. That includes an increase in base per student funding -- 1.25% during the first year and 2.5% in the second year.
The amendment doesn’t address a concern raised by Democratic lawmakers who want to see a more equal number of Democrats and Republicans on the task force.
Democrats have long pushed for an independent commission to draw the state’s legislative district lines. House Republicans used to support that too, until the last few years.
Lawmakers' efforts to expand school choice options are facing pushback from more than a hundred school corporations in Indiana, but a top lawmaker says a key piece of legislation that’s part of that effort won't have another hearing.
If signed into law, people who knowingly underreport wages or falsify facts on unemployment benefits applications will be required to repay it and could face civil penalties.
A bill that would require Hoosier middle schoolers to take one semester of civics education is just steps away from final passage.
Indiana senators are considering a second COVID-19 liability bill aiming to further protect medical providers from lawsuits more than a month after passing through the House.
Indiana has a new secretary of state. Landmark police reform is headed to the governor’s desk. And legislation on the governor’s emergency powers was significantly scaled back.
Senate lawmakers dramatically scaled back a plan to restrict the governor’s emergency powers, used extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dicamba has been known to drift off of the farm fields where it’s applied and damage neighboring crops.
Indiana legislative leaders say they want to end the 2021 session more than a week early. And they plan to take the unusual step of moving up their deadlines to do so.
The bill, HB 1006, requires all police to undergo de-escalation training and makes it easier for the state to de-certify those who commit misconduct, even without a criminal conviction.
The Senate approved the final form of Senate Bill 2 Tuesday, after lawmakers in the House gave their final approval on the legislation last week.
The legislation aims to crack down on people who misuse things like dicamba — a weed killer that’s been known to drift off of farm fields and kill neighboring crops.
Tense exchanges between Holcomb administration officials and lawmakers. The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus touts progress. And solving jail overcrowding. Here’s what you might have missed this week at the Statehouse.
Indiana lawmakers are working on a bill to increase the number of Hoosier students who file the federal application for college financial aid.
Lawmakers had tense exchanges with members of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s administration Thursday over legislation that would curb the governor’s emergency powers.
The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus says its “call to action days” – bringing advocates to the Statehouse – are making an impact on the legislature.
A bipartisan bill aimed at increasing police accountability and enacting criminal justice reform advanced to the full Indiana Senate after a committee unanimously approved the measure Tuesday.
House Bill 1068, approved by a Senate committee Tuesday, creates local Justice Reinvestment Advisory Councils that could help solve Indiana’s jail overcrowding problem.
The second half of the General Assembly’s session got off to a slow start: Senate lawmakers debated the details of a program to help small businesses and a bill to guarantee schools their full funding is closer to passage.
House Bill 1005 would expand the state's school voucher program and create a new funding option for some families not enrolled in public schools.
The head of Indiana’s House Republicans says he will not tolerate unruly behavior from his GOP colleagues.
The legislation essentially puts into law a program created by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation last year, using federal COVID-19 relief dollars.
Rep. Jim Pressel (R-Rolling Prairie) has authored a bill to allow speed cameras in highway construction zones for two years now. He said its biggest obstacle has nothing to do with Indiana.
