- John Asplund and DeMarion Newell, TheStatehouseFile.com
The 2024 legislative session
officially closed Friday, with Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray,
R-Martinsville, declaring "sine die" around 9:30 p.m.
While the General Assembly's
Republican supermajority touted success in passing bills to improve students'
reading skills and upgrade Hoosiers' water lines, Democrats criticized their
refusal to eliminate the "pink tax" or to account for the Family and
Social Services Administration’s $1 billion shortfall.
"I am pleased to have completed
another productive session that delivers results for Hoosiers," said Bray
in a press release.
"We addressed a number of issues
in our agenda, including providing more support so our students have the
foundational reading skills they need to succeed and taking steps to make child
care more accessible. We also built upon our track record of fiscal
responsibility and passed a measure to help improve our water infrastructure
across the state. I'm proud of the work my colleagues and I have accomplished
and look forward to the positive impact these and other new laws will have on
our state."
Meanwhile, a release from Rep. Ed
DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, called the removal of an amendment from Senate Bill 256 to
investigate the FSSA shortfall a "cover up."
“When the Republican administration
makes a billion-dollar mistake, the Republican legislature has choices to make.
They can try to get to the root of it and hold people accountable, or they can
try to bury the issue. They can make sure that families with seriously disabled
children are protected from this error, or they can let the poorest among us
suffer.
“Refusing to even attempt to uncover
how this mistake occurred and prevent something of this nature from happening
again shows that the wrong choices have been made."
It was a long day at the Statehouse
Friday, the round of rules committee meetings, House and Senate sessions, and
behind-closed-door caucuses starting some 12 hours before the final fall of the
gavel.
In the end, of the more than 700 bills
that started this year's short session, some 175 made it through the grueling
process to land on the the desk of Gov. Eric Holcomb, who now must decide to
sign them into law, allow them to become law without signing them, or veto
them.
All the bills heard in the Indiana
General Assembly Friday passed. Some highlights:
Senate Bill 4 is a bill that sets up an
ongoing process to review and return unused state government funds to the
General Fund, enabling state agencies to lower or eliminate fines and fees more
quickly. “SB 4 conference committee report is a compilation of three bills:
Senate Bill 4, Senate Bill 137—both of those passed this
chamber unanimously—and Senate Bill 297, which passed this chamber
with bipartisan support,” saod Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, an author of
the bill.
Senate Bill 282, if signed into law, will
establish a truancy prevention program.
According to Rep. Martin Carbaugh,
R-Fort Wayne, sponsor of SB 282, the program will pertain to kindergarteners
through sixth graders who have missed five unexcused days in a 10-week
period.
Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington,
cautioned that real-world problems can lead to chronic absenteeism. Before the
pandemic, he said he spent a day in a third-grade classroom and saw a student
who came in late looking angry.
“So I asked the teacher about it
later, and he said, yeah. Here’s the thing. The kid’s mother, a single mom, has
a work shift where she’s not home in the morning when the kids have to get up
for school. So she gave the third grader the job of getting his little sister
out of bed and to school. … Now he’s late for school.”
Pierce said when schools adopt
attendance policies, they should take these kinds of situations into
consideration.
Senate Bill 15 “requires that the Indiana
Department of Labor consult with the Indiana Department of Veterans' Affairs to
create and distribute a veterans' benefits and services poster.”
Senate Bill 183, authored by Rep. Kendell
Culp (R-Rensselear), provides that a prohibited person may not purchase, lease, or acquire
real estate within a 10-mile radius of a military installation.
“There are two parts to this bill that
includes only the four main countries of adversarial relations, which are
China, Russia, North Korea and Iran,” Culp said. “It prohibits any real estate
transaction, not just farmland, within the 10 miles.”
Senate Bill 15 “requires that the Indiana
Department of Labor consult with the Indiana Department of Veterans' Affairs to
create and distribute a veterans' benefits and services poster.”
Senate Bill 23 makes recklessly or
intentionally damaging a jail or prison building fire suppression system a
level 6 felony.
Senate Bill 140 will allow logjams to be
removed without securing a permit.
Senate Bill 148 is an Indiana Department
of Workforce Development bill that is looking to make sure funded programs are
getting good results.
Senate Bill 179 makes changes to a
commission on court appointed attorneys.
Senate Bill 238 would allow Jefferson,
Elkhart and Knox counties to increase their innkeeper’s tax.