Statehouse News

Statehouse News - Week 9

Monday, March 10, 2025

Each week of the Indiana General Assembly session, IPA will bring you this exclusive member-only issue with the latest updates and developments on legislative action impacting you and the philanthropic sector.

Governor Mike Braun signed three executive orders this week, bringing the total number since he took office to 36. On Monday, March 3, Gov. Braun signed Executive Order 25-34, outlining an extension of the state’s current parental leave policy. The order gives all women employed by the state who give birth six weeks of paid leave with those who deliver via C-section eight weeks. This policy also applies to those who experience a loss in utero at 20 weeks or beyond. The parental leave policy will now apply to everyone no matter how long they have worked for the state. However, employees who have worked for the state for less than six months must agree to work for a consecutive year upon returning from the leave. Full-time employees may also now receive up to 150 hours of parental leave, with 75 hours for part-time employees, following the birth or adoption of a child.

On Tuesday, March 4, Governor Braun signed two more executive orders. Executive Order 25-35 reverses the Title IX rule Indiana follows from the 2024 interpretation to the 2020 interpretation, allowing only biological women to compete in women’s sports. Executive Order 25-36, states that Indiana law will only follow the definition of biological sex rather than “gender identity.” A full list of Governor Braun’s executive orders can be found here.

The General Assembly returned to the Statehouse on Monday to kick off the second half of the legislative session. The House convened for session on Monday, while the Senate convened on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. This week, the House and Senate committees heard bills that originated in the opposite chamber. That included the House taking it’s turn on property tax discussions, listening to over eight hours of public testimony on two bills with a wide-ranging impact on local government services and school budgets. Below are some committee highlights.

Visit iga.in.gov for details and policy on testimony and in-person observation.

This Issue Contains:

Tracked Bills

Topics of Interest

Looking Ahead

IPA Resources

Upcoming Events

Tracked Bills

View the complete list or broken down by topic.

Topics of Interest

Health/Mental Health

SB 3, Fiduciary Duty in Health Plan Administration –Rep. Martin Carbaugh (R – Fort Wayne). The House Insurance Committee heard a priority bill SB 3 on Tuesday. During the hearing, Rep. Matt Lehman (R – Berne), among others, inquired about a potential amendment to language in the bill, specifically the definition of fiduciary used. The current definition means the plan administrator could act ‘solely’ in the plan sponsor’s best interest, which is a high standard to meet. The Committee heard testimony from various stakeholders. The Secretary of Health and Family Services, Dr. Gloria Sachdev, stated the Braun Administration supports the bill. The Association of Indiana Life Insurance Companies, along with other industry representatives raised concerns during the hearing, specifically about the bill’s potential to raise costs and the potential for litigation. Other organizations testified to their support of the bill, stating it could lower healthcare costs for employers and consumers. SB 3 was held for further consideration.

SB 147, Physician Referrals and Reimbursement Rates – Rep. Brad Barrett (R – Richmond). The bill SB 147 would prevent physicians from receiving kickbacks for referring patients to other doctors within their own network. Committee members questioned why this law needed to be added to Indiana statute as it is already in federal code, known as the Stark Law. Sen. Busch responded that this practice occurs in Indiana, and the Attorney General should be able to investigate and respond to claims, rather than wait for the federal authorities. The Indiana Hospital Association was neutral on the bill overall but expressed some concerns. Specifically, the Association stated that rural communities, which often have limited options for referrals, would be unintentionally burdened by this law. Several Representatives on the Committee expressed that these unintended consequences need to be investigated further.

Also, during the Committee, an alternative, lower standard of Good Faith was offered by the Indiana Association of Health Plans, who oppose the bill, as it could disallow pooling during negotiations and lead to higher prices. Other organizations that testified, including Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare expressed hesitant support of the Good Faith standard, and only if there is an enforcement method. After much debate, the bill was held for further consideration.

Education

The Senate Education and Career Development Committee met once this week and discussed several bills passed by the House.

HB 1002, Various Education Matters - Rep. Bob Behning (R – Indianapolis). HB 1002 is the first step in a three-year long effort to deregulate the education system. Rep. Behning in writing the bill focused on eliminating outdated or unnecessary codes in the education system to return the decision-making back to the schools. Additionally, the bill removes provisions that would mandate specific actions for schools, allowing for even greater flexibility. During committee discussion, a point of contention arose regarding the changes to the requirements needed to be appointed the Secretary of Education in Indiana. Concerns were raised about the fact that, under the bill, the appointed individual would not need to reside in Indiana. Additionally, they would not be required to hold any degree. Rep. Behning argued this gives more flexibility to the Governor to choose the individual that best fits the role. The bill was held for further discussion.\

HB 1515, Education and Higher Education Matters – Sen. Brian Buchanan (R – Lebanon). HB 1515 was heard in the Senate Education and Career Development committee. The bill aims at a variety of topics, including allowing charter schools to create their own police departments, setting up an appeals process for children denied choice scholarships, redefining dates for absenteeism, and restricting a county from being able to withhold funds to a non-public or charter school. A portion of the bill also includes zoning parameters, which would remove a community's ability to use zoning as a tool to prevent a school from being built. The zoning language is intended to prohibit communities from denying zoning to charter schools. The bill was held for further discussion.

SB 287, School Board Matters – Rep. J.D. Prescott (Union City). SB 287 would raise the salary of school board officials and require school board elections to be partisan. The stated intent of the bill is to match other elected positions due to the control the schoolboard has over property taxes. About 40 witnesses from across the state weighed in on this contentious legislation. The bill was held for further action, including several amendments that are expected to be offered.

SB 365, Education Matters – Rep. Teshka. The House Education Committee met once this week to hear SB 365 which would require the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), the Commission for Higher Education (CHE), and the Department for Workforce Development (WDW) to collect data on student performance to see how individuals function in certain disciplines and help Indiana focus on a return on investment. The bill would also establish a career coaching fund and direct IDOE to manage its oversight and distribution. The bill was held for further discussion.

Early Childhood Education

Today, the Senate Family and Children Services Committee will hear two bills, HB 1248 and HB 1253.

HB 1248, Childcare Development Fund - Rep. Elizabeth Rowray. HB 1248 is the bill that intends to affirm that foster families are eligible for CCDF and requires FSSA to hold 200 vouchers in reserve for foster families. With the current waitlist, this is unlikely to be immediately impactful but is an opportunity to further emphasize the need surrounding CCDF and the impact when vouchers are unavailable.

HB 1253, Child Care - Sen. Liz Brown. HB 1253 includes some regulatory language and creates a new organization license category for child care providers who operate multiple sites under the same ownership. This would be helpful to partners like the YMCA or Boys & Girls Clubs to allow them to serve kids at multiple sites without needing to go through a separate licensing process at every site.

SB 463, Child Care Matters - Rep. Dale DeVon. Next week, the House Family, Children, and Human Affairs committee will hear SB 463, which adds an out-of-school time member to the Early Learning Advisory Committee (ELAC), includes language regarding regulation of maximum group size and staff child ratios in licensed child care centers, and expands the microcenter pilot program.
Tomorrow, the Senate Appropriations Committee will hear agency presentations on their budget requests. We expect the Family and Social Services Administration will discuss child care funding and the current waitlist within their presentation.

If anyone is interested in attending a hearing to provide testimony, please let us know. Or, if you are interested in having your organization mentioned in support of a bill and cannot attend, feel free to reach out as well.

We would also like to share this special episode of the Building Blocks Podcast (hosted by Early Education Works Steering Committee Member and Mutz Philanthropic Leadership Institute alumni Mary Jane Eisenhauer. She covered Early Childhood Education Day at the Statehouse, hosted by Indiana AEYC along with our Early Education Works Coalition: Podcast Episode. We are certainly grateful to Mary Jane and her partners at Lakeshore Public Media for their coverage of the event!

Tax & Fiscal Policy

The House Ways and Means Committee heard approximately 100 testimonies on two bills this week.

SB 1, Property Tax Relief – Rep. Jeff Thompson (R – Lizton). SB 1 intends to help lower property taxes. School corporations and local government officials were among those testifying that the bill would result in cuts to programs and public safety.

HB 1229, Local Government Finance – Rep. J.D. Prescott (R – Union City). Many testimonies requested to have language amended in from dead bill, HB 1229. HB 1229 would prevent any new property taxes from being imposed without a referendum. Chairman Thompson plans to introduce an amendment to amend language from HB 1402, Local Government Finance – Rep. Thompson, after further public comment next week. HB 1402 offsets relief to homeowners, which is greater than the current version of SB 1, by implementing increases on other classes of property owners.

SB 518, School Property Taxes – Rep. Thompson. SB 518 was also heard in House Ways & Means. The bill would expand property tax revenue for charter schools that have at least one hundred (100) students living within their district. School districts would also have to share a portion of property taxes used to pay off debt for long-term projects — known as the debt service levy — with charters located within their district. SB 518 was held for any further action

Looking Ahead

HB 1081, Distributions to charitable beneficiaries. HB 1081 will be heard again in committee this Wednesday. We have continued to work toward a solution on amendment language and encourage you to reach out to your legislators in support of this legislation.

The remaining deadlines can be found here: 2025 Session Legislative Deadlines.