Legislative Update 119th General Assembly

Friday, March 4th, 2016

Week Nine Overview

There are officially 4 session days left for legislation to move. This week, the last House committee was held, after the Senate completed its hearings last week. Additionally, both houses had third reading deadlines to complete the bill list for the session. Some bills that are returning back to the original chamber amended are being dissented. The dissent occurs when the original house does not agree with the changes made to the bill. Moving forward members of each house will work as part of a conference committee to reach a compromise that both chambers can agree. If compromise cannot be reached, the bill will die.

Points of Interest

Lieutenant Governor Sue Ellsperman officially resigned her position via a letter to Governor Pence. The effective date of her resignation was Wednesday, March 2 at 5:00 p.m. Upon her absence, Eric Holcomb, former Chairman of the Indiana Republican Party and Deputy Chief of Staff to former Governor Mitch Daniels, will fill the Lieutenant Governor’s position, as he was sworn in by the legislature on Thursday.

Indiana students began ISTEP testing this week despite the test’s troubled past. This comes as Indiana lawmakers have moved to eliminate the ISTEP test. This legislative session began with efforts to overhaul ISTEP and address school funding impact from flawed test scores.

Senate Bill 220, bias crimes, authored by Senator Susan Glick (SD 13), will not progress through the House as it was not scheduled before the Courts and Criminal Code Committee for a hearing. Opponents of the law argue that it would punish the thought process for action. Representative Thomas Washburne (HD 64), the leader of the committee to which the bill was assigned, cited time constraints for the reason as to why the bill was never heard.

Conference Committees

Now that bills have been heard in both houses, there will be conference committees to address amendments to bills that were added by the opposite chamber. Not all bills that were amended by an opposing house will have a conference committee hearing. When the author of the bill agrees with the amendment, they can simply concur with it and the house of origin will vote one last time to send it as amended to the Governor. If the author does not agree with the amendment, they will file a motion to dissent. The motion to dissent initiates the conference committee and a hearing is commenced to determine the final language of the bill. After the bill is heard and changed in conference committee, it then goes back to both chambers for a concurrence vote. If approved by majorities in both chambers the bill will go to the Governor.

Session Floor Highlights

House of Representatives

Senate Bill 10, Teacher salary supplemental payments, authored by Senator Jeff Raatz (SD 27), was killed in the house, as it was never called for a vote. SB 10 has been controversial because it allows school districts to give teachers raises outside of collective bargaining. A similar bill originating from the House (HB1004) was killed by the senate.

Senate Bill 28, formerly spite fence legislation, is now medical malpractice, authored by Sen. Brent Steele (SD 44) passed through the house with a vote of 90 to 5. SB 28 updates the payment in a medical malpractice claim raising it for the first time in 18 years. The new claim cap will be set a $400,000 should the bill become law.

Senate Bill 67, Local income tax distributions and state income tax credit study, authored by Sen. Brandt Hershman (SD 7), passed through the House with a vote of 93 to 0. SB 67 Provides for a supplemental distribution of local income taxes when the balance in a county's local income tax trust account exceeds 15%, rather than 50% in current law. This distribution is intended for deposit in the taxing unit’s rainy day fund.

Senate Bill 308, Property tax matters authored by Sen. Brandt Hershman, passed through the house with a vote of 92 to 1. SB 308 provides that after 2016, the agricultural land base rate is the lesser of the formula base rate or the previous year base rate increased by 1%. It also requires the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF), when calculating the rolling average, to use the six most recent years preceding the year in which the assessment date occurs for which data is available (before the highest of those six years is eliminated). SB 308, also provides certain property taxpayers a right to file for a property tax exemption, among other provisions.

Senate Bill 333, Road funding and regional cities program, authored by Sen. Carlin Yoder (SD 12), passed through the House with a vote of 57 to 35. SB 333 provides for the transfer of the state's excess reserves to the local road and bridge matching grant fund and the state highway fund. It also adds language to the county wheel tax (in current law) and to the proposed municipal wheel tax to recognize that in some cases the wheel tax is paid directly to the department of state revenue, among other provisions. It is unclear if this legislation will go before a conference committee at this time.

Senate Bill 375, Prequalification for public works, authored by Sen. Brandt Hershman, has passed the House unanimously. SB 375 Delays from June 30, 2016, to December 31, 2016, the date after which public works projects that are awarded must comply with the requirement that a contractor be qualified under IC 4-13.6-4 or IC 8-23-10 before doing any work on the project. It also requires a contractor to be qualified by the Indiana Department of Administration’s Certification board with some exceptions, among other provisions. A motion to concur with the House amendments was filed by the Senate.

Senate

House Bill 1001, Road funding, authored by Rep. (HD 4), passed through the Senate with a vote of 39 to 11. HB 1001 was one of many pieces of proposed legislation to address road improvements across the state. The Senate removed a provision passed by the House that would have raised taxes but left the option for local governments to increase some of their own taxes. Due to the differences in passed legislation, the bill is destined for a conference committee for an ultimate determination of its language.

House Bill 1034, Teacher scholarships and stipends, authored by Rep. (HD 94), passed through the Senate with a unanimous vote of. HB 1034 provides parameters for scholarships while renaming the scholarship from the Minority Teacher Scholarship to the William A. Crawford Minority Teacher Scholarship.

House Bill 1211, Methamphetamine and criminal mischief, authored by Rep. (HD 81), passed through the Senate with a vote of 49 to 1. HB 1211 increases the penalties for methamphetamine manufacturing if it results in a fire that causes injury to another person, specifies pecuniary loss, and requires law enforcement agencies to report fires related to methamphetamine abuse to the Criminal Justice Institute. Due to Senate amendments defining pecuniary loss and its parameters, a motion to dissent has been filed in the house and the bill will go before a conference committee for a final determination of its language.

House Bill 1347, Mental health matters, authored by Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer (HD 89) has passed through the house with a vote of 49 to 1. HB 1347 specifies reimbursements for Medicaid services and requires a study of matters pertaining to health insurance coverage, among other provisions. Due to amendments made in the Senate including advance practice nurses within the reach of the bill, a motion to dissent has been filed in the House and the bill will be heard in conference committee for a final determination of its language.

House Bill 1386, Various alcohol, tobacco, and e-liquid matters, authored by Rep. Thomas Dermody (HD 20), passed through the senate with a vote of 33 to 17. HB 1386 included language that will allow for the state to issue permits for the sale of alcoholic beverages on state park premises, provides allowances for artisan distillers to sell alcohol on Sundays, and clarifies certain requirements regarding security firm requirements for e-liquid mixing, bottling, packaging, or selling, among other provisions.

House Bill 1394, Various education matters, authored by Rep. (HD 91), passed through the Senate with a unanimous vote. HB 1394 provides that innovation network charter schools shall give preferential enrollment to students who live in the attendance area, among other provisions.

Please feel free to contact a member of our legislative team should you have questions regarding the happenings in the !

Brian Burdick Joe Loftus Office: (317) 231-7393 Office: (317) 231-7213 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Bill Moreau Mike O’Brien Office: (317) 231-7349 Office: (317) 231-7507 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Heather Willey Jake German Office: (317) 231-6448 Office: (317) 231-7538 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Steve Wolff Chris Minter Office: (317) 261-7845 Office: (317) 231-7478 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Matt Portner Office: (317) 261-7817 Email: [email protected]