Statehouse Update

Statehouse Update

January 28, 2022

Another busy week at the Statehouse as lawmakers raced to meet the deadline to move bills out of committee and to the floor before the end of the week. This week, many important bills hit the floor of the House and the Senate for second reading, which is the opportunity for the whole chamber to offer amendments on the bill.  By the middle of next week, we will know all the bills that passed out of their originating chamber and are still eligible to become law.

House Bills

HB 1041: Participation in school sports
Passed House 66-30. In the House Education committee, the bill was amended removing postsecondary education athletics from the bill.

The bill prohibits students who were born male but identify as female from participating in a sport or on an athletic team that is designated for women or girls at the K-12 level. The bill also establishes a civil action for violations, and schools wouldn’t be subject to liabilities for complying with it.

HB 1134: Education matters
Passed House 60-37. The bill was amended on 2^nd Reading removing provisions related to higher education and teacher preparation programs.

The bill would ban educators from teaching eight specific concepts at public K-12 schools, would create local curriculum review committees, and would require schools to post curriculum materials online. It also would require K-12 schools to obtain parental permission to survey students about social and emotional needs and to offer them mental health services.

HB 1190: Free speech at state educational institutions
Passed House 93-1

The bill codifies protections afforded by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and existing case law in Indiana Code for state educational institutions.

Senate Bills

SB 89: Higher education scholarships
Passed Senate Education and Career Development 13-0

This is the annual agency bill from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE). The bill removes “expected family contribution” from Indiana Code and replaces it with “federal needs calculation” and changes student teaching stipends for eligible students to traditional scholarships.

SB 91: Accreditation of teacher preparation programs
Passed Senate 46-0

The bill allows a teacher preparation program to report the program's admission practices in accordance with the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP) and requires the Indiana Department of Education to approve at least two accreditors to accredit teacher preparation programs in Indiana.

SB 138: Eligibility for resident tuition
The bill did not advance through the Senate Education and Career Development committee, and will not continue in the legislative process

The bill would have provided eligibility for resident tuition for undocumented individuals that have obtained four years of education in an Indiana high school.

SB 278: Indiana geological and water survey advisory council
Passed Senate Utilities 8-0 and engrossed for Third Reading

The bill modifies the structure of the Indiana Geological and Water Survey advisory council that would, in part, require various state agency department heads to serve on, or appoint members to, the council. The Survey essentially serves as a state institution embedded, and is funded through a special line item to IU in the state’s biennial budget.  This change will better integrate the Survey with the state agencies they already partner with. Additionally, the bill would establish new centers within the Survey for energy and water research, positioning them for better external funding opportunities in the future. Both structure changes were recommended by an IU internal five-year review of the Survey.

SB 366: Higher education funding
Passed Senate 46-0. The bill was amended on 2^nd Reading removing the four at-large Commission Member appointees to be named by the Legislative Council and restoring the three at-large gubernatorial appointees.

The bill is a product of the recommendations from the 2021 Interim Study Committee on Fiscal Policy’s Higher Educational Operating Funding Working Group. It would codify many of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education’s existing practices on their strategic plan and outcomes-based funding formula, but importantly would more directly engage the legislature in higher education funding by requiring the State Budget Committee to review the budget request process at various stages of development.