Statehouse Update
February 11, 2022
The sixth week of session continued to pick up pace after the intersession break. The House has six more business days to hear Senate bills in committee and the Senate has eight more business days to hear House bills. IU State Relations anticipates significant bill movement next week as legislators negotiate which bills will continue to move through the process.
House Bills
HB 1003: Nursing programs and licensing matters
Passed Senate Health & Provider Services 10-0. IU School of Nursing Dean Robin Newhouse testified in support of the bill and highlighted the importance of four-year nursing programs in meeting the state’s nursing workforce needs.
The bill provides flexibility for nursing schools in Indiana, in an effort to allow additional students to enter the nursing workforce pipeline.
Senate Bills
SB 91: Accreditation of teacher preparation programs
Heard in House Education and held for possible later amendments
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 361: Economic development
Heard in House Ways & Means and held for amendments
This is the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s (IEDC) agenda bill. The bill provides IEDC a number of new economic development incentives and programs, such as the ability for IEDC to award tax credits for media production expenses for certain media productions in Indiana beginning July 1, 2023. The bill also requires the Indiana Destination Development Corporation to design and implement a new remote worker grant program to provide grants to new remote workers for certain qualifying expenses beginning July 1, 2023.
SB 366: Higher education funding
Passed House Ways & Means 20-0
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.