Statehouse Update
March 4, 2022
The ninth week of session marked the third reading deadlines for Senate bills in the House and for House bills in the Senate. We are now seeing a flurry of activity as both chambers work to finalize language in remaining bills through the conference committee process. If all goes to plan, the legislative session could end by next Friday. By statute, session must be completed by 11:59 p.m. on March 14th.
House Bills
HB 1003: Nursing programs and licensing matters
Passed both chambers and ready for Governor signature or veto.
The bill provides flexibility for nursing schools in Indiana in an effort to allow additional students to enter the nursing workforce pipeline.
HB 1134: Education matters
The bill was not called on 2nd Reading and is now “dead” in the legislative process.
The bill gave parents access to their school’s learning management system and allowed parents to review learning materials used in their child’s classroom upon request. Parents could also request a school board to adopt a parent committee to review curriculum, though it would not have been required. Other provisions in the original bill that would have restricted teaching about racism and politics had been previously modified.
HB 1190: Free speech at state educational institutions
Passed both chambers and ready for Governor signature or veto.
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 82: FAFSA
Passed both chambers and ready for Governor signature or veto.
The bill requires the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to develop an online FAFSA affirmation form and provide information to certain schools to determine which students have completed the FAFSA and the affirmation form.
SB 89: Higher education scholarships
Passed both chambers and ready for Governor signature or veto.
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 278: Indiana geological and water survey advisory council
Passed both chambers and ready for Governor signature or veto.
The Indiana Geological and Water Survey is a state institution embedded with IU and is funded through a special line item in the state’s biennial budget. This bill modifies the structure of the Survey’s advisory council to, in part, require various state agency department heads to serve on, or appoint members to, the council. 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 361: Economic development
Senate dissented from the House amendments and conference committee held
This is the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s (IEDC) agenda bill. The bill provides IEDC several 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.
SB 366: Higher education funding
Passed both chambers and ready for Governor signature or veto.
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.
SB 388: Foreign gifts and ownership of agricultural land
Passed House 96-0 and Senate dissented from the House amendments
The bill requires a postsecondary educational institution to file a disclosure report to the Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education of gifts and contracts of at least $50,000 from a foreign source. This is similar to existing federal reporting requirements.