IU recaps the end of the 2023 budget session
The 2023 budget session of the Indiana General Assembly came to a conclusion in the early hours of the morning today, just one calendar day before state lawmakers’ statutory Saturday, April 29, deadline. Only 252 of the 1,154 bills filed in the beginning of the session passed both chambers and will head to Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk. Of the 670 House bills filed, 21% passed. Of the 484 Senate bills, 24% passed.
Generally, the final enacted biennial budget (House Enrolled Act 1001-2023) has made the biggest investments in higher education in at least 25 years. This is true both in operating support and capital projects, and IU does particularly well in this budget. Operating increases of 4% in the first year and 6% in the second year, coupled with the adoption of a new performance funding model that IU had been advocating for, lead to IU campuses seeing some of the biggest increases in the state. Additionally, the legislature endorsed our transition of IUPUI to IU Indianapolis, providing transition funding, additional operating support, and money to create the classroom and lab space needed to quickly grow our enrollments and research in the hard sciences. Ultimately, we view this budget as a stamp of approval for both our IU 2030 Strategic Plan and the Indianapolis Vision 2024, and IU’s primary focus on putting students first.
While many of the headlines in the final day of session centered around the biennial budget (HB 1001), as well as on bills related to career and technical education (HB 1002), mental and public health funding (SB 1 and SB 4), and property tax relief (HB 1499), there were many bills that Indiana University supported that made it through the entire legislative process. Important wins for IU outside of the biennial budget include:
- Automatically enrolling eligible low-income students in the state’s 21st Century Scholars program (HB 1449)
- Making filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) an “opt out” rather than an “opt in” for high school seniors moving forward (SB 167)
- Creating an Indiana higher education purple star designation to recognize public and private institutions that are supportive and inclusive of veterans and military-connected families (SB 384)
- Removing the cap on the number of annual recipients of the Next Generation Hoosier Educators Scholarship (Next Gen) and expanding a portion of the Next Gen program funding to transition to teaching students, as well as increasing the award amounts for multiple teacher education scholarship programs (HB 1528 and HB 1637)
- Providing transcript access to individuals who are making a good-faith effort to repay what they owe while still giving public institutions leverage to settle outstanding debts (SB 404)
Legislators will now be turning their attention to interim study committees this summer in preparation for the 2024 short session.
Statehouse Update
The 16th and final week of the budget session ended in the early hours of the morning today when both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly adjourned “Sine Die.” During the coming days, the governor must decide whether to sign, veto or allow bills to become law without his signature.
This will be the final weekly Statehouse Update until the beginning of the 2024 short session.An archive ofpreviousupdates can be found here.
Read the Statehouse Update
Economic Engagement Update
Open letter supports CHIPS and Science Act
IU President Pamela Whitten and Joanna Millunchick, dean of the IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, are among 13 women from six leading research universities who recently signed a letter supporting the CHIPS and Science Act. The letter outlines steps that higher education institutions must take in partnership with government and industry to support the legislation’s ambitious goals to grow—and, critically, to diversify—the semiconductor workforce.
“Far too many employers report a mismatch between what engineering students learn in school, and what graduates need on day one of the job,” the women leaders write. “Building a more heterogeneous, job-ready labor force demands that higher education, private industry and the federal government coalesce and act at an unprecedented level and pace.
“We know what works when it comes to growing groups of diverse industry-ready graduates, and we're ready to act.”
Read the open letter
Advancing national security innovation
At a ceremony held earlier this week at IU’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, senior officials from IU and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, approved an amendment to an educational partnership agreement, originally enacted in 2011, that has paired IU and Crane researchers on projects in areas of vital importance to the defense community, such as artificial intelligence, edge computing, secure microelectronics and sensor data fusion. The agreement also established a formal presence for NSWC Crane at Multidisciplinary Engineering and Sciences Hall, a 207,000-square-foot building on the IU Bloomington campus, which has recently been converted into laboratory space for IU’s Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering at the Luddy School.
IU Executive Vice President and IU Bloomington Provost Rahul Shrivastav joined Capt. Thomas (Duncan) McKay, Commanding Officer of NSWC Crane, in signing the amendment to the educational partnership agreement. With the new amendment, NSWC Crane has appointed a full-time liaison to IU to further structure the partnership between the two institutions and help facilitate collaboration on projects specific to national security innovation. In turn, IU is providing NSWC Crane with on-campus office space at the Luddy School and network connectivity.
“As IU and NSWC Crane enter an era of unprecedented potential, I’m thrilled that we are doing so in close support and alliance,” said Shrivastav. “With a liaison based on campus, we can bring together defense, academic and entrepreneurial innovators not only to solve national security problems, but to identify opportunities before challenges emerge.”
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Real estate report: ‘Generational housing bubble is on the horizon’
While demand from millennials in Indiana and elsewhere has put pressure on housing markets in recent years, don’t expect that trend to continue, according to a new report from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
“Plainly put, a generational housing bubble is on the horizon,” the authors said in Kelley Real Estate Outlook, a new research publication from the Indiana Business Research Center and the IU Center for Real Estate Studies. “New housing built now to meet strong demand may sit vacant in a decade.”
In their article, “Prepare for a Generational Housing Bubble,” Phil Powell, clinical associate professor of business economics, and Matt Kinghorn, senior demographer at the Indiana Business Research Center, said residential real estate demand is driven in part by population.
“Demographic variables will become as important as interest rates, income growth and construction costs in determining the return on real estate assets,” Powell and Kinghorn wrote. “At present, demographic pressure on housing markets is at its peak. This implies continued strain on supply in the next several years followed by long-run erosion in demand that can only be reversed by high levels of immigration.
Read more about the report
Upcoming Events
ENHANCING THE REGIONAL IMPACT OF THE CHIPS AND SCIENCE ACT • May 3, 2023
On Wednesday, May 3, IU’s Public Policy Institute will partner with the Center for Strategic and International Studies to present a national one-day workshop on “Enhancing the Regional Impact of the CHIPS and Science Act.” The event will bring together key policymakers, senior industry leaders, agency leaders and policy experts for a series of panels discussing how the U.S. can maximize and sustain the regional economic impact of the CHIPS Act.
The workshop will be held in person at the headquarters of CSIS in Washington, D.C., and will be live streamed to remote participants. Indiana Sen. Todd Young, who served as the lead Republican sponsor of CHIPS legislation and was instrumental in the act securing strong bipartisan support, will deliver the keynote address at the conference.
Register now
IU FOUNDERS & FUNDERS NETWORK VENTURE SUMMIT • May 18-19, 2023
Join the best of IU’s startup community at the annual IU Founders & Funders Network Venture Summit, which will be held May 18-19 at the Indiana Memorial Union on the IU Bloomington campus.
The annual two-day event will feature “fireside chats” with IU football coach Tom Allen, IU athletic director Scott Dolson, “iconic” entrepreneur Scott Dorsey, leaders of IU’s NIL movement, newest Spirit of Venture Award-winners and more.
Register now
IU in the news
O’Neill School ranked nation’s best public affairs graduate program
Seventeen IU graduate programs and specialty areas are ranked among the nation’s top 10, with 37 ranked in the top 25, according to the 2023-24 U.S. News and World Report Best Graduate School rankings released today. For the sixth time in seven years, the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 public affairs graduate program, this year tied with Syracuse University.
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Engineering the next generation of computers
Three professors in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering Intelligent Systems Engineering department will engineer the next generation of computers as part of a three-year, $5.4 million government project that will help the U.S. intelligence community execute data analysis missions.
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Advancing IU’s global engagement on the ground in India
This month, IU Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum traveled with colleagues to India to renew the partnerships and connections with the country that more international students call home than any other and that is a key international partner of the Hoosier state.
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