At approximately 1:45 a.m. early Saturday morning, we finished our work for the 117th Indiana General Assembly. Despite the late night, we actually concluded session half a week earlier than previously scheduled – something I would not have believed could have been done after what we experienced during the erratic first half of session. We were able to power through the evening, working through several important pieces of legislation. I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some of the legislation discussed late Friday. House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1269, also referred to as the Health Care Compact, will save Hoosier taxpayers a significant amount of money by providing a sound, state-issued alternative to the federal health care law that has an ever growing annual price tag of $2.3 trillion. Indiana, along with other states, is pursuing the compact because some of the best innovation has occurred at the state level when it comes to providing insurance coverage to the uninsured. We also passed legislation regarding the statewide 911 fund to begin collecting from both land lines and cell phone services. Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 345 was created to update the fund in accordance with the move from traditional land lines to cell phones as the primary phone over the past decade. We ended the night on a high note with the passage of HEA 1376. This bill provides additional funding for full-day kindergarten, enhances the Automatic Taxpayer Refund, and more than doubles the compensation for the Indiana State Fair stage collapse victims and their families. At the conclusion of our busy night, we were able to celebrate accomplishments of our short session. Looking back, I would like to share some of my highlights with you. We passed SEA 293 a gradual 9-year phase-out the Inheritance Tax to ensure that individual’s businesses and savings are not subject to an additional tax when they are passed on to their spouses and kin. Indiana is one of the last states to still impose this tax and removing it is a step in the right direction of strengthening our state to be more competitive. I was also fortunate enough to have two of my own bills make their way to the governor’s desk. In fact, the third bill of the session to be signed into law was one that I authored allowing fire protection districts to utilize the design-build contracting method for public projects. By using this time and cost-effective method for construction projects, HEA 1016 will save the state and taxpayers money. I also authored legislation aimed at controlling the credit creep in our state’s higher education institutions. HEA 1220 requires the Commission for Higher Education to approve credit hour requirements at all levels of higher education degrees. This ensures that our state colleges and universities are not burdening our students with excessive credit hour requirements leading to additional time and resources incurred in obtaining a degree. When reflecting on my first term at the Indiana Statehouse, I can’t help but be in awe of all that we accomplished to advance Indiana and better the lives of Hoosiers. We truly came together in a bipartisan effort to pass through legislation helping Hoosiers on an individual, local and state level. Although session is over, my job as your representative in state government is not. I look forward to continuing to meet with constituents during the interim, and I hope you stay involved in the conversation. |
