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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe 2023 Indiana General Assembly wrapped up about a week ago—specifically, 2:47 a.m. on Friday, April 28—after your state lawmakers hammered out a $44.6 billion budget for the next two years, filed 1,154 bills and approved 252 of them. Gov. Eric Holcomb has now signed all 252, as of May 4.
It was hard to miss the big debates this year over the proposed ban on gender transition procedures for minors, which is now law. As are the controversial proposals to expand eligibility for the state’s school voucher program, ban instruction on human sexuality in grades kindergarten through third, and restrict state retirement system managers from investing in companies based on environmental and social factors.
For journalists who cover state government, the end of the legislative session is just the beginning. Now they must follow these laws and report on their consequences.
We can assume that lawmakers go into these sessions with the best of intentions, but sometimes the laws they produce don’t work as intended. Sometimes they immediately end up in the court system through legal challenges. And sometimes they require a Herculean amount of work to simply get up and running.
The reporters who covered this year’s session already have earmarked the laws that bear more investigation, and we have two of those reporters join host Mason King on the podcast this week: Peter Blanchard, who covers politics and state government for IBJ, and Casey Smith, who covers the same for the not-for-profit newsroom Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Click here to find the IBJ Podcast each Monday. You can also subscribe at iTunes, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify and anyplace you find podcasts.
You can also listen to these recent episodes:
IBJ Podcast: Pete the Planner on death, divorce and other edgy questions in personal finance
IBJ Podcast: Joel Kirk on how Indy became a musical incubator for Broadway
IBJ Podcast: ‘I didn’t know how to be someone who was blind’
IBJ Podcast: Sweetwater’s Surack on selling stake in billion-dollar firm, backing Indy heliport
IBJ Podcast: Indiana’s Jiffy Lube guru on art, entrepreneurism, police relations and March Madness laundry
Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ’s The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, a monthly discussion about diversity and inclusion in central Indiana’s business community.
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Just a question from the peanut gallery….Why not report on the benefits of some of these laws instead of the “consequences”? Interesting spin on journalism.