Two adult boutiques that faced community backlash and legal battles with the city of Indianapolis have prompted state lawmakers to propose legislation that would create statewide restrictions on where sexually-oriented businesses can locate.
Indiana Senate Republicans are not moving forward with their own tax cut proposals aimed at reducing business personal property taxes and offering a temporary sales tax holiday, casting doubt on a key provision in the House Republicans’ $1 billion tax-cut plan.
Senate Bill 325, authored by Republican Sen. Travis Holdman, chairman of the powerful Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee, would make any retail item purchased July 15-31 exempt from Indiana’s 7% sales tax.
Republicans in the Indiana House passed their $1 billion individual income and business tax-cut proposal Thursday on a 68-25 party-line vote, sending it to the Senate, where its future is murky.
House Bill 1122 would prohibit a registered sexually-oriented business from operating within 1,000 feet of a facility that caters to minors.
The bill would force employers who require the COVID-19 vaccine to provide medical and religious exemptions (the latter with no questions asked) and offer a testing option at no cost to the employee.
While the push for broad tax cuts has been coming primarily from Indiana House Republicans so far this legislative session, some Senate Republicans are offering more modest alternatives exclusively aimed at reducing the personal property tax businesses pay on equipment.
The Indiana House on Thursday removed language from a controversial employer vaccine mandates bill that would have financially punished employers for firing workers because they are unvaccinated against COVID-19.
Republicans on the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee passed their $1 billion tax-cut proposal Wednesday night on a 15-7 party-line vote, sending it to the full House for consideration.
The Senate Health and Provider Services Committee voted to move the bill forward to the full Senate, after hearing testimony all in favor of the measure.
Gov. Eric Holcomb’s speech offered a progress report on Indiana’s accomplishments and focused on his already-announced plans to improve the state’s quality of life. But he also acknowledged that challenges from the pandemic remain.
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce is again calling for legislation that it says would remove some of the local hurdles such projects now face.
The Indiana Senate’s top Republican said tax cuts and limits on employer vaccine mandates didn’t land on his priority list because they are “controversial” and “more complicated to work through.” But that won’t stop House Republicans from pursuing them.
The vaccine-mandate provisions of the bill would effectively force employers to accept any medical or religious reason to exempt employees from getting a vaccine, without question.
Indiana House and Senate Republican leaders appear to be at odds on how to handle legislation to address employer vaccine mandates and end the state’s public health emergency.
The plan proposes lowering or eliminating four separate taxes on sales, business personal property, individual income and utility receipts.
Reducing the business tax on equipment and modernizing tax incentives to attract more businesses to Indiana are among the top items on Gov. Eric Holcomb’s 2022 “Next Level Agenda,” which he announced Monday afternoon.
A family feud broke out among Indiana Republicans this year when Gov. Eric Holcomb sued the Indiana General Assembly’s legislative leaders in his own party. He did so to challenge the constitutionality of a new law that weakens his emergency powers and was enacted by fellow Republicans over the governor’s veto.
Troubled Indianapolis-based casino company Spectacle Entertainment was at the center of multiple controversies in 2021, from its top executive being forced out to losing stakes in two new casino projects.
Longtime commercial real estate developer Brad Chambers was named Indiana’s secretary of commerce, roughly three months after Jim Schellinger abruptly resigned the position
