Open school board meetings bill heads to Indiana governor
A bill that seeks to require public comment at school meetings advanced to the Indiana governor’s desk after lawmakers gave their final approval Wednesday.
A bill that seeks to require public comment at school meetings advanced to the Indiana governor’s desk after lawmakers gave their final approval Wednesday.
Speaking after the vote, Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray said some Republican lawmakers thought the bill created too much of a burden for educators, while others thought it didn’t go far enough.
House Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, said the reworked Senate Bill 361 now does a lot more to ensure the involvement of local stakeholders in decisions made by the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
The Indiana General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow electric utilities to build small modular reactors, a move that could pave the way for commercial nuclear power in the state for the first time.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday he now believes the state’s individual income tax rate could be cut while maintaining enough state revenue for additional spending needs in the next state budget to be adopted in 2023.
The House Ways and Means Committee on Monday tabled an amendment that would have conditioned the removal of some public transportation funding requirements on compliance with new lane minimums—which would’ve involved budget-busting redesign and land acquisition over several miles of the proposed 24-mile route.
Republican leaders of the House and Senate say they are optimistic they’ll find compromises before the Legislature adjourns in March.
Lawmakers in the Indiana House nixed an effort by some Senate Republicans to ban the sale of a popular derivative of hemp at levels that can give users a high.
A proposed amendment to Indiana’s so-called “divisive concepts” legislation would drop some of the most controversial parts of the bill, but stop short of completely removing a list of concepts that would be banned from the classroom.
House Bill 1221 outlines parameters for utility regulators to use when considering utilities’ proposals for constructing charging stations and setting consumer rates for their use.
Delta-8 THC, called “weed light” by some, essentially gives a weaker high than marijuana. A derivative of the compound has been selling briskly at hemp and CBD shops around the state in the form of gummies, candy and wax concentrate, thanks to a legal gray area in current state and federal law.
IBJ reporter John Russell joins the podcast to talk about why the Indiana Legislature is consider a proposal that could help clear a path for smaller, modular nuclear reactors to be located in Indiana.
Some once-leery states, including Indiana, are taking a new look at nuclear power as a way to preserve jobs and help decarbonize the electric grid.
Despite Indiana’s economic development successes, industry experts say the state must do more to attract multibillion-dollar megadeals like ones other states have recently landed.
Senate Bill 361 would make it possible for the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to create districts across the state to capture sites for large-scale economic development projects.
Lawmakers are also debating bills about teaching race and gender issues in schools, energy issues and economic development incentives.
Residential homeowners in Indiana already pay 45.6% of the property tax burden and that would rise to 51% by 2026 even without a legislative proposal to reduce the business personal property tax, according to a study commissioned by the Association of Indiana Counties.
Bills that would ban schools from teaching “divisive concepts” and open libraries to prosecution for distributing harmful material have passed the first hurdles of the Indiana Legislature.
One piece of an extensive piece of legislation to restructure the incentive toolkit of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. would create a statewide remote-worker grant program.
The Legislature is considering a bill that could give tourism groups statewide another tool in trying to lure dozens of additional events every year.