Indiana won’t put itself on the marijuana-friendly map this year, as a medical marijuana bill authored by Democratic Sen. Karen Tallian is unlikely to go further than a committee hearing.
An Indiana House committee has advanced a Republican-led proposal for shifting authority over education policy away from the elected state superintendent of public instruction.
House Bill 1638 would give significant new powers to the State Board of Education to intervene in schools earning a D or F grade for at least four straight years—even creating new schools within a school district.
A group of residents at a Bloomington retirement home are spearheading a legislative push to allow alcohol to be served at Indiana's nursing homes and retirement communities.
Bill sponsor Rep. Robert Morris, R-Fort Wayne, said it was created to give Indiana's Amish population more access to outside businesses such as banks and pharmacies that require a state-issued ID.
An Indiana Senate committee on Tuesday approved a set of bills intended to fight crime that among other things would impose harsher sentences for violent offenders and provide funding for police overtime.
House Bill 1032 would create a redistricting commission to hold hearings, take public comment and recommend plans to redraw legislative and congressional districts. But leaders plan to send the issue to a study committee first.
Investor-owned utilities are lobbying for a bill that would allow them to alter customers’ credits for net metering, or generating energy on-site and selling it back to the grid.
Many of the new House and Senate members ran on limited, simplistic campaign platforms, and—because few had seriously contested general election campaigns—they had little opportunity to educate themselves on more than a handful of big-picture matters.
A fund for public transportation could be debated before the House Ways and Means Committee after Rep. Randy Truitt filed a bill that would provide about $20 million more per year than Gov. Mike Pence proposed.
The legislation would require the State Board of Funeral and Cemetery Service to adopt rules for alkaline hydrolysis. The process is legal in 11 other states.
Indiana legislators would face more financial disclosure requirements and elected officials would be expressly prohibited from using state resources for political purposes under a proposed overhaul of ethics laws introduced Thursday.
The governor took on the federal government for overreaching on health care and environmental regulations, and he reiterates his priorities on education.
Senate Bill 173, authored by Sen. R. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, requires the Indiana Department of Correction to establish a specialized vocational program to train minimum-security inmates in trades.
The governor said this will be an "education session" and said his priorities will include changes to the school funding formula and more money for school choice.
In his third State of the State address, Gov. Mike Pence called for a balanced budget amendment that he says will protect Indiana from a possible economic downturn and will show Hoosiers their tax dollars are being spent wisely.
Sen. Jim Merritt hopes that his bill would make tax sales a less attractive haven for investors, who he said lack incentives to maintain abandoned and vacant property.
Even if the Indiana General Assembly approves a funding mechanism for a proposed $87 million downtown soccer stadium for the Indy Eleven—which is no sure thing—hurdles would remain. For starters: where to build it.
The governor delivers his State of the State Address on Jan. 13. He will lay out his legislative agenda in greater detail than in December pronouncements that education would take precedence this session, in terms of both cash and policy.
Last year, a new law scuttled Indiana’s program for reducing energy use statewide. Gov. Mike Pence’s alternative would allow energy companies to set their own targets.
