Local lawmakers discuss second half of legislative session, which kicks off today

As Indiana lawmakers head into the second half of the session this week at the Statehouse, local legislators gathered virtually Friday afternoon to discuss what’s to come as business wraps up next month.

Aspire Economic Development, the county’s chamber alliance, hosted its second Legislation Matters event of the year. Four state lawmakers representing Johnson County and the southside of Indianapolis joined to talk about the most important issues going into the second half of the Indiana General Assembly’s legislative session.

The session thus far has been extremely busy, said Sen. Jack Sandlin, R-Indianapolis. Lawmakers filed more than 1,000 bills and resolutions this year, and 316 will move on to move to the second half of the session.

"We had a lot of bills filed, even though there was a decision made to limit the number of bills," Sandlin said.

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During the second half of the session, set to wrap up April 29, the bills that passed through the House and Senate, respectively, will now switch chambers for approval.

When the bills move to the other chamber, they go through the same legislative process with a committee hearing, second reading on the floor for amendments and a full floor vote for final passage. Once a bill is agreed on by both the House and Senate, it goes to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk to be signed into law.

Of the 316 bills that made it through to the second half, several were priorities of legislative leaders, including the $36 billion state budget proposal that is now being considered by the Senate. 

"It’s a good Republican-led budget," said Rep. John Young, R-Franklin. "The House has passed a balanced budget to make sure Indiana still has money in the bank."

Another priority of both the House and Senate was liability protections relating to COVID-19. The legislation, Senate Enrolled Act 1, moved quickly through the Statehouse and Holcomb signed it into law last month.

SEA 1 will prevent an individual from suing a business or health care organization, including nursing homes, for damages caused by exposure to COVID-19. 

The legislation received some criticism, claiming the language was too broad, leaving room for too much interpretation by judges, and potentially allowing neglect to be excused in nursing homes. However, Young said the legislation ended up in a good place when it passed, and its broad nature was needed to protect all types of businesses from "mom and pops" to big box stores.

"This removes all doubts from businesses minds that unless they were acting negligent, they’re not going to need to be worried about being liable for any damages resulting from COVID exposures," Young said.

Another state issue that is important locally made it through. Sandlin’s bill to raise the penalty in the theft of a catalytic converter to a Level 6 felony from a Class A misdemeanor is now being considered by the House. 

Catalytic converter thefts have become an increasing problem across the state and in Johnson County. About 150 converter thefts were reported last year alone throughout the county.

"We’re going to see if we can give prosecutors additional tools to slow down those thefts," Sandlin said Friday.

Other important bills that passed their respective chambers included legislation that would allow Indiana residents to carry a gun without a license, also referred to as constitutional carry, a bill that would limit the governor’s emergency powers and a bill that would strip protections for many Indiana wetlands.

On the topic of the governor’s emergency powers, Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, wanted to remind everyone that Holcomb is not acting unconstitutionally by using executive orders to mandate masks or limit restaurant capacity while Indiana is under a state of emergency.

"We as the General Assembly voted at one point to relinquish some powers to the governor in emergency situations that we cannot do," Walker said. "We cannot do anything timely in the General Assembly."

But House Bill 1123 would let legislative leaders decide whether to call an emergency legislative session for a maximum of 40 days.

"This gives us an opportunity to give approval to those actions in a way that we don’t take the power away from the governor," Walker said.

A question from those attending the virtual discussion asked about the widely-debated topic of Indiana possibly expanding its voucher program, which provides state money to nonpublic K-12 schools.

Included in the state budget, Republican lawmakers proposed $144 million for the voucher expansion, and a new program allowing parents to spend state money directly on their child’s education expenses is included in legislative budget projections.

All four lawmakers who attended the event said they backed the voucher program and supported allowing parents to choose the best education for their children.

Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, personally used the voucher program to send one of her children to a private school, so she supports the expansion. But, she does not want the public to think if a lawmaker supports the voucher program they do not care about public schools.

"92.5% of our budget for K-12 goes to traditional public schools. It seems that in this conversation, it tends to point to us that we don’t support public schools and that Indiana is a choice state," Davis said "It’s good to have choices, but we also advocate and are very supportive of public schools."

State lawmakers will return to the Statehouse today.