This year we are keeping track of more than ninety pieces of legislation. Make sure you keep up to date with our 2024 Legislative page to follow our work and receive the most updated information. CAC staff testified on 5 bills in 4 different committee hearings last week. We had constant dialogue with legislators and staff throughout the week and continue to pursue consumer friendly outcomes at every opportunity. As we reported last week, 751 pieces of legislation have been filed. These bills must be heard by the committees in which they were placed by January 30th in the House and February 1st in the Senate, or they will be considered dead. Of course, that doesn’t prevent any language from being inserted into other bills—anything is possible until the gavel falls sine die in the Indiana Statehouse.

The Senate Appropriations Committee heard and passed SB5 on Thursday last week (you might remember we reported that already unanimously passed the Senate Utilities Committee in Week 1 of the Legislature). Senate Bill 5, authored by Sen. Eric Koch (R-Bedford) aims to accelerate the replacement of customer owned lead service lines.

In the House Utilities Committee, we testified on House Bill 1306, which seeks to exempt the Indiana utility regulatory commission (IURC) from providing a live transmission of hearings. While we were initially opposed to the legislation, the bill was amended to mostly address our concerns, and as such, our testimony was neutral. We continue to work with legislators and stakeholders to improve the bill and expect that it will be further amended. 

The Senate Utilities Committee met this week to discuss SB247, a bill intended to streamline the acquisition of very small, distressed water and wastewater utilities. And directly afterwards, the Senate Commerce Committee heard SB295, which seeks to put some guardrails into state statute for the Indiana Economic Development Commission. The Indiana Capital Chronicle covered and included our Kerwin Olson’s testimony in support of the bill. The report we released in December revealed massive lack of oversight for the IEDC’s LEAP project and we are supportive of any improved oversight the legislature and/or state provides.

We were in the hallway for the second reading of SB52 which would completely upend publicly approved transit investments in Indiana. The bill was amended on Thursday to make it even worse than introduced. The new language added will institute a one-year moratorium on new No Turn on Red signs in Indianapolis. This bill will have negative impacts on quality of life and quality of place. Contact your legislators to vote no on SB52! 

Items upcoming this week

We will be joining colleagues in attending the Senate Health and Provider Services Committee this coming Wednesday, to testify in support of Senate Bill 276, dealing with medical debt. SB276 seeks to protect Hoosiers' wages, homes, vehicles, and credit scores while they are paying off medical bills. It also sets an interest rate limit on outstanding medical debt and prevents collection actions while insurance determinations are being appealed. SB276 also ensures that Hoosiers are informed of charity care options from their healthcare provider. This is a great bill for consumers and we thank our colleagues at the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute for working this bill, Sen. Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis) for authoring it, and Senate Public Health and Provider Services Chairman Sen. Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso) for hearing it.

We’ll be in the Wednesday meeting of the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee for the now fast-tracked wetlands bill, House Bill 1383, which passed out of the House 64-30 earlier this week. HB1383 was authored by Rep. Alan Morrison (R-Brazil). This bill is the first House Bill scheduled to be heard in the Senate this year. If passed, HB1383 will further deregulate Indiana wetlands at the behest of the Indiana Homebuilders lobby who will benefit from decreased protections for  Indiana’s most precious natural resource: our water. More from our colleagues at Hoosier Environmental Council here. Contact your state legislators to vote no on HB1383!

Respectfully submitted,

Lindsay Shipps Haake & Kerwin Olson
Government Affairs