The first round of committee hearings came to an end at the Statehouse with the House Committee Report deadline Tuesday, 1/30/24 and the Senate Committee Report deadline on Thursday, 2/1/24. If bills didn’t get a hearing by those dates, they are now considered dead, though nothing’s truly dead until Sine Die, when the gavel finally falls on the 2024 Legislative Session.

In addition to committee deadline, the House faced their Second Reading deadline on Thursday, 2/1/24. The Senate will have their Second Reading deadline on Monday, 2/5/24, meaning bills that passed committee, but do not pass second reading, will die. Consistent with the large volume of bills passing committees, the number of bills considered on the floors of each chamber of the General Assembly grew as well. 

The Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 5, authored by Sen. Eric Koch (R-Bedford), last Tuesday. We testified in support of SB5 which aims to accelerate the replacement of customer owned lead service lines.

Also passing the Senate was Senate Bill 247, a bill intended to streamline the acquisition of very small, distressed water and wastewater utilities and Senate Bill 295, which seeks to put some guardrails into state statute for the Indiana Economic Development Commission. You might remember we testified in support of SB295 during committee. The Indiana Capital Chronicle covered SB295 and included Kerwin Olson’s testimony.

On Wednesday, the Senate heard and passed the terrible wetlands bill, House Bill 1383 - the only House Bill heard in the Senate so far. The bill has been fast tracked despite intense opposition and a front page IndyStar takedown, complete with quotes from a technical expert at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), acknowledging that IDEM wetlands experts were not consulted in HB1383 negotiations. We were in the room alongside dozens of advocates, testifying in opposition to the proposal to deregulate wetlands. This bill combined with SEA389 (2021) and the Sackett v EPA decision will completely upend regulation for Indiana wetlands and situate Hoosiers to again bear the brunt of legislative action to benefit the homebuilders lobby. Take action on 1383 here.

You might remember our heads up about House Bill 1264 in our Week 2 update. House Bill 1264 is a bill that claims to be about "election security" that risks preventing lawful residents from being able to cast a ballot. Indiana already struggles with voter turnout. In 2022, we were 50th out of 51 for voter turnout, and in 2020, we ranked 46th in the nation. The Indiana General Assembly could pursue any number of policies designed to increase voter turnout: extending polling hours, making mail-in voting accessible to a larger population, or supporting automatic voter registration.

Instead, the IGA is pursuing House Bill 1264, which would allow the state to use third party credit bureau data to verify voter addresses, which has real potential to result in lawful voters losing their voter registration status over time. HB1264 also adds additional proof of residency requirements for first-time Indiana voters, which would make it more difficult for people to vote - particularly college students, people who recently moved to Indiana, and folks in assisted living facilities. 

Despite the outcry and extended floor debate, HB1264 passed the House 67-29 and awaits a hearing in the Senate. Take action on HB1264 here.

We want to thank you for taking action on some bills that are unfortunately dead for the year: Senate Bill 278 is a broad and strong consumer protection bill that would have reduced utility disconnections in the heat of summer, eliminated disconnections on weekends, and prohibited monopoly utilities from imposing outrageous fees on customers struggling to make ends meet. It also would have helped us continue monitoring the affordability crisis facing Hoosiers by requiring utilities to report critical data, like the number of households they disconnect and aggregated customer arrearage data. Thanks to your help we sent 4,424 emails to the Statehouse asking for consumer-friendly policy!

House Bill 1193 would have authorized independent community solar in Indiana, which would help more Hoosiers save money with cheap and clean solar energy. Right now, community solar is nonexistent in Indiana for customers of an investor-owned utility because our current laws only allow the electric utilities to own and operate community solar facilities. HB1193 would have given customers more choice by allowing customers of investor-owned electric utilities to subscribe to independently-owned and operated community solar facilities to receive credits on their monthly bills. Thanks to your help we sent 2,890 emails to the Statehouse asking for solar-friendly policy!

Senate Bill 249 and House Bill 1305 are companion bills that were introduced in response to public concern about the massive amounts of water the IEDC plans to pipe to the controversial LEAP district. These bills would have created a permitting process at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to manage large water withdrawals and transfers, and would’ve given the public a chance to participate in this process. Thanks to your help we sent 6,539 emails to the Statehouse asking for consumer-friendly policy!

The legislature will be back in full swing this week with 3rd reading deadline on Monday in the House and Tuesday in the Senate. Bills that survive will cross chambers and the second round of committee hearings will begin on Monday the 12th. Things will move at lightning speed as bills need to move no later than February 27th out of the House and March 5th for the Senate. Buckle up, it will be quite the ride. Both chambers must adjourn sine die by March 14th. 

Take action on our priorities here:

• Tell your state legislators to protect our water and wetlands and vote NO on HB1383 at act.citact.org/kbgnnsn.
• Tell your state legisaltors to support mass transit and vote NO on SB52 at act.citact.org/Lsfkqfw.
• Tell your state legislators to protect our voting rights and vote NO on HB1264 at act.citact.org/qe18xjh.

As always, our most up-to-date information is on our social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lindsay Shipps Haake & Kerwin Olson
Government Affairs