With the start of the second half of the Indiana General Assembly, the House started its deliberations on bills that were introduced and passed in the Senate and conversely, the Senate started consideration of House bills. Instead of a quiet week like years past, the House and Senate restarted its engines, holding numerous committee meetings and passing a hefty amount of bills from committees.

As a reminder, the second half of the legislative session essentially restarts the legislative process (minus the introduction of any new bills). When bills move to the opposite chamber they can be amended, but the new chamber’s amendments are subject to approval by the originating chamber. If the original chamber refuses to consent to any changes, a conference committee will be formed. Conference committees consist of members from both chambers who work to create a version of the bill that both houses can agree on. Once a bill is approved by both chambers in some fashion, it can then proceed to the Governor for his signature or veto.

It's important to remember that legislative language that hasn’t passed either chamber sometimes creeps into bills, so we are keeping our ears to the ground and our eyes peeled as the legislative process continues.

We testified on bills in the House Utilites and Senate Utilities Committees last week. In the House we testified in support of Senate Bill 5 which aims to accelerate the replacement of customer owned lead service lines. In the Senate we testified in support of HB1163 and HB1306. House Bill 1163 which attempts to streamline the development of electric generation resources by the rural electric cooperatives smaller than 10 MWs, which are generally solar and storage. House Bill 1306 as introduced sought 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 on second reading in the House in a way that addresses our concerns. As HB1306 now stands, the IURC would be exempted from live streaming only the hearings which are purely ministerial, and would be required to live stream all other hearings, so we support the bill.

This next upcoming week will be another breakneck week, with more than eighty bills scheduled to be heard. On Monday we will be testifying on House Bill 1399 in Senate Environmental Affairs. This is the bill that you may have seen on the front page of the Indy Star that inadequately attempts to create an Indiana definition of PFAS toxic chemicals that is far too narrow and would exclude many chemicals currently defined as PFAS. 

We will also be following House Bill 1264 which we testified on last week, in the Senate Elections Committee on Monday at 10am. As a reminder, 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. Take action on HB1264 today.

We will be in the House Roads and Transportation Committee on Tuesday to testify in opposition to Senate Bill 52, which will compromise federal funds and improvements for sidewalks, street paving, and ADA accessible ramps.  Take action on SB52 today. 

Senate Bill 5, authored by Sen. Eric Koch (R-Bedford) will be heard in House Ways and Means on Wednesday. It was recommitted to Ways and Means after passing the House Utilities Committee last week. We will again offer testimony in support of SB5 which aims to accelerate the replacement of customer owned lead service lines. 

We’ll be monitoring the Senate Utilities Committee on Thursday and the House Environmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday in addition to our monitoring the House and Senate floors for language that affects consumers.

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