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2016 Indiana General Assembly Report, Week 5

The legislature reached the halfway point of the session on Wednesday—marking the deadline for final action on introduced bills.  Both the Senate and the House worked to clear their lengthy calendars with Second Readings on Tuesday evening and Third Readings by early Wednesday afternoon. It was the first in many years that legislators completed their work without midnight adjournments.  

Of the 822 bills that were introduced, 268 passed the House and Senate.  The other 554 bills died because they either did not get a committee hearing or were not acted on by the 2nd or 3rd reading deadline. 

During the Second Reading process CAC staff provided guidance in crafting an amendment to SB383, authored by Sen. Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso), that would require utilities to publicly provide important utility customer billing data such as current arrears and disconnects so that we can work towards policies that ensure utilities are affordable and that all consumers have access to these essential human services. Despite the amendment’s defeat, SB383 passed the Senate on Wednesday 49-1.

The “No-More-Stringent-Than” bill, HB 1082 passed the House 64-33 after considerable debate on Wednesday morning. The bill awaits action in the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee, where it has died in years past at the hands of Committee Chair Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso).

Upcoming Next Week

During the second half of the session the process essentially begins where it started, albeit with fewer bills in play. Committee hearings will begin on bills passed by the opposite chamber (Senate bills heard in House committee and vice versa). Floor action on bills will be modest until a volume of legislation passes out of committees and is eligible for Second and Third Readings.

Respectfully Submitted,
Lindsay Shipps
Government Affairs

 

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