2016 Legislative Session

Indiana University Office of State Relations

 State House Report 6

Introduction

With the start of the second half of the legislative session, the Senate began deliberations on bills that were introduced and passed in the House and conversely, the House began consideration of Senate bills.  After several very busy weeks, the pace of activity slowed this week with relatively few bills scheduled for committee hearings and no bills were considered on the floor of the House and Senate. 

A major event of the week for Indiana University was the General Assembly passage of a resolution honoring IU Southeast on its 75th anniversary.  The resolution was authored by Rep. Ed Clere in the House and sponsored by Sen. Ron Grooms in the Senate.  President McRobbie was afforded the opportunity to address both the House and Senate during the resolution ceremonies. Chancellor Ray Wallace and members of his team were present on the floor of the House and Senate for the ceremonies as well. 

On the same day as the ceremonies, IU Southeast hosted the last of our regional campus luncheons with area legislators.   

Bills That Moved

House

HB 1005 Career Pathways Program: This bill seeks establish a program and provide funding to facilitate a pathway for new teachers to establish employment in Indiana K-12 schools. The bill was heard in the Senate Education Committee.

HB 1019 Law Enforcement Recordings: This bill, which creates a separate set of guidelines regarding public records requests for law enforcement recordings (including dashboard cameras and body cameras), was heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HB 1032 Various Pension Matters: This bill, which makes updates to the Public Employees Retirement Fund and the Teacher’s Retirement Fund, including replacing the guaranteed investment option with a stable investment instrument, was passed out of the Senate Pensions and Labor Committee and is now eligible for 2nd reading on the Senate floor.

HB 1034 Teacher Scholarships and Stipends: This bill, which makes revisions to the Minority Teacher Scholarship Program, was heard in the Senate Education Committee. The state higher education institutions collectively testified in support of this bill.

HB 1219 High School Diplomas: This bill would require every Indiana public high school to offer all types of diplomas approved by the state board of education and limits excess local requirements from being placed on students with disabilities seeking a diploma. This bill was heard in the Senate Education Committee.

HB 1395 ISTEP Matters: This bill would make updates to the state ISTEP test as well as establish the Committee on Student Success. The bill provides that one higher education representative and the Commissioner for Higher Education will be members of the Committee on Student Success. The bill was heard by the Senate Education Committee and the state higher education institutions collectively testified in support.

Senate

SB 167 University Ownership of Certain Entities: This bill, which is being sought by IU, would authorize state educational institutions to acquire and retain ownership shares in privately held entities. This provision would assist IU in expanding its international engagements through its Gateway Center offices. The bill also would simplify the process of consolidating university centers, and in some cases, terminating inactive university centers. IU testified on the bill, which was heard in the House Ways and Means Committee. The bill and will likely be reconsidered by the committee next week.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

With time for committee chairs to sort through bills assigned to their committees, we expect the volume of bills heard in committee to increase.  As more bills move out of committee, the number of bills eligible for 2nd and 3rd readings will increase as well.