2018 Legislative Session

Indiana University Office of Government Relations

 Statehouse Report 6

Introduction

This week marked the halfway point for the legislative session. The General Assembly worked long hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with legislators pushing to get their bills through third reading by the deadline. The House completed their third readings on Monday night and the Senate completed all of their third readings by Wednesday night.

Of the 895 total bills that were introduced this year, 172 were passed in the Senate and 130 were passed in the House, with a total of 302 bills getting through their first chamber. The remaining 593 bills failed to progress and are no longer under consideration.

Bills That Moved

House

HB 1317 – Health Matters: This bill would address several items related to healthcare, including pharmacy disclosure of pricing information, designated coverage area changes, CHOICE adjustments, and interim study committees on healthcare. This bill passed third reading and will now move to the Senate.

HB 1426 – Education Matters: This bill would establish a single Indiana high school diploma with different designations for general, Core 40, Core 40 with Academic Honors, Core 40 with Technical Honors and a diploma option for students with significant cognitive disabilities. This bill passed third reading in the House and now moves to the Senate for further consideration.

Senate

SB 28 – Nursing Faculty Loan Repayment Grant Program: This bill would establish a loan repayment program aimed at addressing the nursing faculty shortage in Indiana. This bill passed its third reading and now moves to the House of Representatives.

SB 50 – Workforce Development: This bill would create several workforce-related programs and studies, including a college and career funding review committee. This bill passed second and third readings this week and will go to the House for consideration.

SB 410 – Advanced Practice Registered Nurses: This bill would replace the term “advanced practice nurse” with “advanced practice registered nurse” and require the State Board of Nursing to adopt rules about advanced practice registered nurses prescribing drugs. This bill also passed third reading and will go to the House.

Bills That Died

HB 1016 – Student Journalism: This bill would have codified free speech provisions for student journalists and would have provided civil immunity to state educational institutions for actions born out of student journalism activities. It died on third reading and will not be moving forward.

Looking Ahead to Next Week

With the second half of the session beginning next week, the whole process will start again. Committee hearings will begin next week on bills passed in the opposite chamber (the Senate will review passed House bills and vice versa). Floor action on bills will be limited until legislation passes out of committees and becomes eligible for second and third readings.

We are also excited to host our next regional campus lunch with IU Southeast on Monday!