For the second year in a row, the Indiana House Judiciary Committee has endorsed legislation to extend full faith and credit to tribal orders issued in Indiana by the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Indians.
Indiana lawmakers are moving forward with a pregnancy accommodations bill that won’t require businesses to make any adjustments for workers. Some legislators advocated for a measure that they said would offer pregnant workers more meaningful protections.
A coalition of state and national organizations are putting their support behind a juvenile justice bill in the Indiana Legislature that they say will bring much-needed reform and prevent the state from losing federal money. The measure advanced to the full Senate on Tuesday.
Nearing the mid-point of the 2021 legislative session, the Indiana Senate overrode Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto of a bill that housing advocates claimed would put more Hoosier tenants at risk of eviction. Democrats harshly criticized the override as the work of a Republican supermajority “drunk on power.”
A bill that would give adult guardians a say in the final disposition of their wards is headed to the full Senate, but a narrow vote in committee likely means the legislation will see further amendments.
At least 13 bills dealing with election and voting have been introduced into the 2021 session of the Indiana General Assembly, but only three have received a hearing and none are addressing calls by Democrats for expanded absentee voting and easier access to early voting.
A House committee made significant changes Thursday to the way Indiana would spend proceeds from a proposal to hike the state’s cigarette tax https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/indiana-lawmakers-discuss-doubling-cigarette-tax-rate for the first time in more than a decade and impose a new state tax on vaping liquids.
Efforts to amend a bill that would fundamentally change the composition of the judicial nominating commissions in Lake and St. Joseph counties failed in the Indiana House on Tuesday, setting up the controversial legislation for a possible final House vote next week.
State lawmakers have significantly amended a bill that would give the Legislature the authority to weigh in on policies made during a public emergency. The bill cleared a committee and now heads to the full House for consideration.
A bill in the Legislature could reignite Indiana’s battle over birth certificates and possibly upend federal court rulings that allow married lesbian couples to have both their names listed as their children’s parents. Some attorneys, however, see numerous unintended consequences if the bill passes.
After the protests this summer that led to the destruction or defacement of monuments nationwide, a bill designed to protect Indiana’s historical markers is advancing in the Indiana Legislature.
A proposal to ban Indianapolis and more than 100 other Indiana cities from ever changing their names has been approved by the state Senate. The proposal also would prohibit the renaming of many other Hoosier cities.
A bipartisan bill aimed at increasing police accountability and enacting criminal justice reform advanced to the Indiana Senate after lawmakers unanimously approved the measure in a House vote Tuesday.
A bill in the 2021 Indiana General Assembly would make clear that lemonade stands are legal in the Hoosier state, thanks to two LaPorte boys who wanted to tackle an issue near to their hearts.
A Senate bill requested by the Indiana Department of Correction would provide a way to ensure mental health treatment for inmates upon their release.
Civil forfeiture is back before the judicial and the legislative branches of Indiana government. A Senate bill would implement forfeiture reforms that practitioners say have long been necessary, while a case scheduled to go before the Indiana Supreme Court this month for the third time could further refine how trial courts consider whether a forfeiture is lawful.
The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus is offering a comprehensive and aggressive agenda for the 2021 session of the Indiana General Assembly. The bills promote police reform, institute changes to juvenile justice, and address inequities in the health care system, among other things.
With the help of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, the IndyBar Legislative Committee (chaired by Mindy Westrick of the Indiana Energy Association) provides weekly Bill Watch reports throughout the session, which highlight progress and recent actions taken on bills being monitored by the association.
Legal professionals in Lake and St. Joseph counties are raising serious concerns about advancing legislation that would change the structure of the local judicial nominating commissions that shape the state trial court judiciary in the northern Indiana counties.
The Indiana Senate has passed controversial legislation that would repeal state oversight of wetlands. Some lawmakers in both parties, however, said the law goes too far and would interfere with regulatory or judicial review of multiple pending cases.