Weaver: Fix for Indiana’s police buffer law needs clearer standards
The need to protect an officer’s safety should be balanced against the rights of citizens and the media to document police work and bring attention to police abuses when they occur.
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Students want to extend ‘lifeline law’ to peers experiencing alcohol-related emergency
Teens and young adults calling for help for a friend in need of medical assistance in an alcohol-related emergency already are eligible for immunity for underage drinking crimes.
Bill to establish family recovery court fund advances out of IN House judiciary committee
A bill that would establish a state family recovery court fund is heading to the floor of the Indiana House of Representatives after unanimously passing through committee Monday.
Almost $30M spent lobbying Indiana General Assembly last year
Multi-national corporations, home-grown companies, industry groups, advocacy organizations, local government, lobbying firms and others collectively spent nearly $30 million attempting to influence Hoosier lawmakers, their family members and legislative employees last year.
Republican leaders cast doubt on new state tax relief
Despite being a top priority for new Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, Republican leaders in the General Assembly seem to be taking a more cautious approach to new state tax relief in budget discussions.
Committee passes apprenticeship framework bill, strikes enrollment quota
Lawmakers this week advanced legislation that would require the state to establish a plan to develop stackable credentials for high school students—aligning with a similar effort outside the Indiana Statehouse to expand the ecosystem of apprenticeship opportunities.
Indiana lawmakers ponder requiring cameras in special ed classrooms
District administrators aren’t opposed — but only if the state foots the bill. Educators have been less receptive.
Locals, lawmakers struggle to compromise on Indiana property tax relief
Gov. Mike Braun’s proposal would cap annual increases on property taxes for all property types at 3%.
Bill to add judges in a few counties advances, but plan to cut elsewhere still unclear
The bill would add judicial officers in Elkhart, Hamilton and Vigo counties. A plan is being developed to cut judge positions in shrinking counties.
Bill would criminalize DNA sampling denial during booking on felony charges
The measure was both applauded as a “fix” to an eight-year-old oversight and criticized as infringing on “genetic privacy.”
Legislative leaders talk post-moratorium gambling expansions, more bills reach halfway point
Just six months after a former Indiana lawmaker was sentenced to a year in federal prison for gambling-related corruption, industry expansion proposals are moving through the Legislature.
Indiana casino relocation nixed without a vote
After two hours of testimony from roughly three dozen people, a committee chair opted not to advance a proposal to move a casino license from a southeastern Indiana community to a city 160 miles north—an idea that pitted neighbor against neighbor in the casino’s potential new home.
Greg Weaver: Indiana lawmakers need to close a corruption loophole
State Rep. Hal Slager is rightfully trying to close a loophole that stems from a complicated U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a federal public corruption case involving former Portage Mayor James Snyder.
Trump’s swift moves rattle some immigration lawyers
The Indiana General Assembly also is considering several measures that would support the new president’s efforts to shut down illegal immigration.
Senate bill would criminalize the use of devices to jam security alarms, police radios
An Evansville burglary that disabled home security systems led a state lawmaker to draft legislation that would criminalize the manufacturing, selling, and use of jamming devices.
Emerging plan would shift judges to growing counties
Some state lawmakers are going in with a reallocation approach that would add new judges to growing communities and take away from those counties that may have more judges than they need.
Indiana bill would ban state contracts with foreign adversaries, give AG’s office more oversight
House Bill 1032, authored by Rep. Craig Haggard, R-Mooresville, would double down on restrictions already in effect for investors located in China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela — all countries currently labeled as foreign adversaries in state and federal code.
Elections bill would strike down student IDs as voting option
Some worry the measure will discourage college students from voting and add additional duties to local county voter registration offices.
Indy leaders support bill that could lead to roads-focused tax increase
The measure includes a provision to allow Marion County residents to vote, through a referendum, for property-tax hikes that would be used to pay for road improvements.
Vaccine bills stack up in statehouses across the US
Vaccination bills are popping up in more than 15 states as lawmakers aim to potentially resurrect or create new religious exemptions from immunization mandates, establish state-level vaccine injury databases or dictate what providers must tell patients about the shots.