Indiana advocates applaud key legislation from the 2024 legislative session
As Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signs Senate Enrolled Act 2 and House Enrolled Act 1102 into law, United Way of Central Indiana joins educators, community leaders and advocates across the state in applauding Indiana’s leaders for prioritizing improvements to the state’s early care sector, workforce and transit during the 2024 legislative session.
“This session, we worked closely with our many partners in advocacy to deliver some important wins in early care and learning, the protection of important public goods like mass transit and the continuation of programs that support learning loss recovery,” said Sam Snideman, United Way’s vice president of government relations. “The bipartisanship and teamwork in a non-budget session demonstrates how crucial these issues are to our state’s economy and livelihood.”
Early care and learning through Senate Enrolled Act 2 was identified early as a priority for the governor and received broad bipartisan support in both legislative chambers. This legislation makes significant progress in addressing core challenges facing the child care space: workforce, access to care and transparency in the sector.
House Enrolled Act 1102 makes modest updates to home-based child care regulation but also advances goals from a 2023 summer study committee on child care, including reducing the administrative burden for providers and expanding access by ensuring local zoning ordinances are not used to keep home-based providers from opening.
“These two pieces of legislation highlight the importance of collaborative advocacy for advancing extensive change in our state,” Snideman said. “The success for early care and learning issues this legislative session represents the work of dozens of employers, child care providers, child care workers, nonprofits and other membership organizations.”
While there was positive movement in early care and learning, another important issue for Central Indiana — safe and affordable housing — saw no progress this session. United Way this week joined Prosperity Indiana and the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition in calling for Gov. Holcomb to appoint a Commission on Housing Affordability and Stability. A new report from Prosperity Indiana and the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows the breadth of the shortage of affordable homes in Indiana.
United Way worked closely with partners in the Transit Drives Indy coalition to defeat Senate Bill 52, which would have effectively ended the IndyGo plan for the Blue Line Bus Rapid Transit line. The result is a compromise that preserves local control of the project while maintaining access to transit for those who most need it.
“There were several wins for Hoosiers this session, and we're grateful for the work of legislators and our community partners in making a positive impact,” said Fred Payne, president and CEO of United Way of Central Indiana. “Our work isn’t over yet. Thousands of families are living in, or one emergency away from, poverty. We must keep the momentum going this summer and fall to achieve more success with an ambitious agenda in the 2025 budget session.”