Statehouse Scoop: Closing out the ‘March Madness’ that is the end of session

The 2024 legislative session concluded late in the evening Friday, March 8, wrapping up an unusually brief short session. (The General Assembly convened about a week later than usual and finished a week earlier than required.)  

Just like the upcoming men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments, there was no shortage of “March Madness” at the end, though the drama in the Statehouse carries greater personal and social stakes for Hoosiers than anything that happens on the court. This session can be described in the same way as many basketball tournaments: some upsets, some compelling performances, but a lot of expected results. 

For our part, your United Way of Central Indiana policy team 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. While we did not get the progress we wanted on housing and other core issues, we did continue some important conversations and will look to build on those during the 2025 session. Here is a quick summary of our work this session. 

Lead: Early Care and Learning 

This was a big session for early care and learning. Senate Enrolled Act 2 was identified early as a priority for the Senate and for the governor, and we secured broad bipartisan support for the bill in both chambers. This is a real success story when it comes to collaborative advocacy: It represented the work of dozens of employers, child  care providers, child care workers, nonprofits and other membership organizations. It will:  

• expand child care access by expanding eligibility for subsidies to the children of childcare workers across the state;  

• streamline the process for public, charter and non-public schools to become On My Way Pre-K providers; and  

• create microcenter pilots across the state to serve child care deserts.  

We are grateful to Sen. Ed Charbonneau, Rep. Dale DeVon, and Gov. Eric Holcomb for their work in securing the passage of this tremendous bill. We are also grateful to the many co-authors and co-sponsors of the bill and to all those who voted for it along the way.  

We also worked hard on House Enrolled Act 1102, which started its legislative journey as an extensive deregulation of the home-based child care space. Working with the author and committee members in the House, we were able to amend the bill into something that makes some modest updates to home-based child care regulation but also furthers some of the goals of the 2023 child care legislative summer study:  

• reducing administrative burden for providers by lengthening the life of licenses for quality providers and  

• expanding access by ensuring that local zoning ordinances are not used to keep home-based care providers from opening.  

Collaborate: Housing 

Like last session, we did not see needed progress on protecting tenants and increasing access to safe, affordable housing in Indiana. Despite bipartisan efforts to promote legislation that would have improved landlord-tenant relations, protected tenant rights and shored up the ability of Marion County to conduct inspections of poor housing conditions, committees either did not agree to hear the legislation or could not agree to the balance of tenant and landlord interests. While these outcomes were frustrating, we know how important housing is for the health and safety of Hoosiers and our communities’ economic development. We will approach the next session with renewed efforts to find common ground in this area.  

This week, we joined Prosperity Indiana and the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition in calling for Gov. Holcomb to appoint a Commission on Housing Affordability and Stability. In addition, our partners at Prosperity Indiana and The National Low Income Housing Coalition released an updated edition of “The Gap” report in Indiana, and we look forward to elevating this crucial housing data in the months ahead. 

Collaborate: Economic Mobility and Security 

We did not make progress this session on efforts to expand access in higher education to undocumented residents or to those whose lives are impacted by the criminal justice system. Given the session's shortness and it being a non-budget year, committee chairs were unable to give these bills a hearing. We will redouble our efforts next session, working with our partners to ensure that all Hoosiers can access the economic mobility that a postsecondary education can provide.  

Standing Positions: Mass Transit and Basic Needs 

The city of Indianapolis faced several challenges to its local autonomy this session, including threats to the IndyGo Blue Line project and the recently created Economic Enhancement District. Indiana has a long love-hate relationship with the concept of local control, enshrining in its constitution a prohibition against “local or special laws” but also requiring local or special laws for things like local taxes. We 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. We are grateful for the work of the many advocates who worked publicly and behind the scenes, and for the leadership of IndyGo and House Speaker Todd Huston in reaching a compromise that preserves local control of the project and maintains access to transit for those in our community who most need it. 

In addition, we followed the lead of partners at the Indy Chamber on House Enrolled Act 1199, which would have repealed the new Economic Enhancement District within the Mile Square. The bill was amended to allow Indianapolis to keep the district, subject to some changed conditions: a sunset of the district after 10 years, some opt-outs for properties that qualify for homestead exemptions, and other changes. These amendments likely mean the district will generate less revenue than before, but this should not threaten the ability of the city to carry out the essential services to be paid for by the district.   

The end of session always provides an opportunity to reflect on what went well and what we can learn from things that did not move. Two things are certain as we move forward:  

One: We will work through the summer and fall to ensure that our agenda for the 2025 budget session is ambitious, speaks to the challenges facing Central Indiana’s residents and is responsive to partner voices. The only way we succeed is together, and we commit to crafting an agenda that takes seriously community need and honors community voice. 

Two: We are grateful for the voices and advocacy of the many partner organizations, donors and volunteers who support our work, respond to our calls to action and want to make Central Indiana a place where all its residents can thrive. We cannot thank you enough.