Statehouse Scoop: Keeping our priorities moving toward completion
We have now reached the halfway point of the 2024 legislative session and, much like we will see during the upcoming Super Bowl, there have been some highlights and some disappointing moments. But, like any good team in a big game, we are using the halftime break to make the necessary adjustments to keep our priorities moving toward completion. Before you enjoy Usher’s halftime performance, here is an update on where things currently stand on our key priorities:
Leading: Early Care and Learning
We remain excited that child care has been such a focus for the General Assembly this session. Three child care bills continue to move through the process, having cleared their chambers of origin. These include Senate Bill 2, a priority bill for the Senate leadership and for Gov. Eric Holcomb, which aims to improve the efficacy of our child care regulatory system, expand access to child care, provide additional supports for child care workers by making them categorically eligible for child care assistance, and improve public transparency and data-informed decision-making in child care policy. This bill passed out of the Senate with a 48-1 margin, and we are grateful to the Senate for its efforts and excited to work with House sponsors to ensure an equally bipartisan vote in that chamber.
Other child care bills still moving include Senate Bill 147, which would provide partial property tax deductions to employers who provide on-site child care to employees of their companies (or of other companies if there is an agreement in place between the businesses) and would broaden the existing property tax exemption for certain nonprofit child care providers to other types of private child care providers. The final bill is House Bill 1102, a bill focused mostly on issues dealing with child care homes and licensing and which preempts local zoning ordinances that might be used to keep child care centers and homes from opening just because they are child care facilities.
Collaborating: Housing
While several bills were filed this session to create and strengthen tenant protections and deal with other landlord/tenant issues, none are continuing to move. Only Senate Bill 243, which would have strengthened the inspection authority of the Health and Hospital Corporation in Indianapolis, received a hearing, but it failed in committee. We are working closely with other members of the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition to investigate what bills may be potential vehicles for language moving forward and are exploring other avenues to promote the idea of a state-level Housing Commission.
Collaborating: Economic Mobility and Security
Efforts to expand access and support for postsecondary education for vulnerable and marginalized groups, like undocumented students and those affected by the criminal justice system, have temporarily stalled at the Statehouse. But we are not giving up. We will continue to work with administration partners to explore non-legislative avenues to support these and other groups of students and will explore, where appropriate, pursing summer study topics on these issues as we head into the 2025 legislative session.
The second half of the 2024 session starts on Feb. 12. We have been told to expect the General Assembly to adjourn Sine Die earlier this year (as early as March 8), but trying to predict a final session day this far out is a little like trying to pick a Super Bowl winner during training camp: You’ll usually be wrong, but it will make for some fun speculation.
We will continue to monitor the progress of bills and will continue to weigh in publicly and privately with lawmakers. You can keep track of what we are following on our live bill tracker. You may notice that it is a little shorter now that we have reached halftime. All the bills that are considered “dead” have been removed from the list.
We also encourage you to sign up for our advocacy alerts, as we will need your voices during the closing moments of this game. When we work together, and when we advocate for the things our communities need, we all win. I remain grateful for your commitment to our work and am excited to have you on our team.