Articles

New laws for 2019

The following enrolled acts, followed in parentheses by their corresponding public law numbers, take effect July 1 unless otherwise noted below.

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Zipping into statutes: Overview of new laws for 2019

Although the $34 billion budget dominated the session, legislators introduced and considered more than 600 bills each in both the Senate and the House. The ones they passed covered a variety of matters, including hate crimes, hemp, gambling, foster parents, electricity generation and, of course, electric scooters.

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ACLU report highlights Indiana’s prison problem

While acknowledging Indiana’s efforts to reform its criminal justice system has slowed the growth of the state’s prison population, a new report by the ACLU of Indiana asserts that additional reforms, including expanded access to treatment for mental health and substance abuse, could reduce the number of incarcerated by 50 percent and save Hoosier taxpayers more than $541 million by 2025.

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State lawmakers pad DCS budget, hike school funding only slightly

State lawmakers are poised to increase school funding by 2.5 percent each year in a $34 billion final budget plan — just slightly more than the amount proposed last week by the Indiana Senate. Meanwhile, the Indiana Department of Child Services’ budget will jump by more than a half-billion dollars over the next two fiscal years.

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Reversal: Inmate denied DOC manual gets new trial

An inmate’s claims he was denied a fair trial can move forward now that the Indiana Court of Appeals has concluded the state’s failure to provide him with an Indiana Department of Corrections professional conduct manual left him unable to prepare a proper defense against an officer who shoved him.

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