Indiana House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, joined lawmakers from Florida, South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana for a discussion with Vice President Kamala Harris about abortion, which she called “one of the most challenging and troubling issues of the day.”
A multiweek special legislative session to consider tax refunds and new abortion restrictions is expected to cost Indiana taxpayers at least $280,000 in additional compensation to the state’s 150 lawmakers.
Indiana’s abortion laws will likely be tightened even before the Legislature is expected to start debating additional abortion restrictions later this month.
While Indiana House and Senate Democrats met at the Statehouse on Wednesday — the technical start date of a special session meant for discussions about Hoosier economic relief and abortion — a swarm of pro-choice protestors gathered on the building’s steps.
The weeks between now and the start of the Indiana Legislature’s special session might be the calm before the storm. With the U.S. Supreme Court sending abortion decisions back to the states, Indiana Republican leadership expanded the agenda for the special session from tax relief to also include the crafting of a new abortion law.
Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday he is calling lawmakers back to the Indiana Statehouse on July 6 to consider his plan to send $1 billion in refunds to Indiana taxpayers.
Following is the complete list of legislation enacted during the 2022 legislative session. Bills take effect July 1 unless otherwise noted.
Within Senate Enrolled Act 388, the words “food” and “national security” do not appear. Yet the new law that prohibits foreign businesses from buying and owning Hoosier farmland places Indiana among the states that have enacted such statutes to ensure Americans have enough to eat.
Gov. Eric Holcomb announced a plan on Thursday to call a special legislative session at the end of June and propose that $1 billion in state reserves be returned to Indiana taxpayers.
In what is being called “the right decision,” the Indiana Supreme Court has overturned the law that allowed the Legislature to call itself into a special session. However, the debate over whether the governor should have the exclusive power to convene the General Assembly when the legislators are out of session might not be settled.
A unanimous Indiana Supreme Court has found HEA 1123, the controversial law allowing the Legislature to call itself into special session, violates the state’s constitution, handing Gov. Eric Holcomb a victory in a fight with the legislators that was ignited by the restrictions implemented during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the Legislative Council rejected a request to study the topic of providing attorneys to children in the child welfare system, Indiana state Sen. Jon Ford plans to keep pushing the matter by convening an independent study group to examine the issue.
As Indiana Republican leaders say they continue to support a special session to consider further restricting abortion access in the Hoosier State should the U.S. Supreme Court overrun Roe v. Wade, one legislator said the women in the Indiana General Assembly could have a significant impact on any resulting laws.
Indiana’s governor said Wednesday he was preparing a plan to potentially tap into the growing state budget surplus to help residents with the national inflation jump, while rejecting calls for suspending state gas taxes.
Since the leak earlier this month of a draft opinion indicating Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey will be overturned, U.S. Senate Democrats have failed to codify the right to an abortion. Meanwhile, Republican-led states including Indiana have indicated they are prepared to tighten restrictions once the opinion is published this summer.
Minutes after the Indiana Republican supermajority Legislature overrode Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto of the bill restricting transgender girls from participating in girls’ youth sports, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging HEA 1041.
Heeding a call from a bipartisan group of legislators, Indiana will undertake a review of its criminal code for laws concerning HIV, with the focus on modernizing state statutes and helping to end the HIV epidemic.
As Indiana Republican lawmakers prepare to override Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto and enact a new law that would bar transgender girls from participating in girls’ K-12 sports, activist groups on both sides of the issue are ramping up their lobbying efforts.
Indiana Republicans aren’t showing signs of putting the brakes on rising state gasoline taxes even as the state government continues its streak of fast-growing tax collections.
A recount will be held in a Republican primary race for a suburban Indianapolis legislative seat where the top two candidates are separated by six votes.