Confusion over prolonged expungement wait times that Indiana’s longest-serving judge called “unjust” was settled Wednesday when the Indiana Supreme Court declared a new law that eliminated the confusion applies retroactively.
The Indiana General Assembly passed laws this year on matters ranging from increasing the smoking and vaping age to laws banning distracted driving, specifically prohibiting the use of a cellphone behind the wheel. The following enrolled acts, followed in parentheses by their corresponding public law numbers, take effect July 1 unless otherwise noted.
It’s now year six of an ongoing battle between the Indiana Department of Correction and a Washington, D.C., lawyer who wants to know the drugs used in Indiana’s lethal injection cocktail and who supplies them. In those six years, a public records request, a lawsuit and a legislative change have propelled the dispute to the Indiana Supreme Court, which now has a consequential ruling in its hands.
The longstanding dispute over whether the Indiana Department of Correction can keep the identities of its lethal-injection drug suppliers secret reached the Indiana Supreme Court this week, with the parties offering strongly divergent views on Hoosier public access laws and constitutional rights.
The cards have been dealt, and Terre Haute is getting a casino. The Indiana Gaming Commission on Friday awarded a casino license to Spectacle Jack LLC, which plans to build a $120 million casino near Interstate 70 and State Road 46 in Terre Haute.
The Trump administration and Congress are trudging toward an agreement on an aid package of more than $450 billion to boost a small-business loan program that has run out of money and add funds for hospitals and COVID-19 testing.
Legislation that would have favored summons over jail time for low-level misdemeanors didn’t pass the Indiana Senate, but in light of COVID-19 restrictions, the Indiana Supreme Court urged trial courts to take a similar approach. Local law enforcement seems to be following suit to keep inmates at low risk for exposure.
Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed a measure opposed by fair housing advocates that would have limited local controls over landlord-tenant matters. Holcomb said the language was “overly broad” and, in a reference to the ongoing pandemic, this was “not the right time” for such a law.
Drinking water fountains and taps at public and private schools in Indiana will be required to be tested for lead contamination by 2023 under a new state law.
Acting swiftly in an extraordinary time, the House rushed President Donald Trump a $2.2 trillion rescue package Friday, tossing a life preserver to a U.S. economy and health care system left flailing by the coronavirus pandemic.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has vetoed a controversial bill that would have prevented local governments from regulating any aspect of landlord-tenant relationships.
The White House and Senate leaders announced agreement Wednesday on an unparalleled, $2 trillion emergency bill to rush aid to businesses, workers and a health care system slammed by the coronavirus pandemic, the largest economic rescue bill in history.
New court-related legislation has been signed into law in Indiana, giving judges guidance on indigency determinations and setting the statewide cap for small claims dispute awards at $8,000.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the first case of COVID-19 in the Senate and raising fears about the further transmission of the virus among Republicans at the Capitol. The deveoplment came as the Senate wrangled overnight Sunday to agree to an emergency economic stimulus package.
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order Thursday that protects Hoosiers from being evicted or foreclosed on during the pandemic, but housing advocates are still pushing for a veto of legislation they say could force low-income families from their homes when the moratorium is lifted.
Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday signed into law a measure eliminating confusion in the courts and establishing that the waiting period to obtain an expungement begins on the date a felony conviction is entered and does not start anew if that conviction is later reduced to a misdemeanor.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed 84 bills Wednesday, including some that aimed to tackle health care costs, distracted driving and regional development.
Although the legislative session has ended, a Statehouse battle is continuing as opponents of a last-minute amendment that they assert will further disadvantage tenants and renters are lobbying the governor to issue a veto.
In the middle of the General Assembly’s 2020 session, as youth advocates were fighting proposed legislation that would have allowed preteens to be charged as adults for certain crimes, the Commission on Improving the Status of Children in Indiana took a step toward comprehensive juvenile justice reform.
Indiana’s protections for certain wetlands would end under legislation state lawmakers approved in the waning hours of their session, even though the state’s own environmental agency joined environmentalists in opposing the measure.