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Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Here's what died – and got dropped in – during the final hours of the Indiana legislative session
Sen. Ed Charbonneau talks to colleagues late Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle) Controversial language targeting homeless Hoosiers, regulating marijuana-like products and cracking down on illicit massage parlors perished late Thursday — even as Indiana lawmakers crammed changes to a new property tax reform package into an unrelated agency bill to end the session. And despite big health care reform talk, few fixes survived a breakneck session marked by a dismal revenue forecast. The time of death was 10:12 p.m. That's when House Speaker Todd Huston announced a package of technical corrections would be the last to make it through a critical procedural step. Community advocates celebrated the defeat of shuffled-around language they maintained would have criminalized homelessness. Sleeping or sheltering on government property would've been a Class C misdemeanor. One version would have required local law enforcement to consider emergency detention, offer transportation to temporary shelter and contact crisis intervention specialists before making an arrest — an attempt to connect homeless Hoosiers to help, supporters maintained. But the original, long-dead bill only provided a legal defense: no nearby shelter. It was the work of the Cicero Institute, a Texas think tank pushing such policies around the country. 'In these times of economic volatility, the most vulnerable Hoosiers and the community organizations who serve them can sleep a little better knowing their elected officials chose not to force local law enforcement to fine and jail people just for not being able to afford a place to lay their heads,' Prosperity Indiana policy head Andrew Bradley wrote in an early Friday news release. His organization was among the proposal's fiercest opponents. Some lawmakers joined in, too. 'I worked hard to ensure this legislation never became law,' Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, said in an early Friday statement. 'The solution to homelessness is not incarceration.' The General Assembly also snuffed out a contentious set of regulations for marijuana-like products, after seven rounds of substantial edits failed to ease concerns. Products with legally low concentrations of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol have proliferated in Indiana, alongside those containing delta-8 THC and other isomers. Although lawmakers have repeatedly failed to regulate the nascent industry, they seemed poised to do so this session through Senate Bill 478. But it never emerged from closed-door negotiations over a final version. Critics, including Indiana's attorney general and anti-marijuana groups, maintained the language would expand existing loopholes instead of closing them. 'I just think we couldn't get to a place of agreement, you know?' Huston told reporters early Friday. '… I just don't think we were ready yet.' Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray said it was 'tricky' to 'get it absolutely right,' adding, 'We just wanted to be certain that we didn't move forward in a way that wasn't in the state's best interest.' Lawmakers had hoped to 'get some small piece of that across the line,' like a 21-plus age restriction, he told reporters, but 'ran out of time.' He cited young children who may rely on cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive anticonvulsant, to treat seizures. 'We'll come back, I can promise you, next year, and get something passed,' Bray said. And one legislator's attempt to fight human trafficking in massage parlors — following arrests in his district — was stripped out of an awareness measure. Rep. Wendy McNamara, repeatedly dubbed the detailed regulations appended to House Enrolled Act 1416 overly 'prescriptive' before cutting them. McNamara, R-Evansville, is an influential force in criminal matters and was among the co-authors. Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, vowed to find another place for it in comments to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. But he admitted defeat — for now. 'This is something I'm going to continue to work on through the summer and into the next session, so we get some good language around this,' Bohacek said on the Senate floor. 'The practices that are happening there (in massage parlors) is something we need to address for human trafficking in the future.' One concept that did cross the finish line? A ban of mysterious origin on government-supported 'obscene performances.' And 'any person' could seek injunctive relief. Indiana already has detailed obscenity laws on the books, and no one gave any examples of problematic performances being paid for by government. It was first spliced into legislation cracking down on child sex abuse materials, with the lawsuit provision inserted on the House floor. Then, as the end of session loomed, it was wedged into House Enrolled Act 1014, which previously focused on misdemeanors. 'Your shoulders have to be really aching from all the water that you're carrying on this bill,' Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, told sponsor Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange. He and other opponents feared the language would have little practical effect, instead 'chilling' activities some simply may 'disagree with' and putting local governments at legal risk. Republicans also made eleventh-hour changes to a Department of Local Government and Finance (DLGF) measure, baking in trailer language to a contentious property tax bill that passed — and was signed into law — a week prior. The final version of House Enrolled Act 1427 approved by the House and Senate in the last hours of the session deletes an increase in the business personal property tax exemption for 2025 that was previously approved in Senate Enrolled Act 1. Instead of jumping to $1 million in 2025, the exemption will remain at the $80,000 in current law and rise to $2,000,000 starting with the 2026 assessment date and beyond. 'One of my biggest concerns with our initiatives this year was the movement with business personal property tax, and I know that the $2 million exemption is for the 2026 assessment,' said Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers, hours before the end of session. He discussed the trailer language, briefly, in the House Rules Committee. 'What I'm hoping for, as we get closer to that point in time, is we're going to take a real hard look and get some local runs to see what that looks like for our local communities,' he continued. 'My district is very heavily reliant on business personal property. This is kicked down the road a little bit, so we can't really see a lot of trouble in the runs now. But going forward, as we get closer … I would hope that we would be able to talk about what those runs look like as we narrow in on that time.' Indiana Senate sends finalized local property, income tax plan to governor The property tax legislation already sign by the governor also created an exception to allow certain new depreciable personal property placed in service after Jan. 1 to avoid the 30% minimum depreciation floor. The trailer bill walked that language back 'if property tax revenue that is attributable to the depreciable personal property is pledged as payment for bonds ,leases, or other obligations.' Under House Enrolled Act 1427, the agricultural base rate in Senate Enrolled Act 1 additionally will not apply for the January 2025 assessment date for land that is considered 'inventory.' Another part of the legislation deals with disabled veterans. Although Senate Enrolled Act 1 repealed traditional property tax deductions for veterans and replaced them with local credits, trailer language repeals those new local credits and reinstates the traditional veteran deductions that existed previously. Huston maintained early Friday that post-passage changes to Senate Enrolled Act 1 weren't the result of a rushed legislative process on property tax reforms. 'One of the reasons we wanted to move (Senate Enrolled Act 1) was to continue to get that feedback — and we're glad we got the feedback around the business personal property tax. We still have the long-term vision of it. We just want to make sure in those areas where it's being bonded against, those bonds are protected,' he said. 'And then on the veterans credit, I think there's a little miscommunication with what the policy is, and with the veterans organizations. We want to make sure we're listening to their concerns and adjust to it, and we'll have that conversation again next year. I imagine it was probably not the last time we'll talk about that topic.' But Senate Democrat leader Sen. Shelli Yoder, of Bloomington, said additions in House Enrolled Act 1427 were needed, in part, because lawmakers moved too quickly before the state's April budget forecast was released. 'The Senate Democrat caucus has been saying to slow down. Let's make sure we get this right. Let's not get to a place, especially when we've had real concerns. But when we got that budget forecast — and all of a sudden, we're having to do some serious back-stepping — no, this was no surprise,' she said. 'What we did quickly see is sort of wide-eyed like, 'Oh gosh, what did we do? How are we going to fix this, and maybe slow down the rollout?'' Yoder added, referring to Senate Enrolled Act 1. 'But again, no matter you know how you spin it, it was kind of a bait and switch. It was a shell game for Hoosiers. You know, here's property tax relief that never really came as relief.' After years of targeting Indiana's health care prices, Indiana lawmakers started the session by introducing several comprehensive reforms — but where did they end? Many new laws will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors by requiring more reporting and transparency. Whether it's the 340B drug program, the average cost of hospital services or disclosing ownership ties, health care providers across the spectrum will have more paperwork in their future. One of the biggest packages was reversed after the initial effort was criticized for setting 'price caps' on five nonprofit hospital systems. Violators would lose their tax-exempt status with the state. Now, such a move wouldn't occur until 2029 at the earliest, following a state-sponsored study to determine average prices. Numerous studies have already done such analysis only to be dismissed for being slanted to one side of the debate or another. Authors hope that having a state agency perform the calculations will bring clarity. A long-sought tax: For years, health care advocates have sought an increase to the state's cigarette tax, notching a win this session after a grim financial forecast. Cigarettes will now be $2 more expensive, with proportional increases for other forms of tobacco. 'We have to have a healthier Indiana. We have to have people that are healthier,' said House Speaker Todd Huston about the tax increase. 'This is something that I think will have long, long-term impacts for helping people make positive choices.' One particular disappointment for health advocates was the decision to slash funding for local public health departments from $100 million annually to $40 million. 'Indiana has had abysmal health care rankings over the years … that was the whole idea of finally putting some money behind doing something,' said House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta. ' Now just to basically take the rug out is, I think, just not the way to go.' But Bray rejected the notion that such a cut undid that previous work. 'Absolutely, unequivocally, no,' he said. 'If you look across the counties of the state, there was about 45% of those funds that went unspent. Not because they weren't using it correctly or anything, but because they were … rolling out program and trying to develop them. 'Everybody's left this budget wanting a little bit more,' he continued. 'But this still continues to fund public health projects. And it is our hope that in a couple years, we'll be able to fund that at a stronger level.' Another big strike to the state's overall health: curbing enrollment on Indiana's Medicaid expansion program. The Healthy Indiana Plan serves low- to moderate-income Hoosiers and, like similar programs across the country, has increased access to preventative care services and decreased emergency department visits — though such progress could be derailed if a significant number of Hoosiers lose their health care coverage. Gov. Mike Braun indicated his support for many of the measures above, naming health care as one of his core targets ahead of the 2025 session. But he said that there was more work to be done. 'I think we got a good start on it,' Braun told reporters on Thursday. 'I think health care will be a big agenda item for next year.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Delta-8 regulatory qualms go unaddressed as Indiana House approves homelessness, DEI measures
From right: House Republican Floor Leader Matt Lehman and Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta count lawmakers to resolve "division" over changes to a "craft hemp flower products" bill on Monday, April 14, 2025. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle) On the cusp of key legislative deadlines, GOP-led regulations for a marijuana-like drug got more edits Monday — despite vocal opposition from fellow Indiana House Republicans. Legislation cracking down on homelessness and diversity initiatives, plus promoting high-speed internet access, also passed muster. They return to the Senate for consent to the House's changes, or to kick off negotiations. Products with legally low concentrations of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol have proliferated in Indiana, alongside those containing delta-8 THC and other isomers. Attempts to regulate the nascent industry, which is booming on shaky legal footing, have failed repeatedly. After third committee vote, delta-8 regulations head to House floor Senate Bill 478 has gotten further than its predecessors, but its journey hasn't been smooth. It has been revised at every opportunity possible: during two Senate committee hearings, on the Senate's floor, in each of a whopping three House committee hearings and, Monday, it was the subject of 17 wide-ranging amendments filed for discussion on the House floor. The measure sets out advertising, age-limit, licensing, packaging, testing and other requirements. It authorizes the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission to regulate. Provisions defining 'craft hemp flower products' and setting out high milligram limits have sparked opposition from Indiana's chief attorney and others, but weren't changed Monday. Instead, lawmakers took up just two of the amendments. One, removing a new tax that was only partially removed last week, was adopted easily. Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, reminded his colleagues that new taxes must go in House bills. But the other, raising the cap on retail permits from 9,400 to 20,000 and allowing permits for convenience and drug stores, prompted blowback from Teshka's own caucus. House Speaker Todd Huston presided over a first, then a second voice vote, but both sides were just as loud. Representatives from both caucuses counted up supporters and opponents instead: it was accepted on a vote of 63-21. Other complaints weren't addressed. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita's office wrote that the legislation 'expands' a loophole for 'high-potency, intoxicating THC products under the guise of hemp,' in a letter to lawmakers. The missive — signed by Legislative Director Erin Tuttle — was included in a Monday morning alert from the American Family Association's Indiana chapter. A 2018 federal law defined legal hemp as containing 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight or less, but the letter observes lawmakers didn't apply that limit to other isomers. Only 'very high' caps of 100 milligrams per serving and 3,000 milligrams per package would apply. The legislation also allows THC potency to be measured by weight or volume — without limits on the product's size or mass — instead of by dry weight, Rokita's office continued. That means manufacturers can increase the milligrams by 'manipulating a product's volume.' 'By allowing these products to be sold, SB 478 effectively creates a parallel cannabis market in Indiana — one that operates entirely outside the state's marijuana laws at a time when marijuana remains illegal at both the state and federal levels,' the letter said. It urged lawmakers to instead consider any product containing more than 0.3% total THC by dry weight as banned marijuana. House Democrats also spent about an hour apiece attacking proposals they maintain criminalize homelessness and undo progress born out the Civil Rights Movement. Rep. Andrew Ireland, R-Indianapolis, said Senate Bill 197 is 'not about punishing people for being homeless.' 'We are never going to arrest or jail our way out of this problem,' said Ireland, the bill's sponsor in the House. He said the goal is to keep public spaces 'accessible and clean, while offering individuals every reasonable opportunity to access the services and the shelter they so desperately need.' The bill stipulates that 'a person may not camp, sleep, or use for long term shelter a public right-of-way or public land unless authorized for that use by the state or political subdivision, as appropriate.' Before they can make an arrest, officers must first determine 'if there are reasonable grounds for an emergency detention of the person.' If not, they must warn the person to leave within the 24- or 72-hour timeframe and offer transportation to a shelter or other form of 'temporary accommodations that provide respite and offer access to services and permanent housing options,' within five miles, as long as one exists and has a spot available. If the person refuses or there's no space, officers must call a local crisis intervention team, if there is one. Those who have not moved from a public right-of-way within 24 hours of a law enforcement officer's warning — or from public land within 72 hours — could be arrested and charged with a Class C misdemeanor. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail or a $500 fine. Legal proceedings would be referred to a problem-solving court. 'This is a bill grounded in principle,' Ireland told the House. 'It defends the rule of law, respects property rights, brings compassion to public safety, ensures fairness before fines, offers help before punishment, restores dignity through due process,' he added. Democrats remained staunchly opposed. 'This is not a compassionate bill. This is a cruelty bill,' Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis, said in response to Ireland's assertion it represents a 'compassionate response.' 'If you don't abide by these rules, then you are going to be criminalized and penalized, and you might have a record simply because you don't have a place to lay your head,' Pryor said. Her colleagues also criticized the process. Rep. Maureen Bauer noted there was no testimony taken when a House committee co-opted a building safety bill to revive homelessness language from a dead bill. 'It wasn't vetted properly before the public,' said Bauer, D-South Bend. '… And it adds a new criminal penalty without ever going to (the) Courts and Criminal Code (Committee). If this was about connecting people to services, there would be no criminal penalty.' The House approved Senate Bill 197 in a 52-40 vote — a narrow margin featuring more than a dozen Republican defections. Legislation outlawing 'discrimination' in state education, employment and licensing 'based on a personal characteristic of the person' advanced in a 67-27 vote along party lines. Senate Bill 289 sponsor Rep. Chris Jeter said 'discriminatory' programs have 'crept their way into our government institutions' and created 'division.' 'This current version of this bill avoids legislating words because words can be manipulated; words can be weaponized,' Jeter, R-Fishers, said. 'This bill instead focuses on actions and behaviors.' It would also allow Rokita, the attorney general, to impose hefty civil penalties for violations: $50,000 for a first offense and $100,000 for a second or subsequent offense. But Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said pro-diversity policies came into existence for a reason. In a lengthy speech from the House floor, he recalled how his mother faced racist attacks when forced into an attempt to integrate the former Emerson High School. She and the other Black honors students 'were called all kinds of names. They were pushed, they were spit on,' he said. The white teachers refused to let them enter their classrooms, locking the doors instead, while the white students walked out. Smith further described how he himself wasn't allowed to eat at certain restaurants, go to certain events or enter certain parts of the city in his younger years. As a 12-year-old, he got off at the wrong bus stop and 'got stoned by white children because I was not supposed to be in that neighborhood.' 'I never thought, when I was fighting (in) the Civil Rights Movement, that we would be reversing ourselves in this country,' Smith said. Senate Bill 289 could also create a 'serious problem' for the South Bend Community School Corp., per Rep. Ryan Dvorak, D-South Bend. He feared the district could be on the hook for damages. 'I believe (it's) the last school corporation in the state that's under a (federal) desegregation consent decree,' Dvorak said. It requires each school to mirror the district's overall Black student population. Jeter said that federal law reigns supreme in conflicts with state statutes. CONTACT US Other Democrats said the changes would harm veterans. Jeter said they wouldn't. The House also unanimously approved legislation offering a compromise between electricity and telecommunications providers in a bid to speed up the buildout of high-speed internet in rural and other underserved areas throughout Indiana. Senior Reporter Casey Smith contributed. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
