Indiana's 2024 legislative session is over. Here is what survived and what died
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Indiana lawmakers closed the books Friday night on the 2024 legislative session.
Bills are now in the hands of Gov. Eric Holcomb to either sign or veto. Holcomb has rarely vetoed bills that arrive at his desk and that’s likely to remain the case this year, as the governor and the Republican-dominated Indiana General Assembly’s priorities closely mirrored each other this year.
Here is where some of the major topics from the 2024 session stand.
Third grade reading and retention
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
This was one of the top priorities among Senate Republicans. Their Senate Bill 1 retains more third graders who don’t pass the IREAD, the state's standardized reading test, while requiring additional testing and tutoring in the years leading up.
Voiding Gary’s gun lawsuit
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
Just as a 25-year-old lawsuit between Gary and gun manufacturers is proceeding into discovery, state lawmakers passed a bill to retroactively null the lawsuit. Only the state attorney general can sue firearm manufacturers, retailers or trade groups, according to House Bill 1235.
Gary lawsuit: Is the effort to kill a lawsuit against gunmakers a ‘Pandora’s box’? Holcomb holds the key
AI revenge porn
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
It’s already against the law for someone to distribute pornographic images of another person without their consent. House Bill 1047 adds “computer generated images” to this law, including images created by artificial intelligence.
Reduced wetland protections
STATUS: Signed into law
House Bill 1383 was the first bill Holcomb signed into law this year, to the chagrin of environmental advocates and even state regulators. It strips more protections for the state’s few remaining wetlands.
"This collaborative effort strikes a necessary balance of protecting and preserving Indiana's vital wetlands while supporting economic growth,” Holcomb stated.
More coverage: Holcomb signs wetlands bill critics said was rushed through to 'quiet public outcry'
Downtown Indy tax district
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
Senators put language into the state budget last minute in 2023 to allow Indianapolis to pass a special downtown tax. The House proposed repealing it this year in House Bill 1199. The compromise: Indianapolis can have their taxing district, but they have to exempt certain groups and go through the ordinance-passing process all over again.
Banning dedicated lanes
STATUS: Dead
Was the Blue Line bill's death the most dramatic ending of the 2024 legislative session? Maybe. Senate Bill 52 died in the House in February after House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, said he reached an agreement with Indianapolis and IndyGo officials in exchange for IndyGo prioritizing two lanes of traffic flow in each direction in its Blue Line plan. That means the future project might have fewer dedicated transit lanes than originally planned.
Chronic absenteeism in schools
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
Chronic absenteeism was another top concern among lawmakers this year. Senate Bill 282 requires all schools to develop a “truancy prevention policy,” which must include meetings with parents, a plan of action for the student, and reporting habitually truant students to the county prosecutor, opening up parents to possible prosecution.
Magic mushroom research
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
Bill language to establish a state fund for researching psilocybin, known as magic mushrooms, was resurrected in a bill on the last day of session roughly a week after the House declined to give it a hearing. The U.S. Food and Drug administration gave psilocybin “breakthrough therapy” status to enable clinical research.
Child labor law rollbacks
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
Hoosier businesses may be able to expand job responsibilities and hours for employees ages 18 years and under. Senate Bill 146 allows 18-year-olds to ring up purchases of alcohol and serve those beverages at hotels and restaurants.
More news: An Indiana state senator could benefit from her bill easing child labor laws. Here's how
House Bill 1093 repeals portions of state law that restrict the number of hours Hoosier youth ages 16 to 18 can work during a school day or week. It also exempts minors between ages 16 to 18 who work in farm labor from the state’s restrictions on working hours and performing hazardous jobs.
Legalizing happy hour
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
Indiana was part of a wave of states in the 1980s that barred restaurants from offering happy hour discounts. It remained one of a small handful that kept the ban all these years later. House Bill 1086 legalizes social hour once again.
More: Happy hour is likely coming back to Indiana after lawmakers give bill final approval
Ban on foreign adversaries owning agriculture
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
Indiana lawmakers voted to ban foreign adversaries ― that includes citizens or business entities from China, Cuba, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela ― from purchasing agricultural land in Indiana, or other kinds of property that sits within 10 miles of a military site. House Bill 1183 carves out exceptions for dual citizens of these countries and the United States, people who are permanent residents of the U.S., and people who are only renting a residential property.
More: State and federal lawmakers want to stop foreign adversaries from owning Hoosier farmland
Menstrual product tax repeal
STATUS: Dead
As session closed Friday night, lawmakers nixed a proposal to get rid of the tampon tax. The proposal, added by Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, to Senate Bill 256 when it was in the House, was stripped from the bill as the House and Senate worked out the final bill.
Chaplains in public schools
STATUS: Dead
The idea to bring volunteer chaplains into schools as a solution to the state’s counselor shortage did not make it out of the Statehouse this year. Senate Bill 50 passed out of the Senate, but not without criticism that it blurred the line between church and state.
When the Senate bill died in the House, the language on school chaplains was temporarily added to House Bill 1137, which allows students to attend religious instruction during the school day. That bill’s author, Rep. Kendall Culp, R-Rensselaer, objected to those changes and the school chaplain language was removed, effectively killing the proposal.
Excusing public school kids for religious instruction
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
What remains in House Bill 1137 is language that compels public schools to release kids, upon notice from their parents, for up to two hours a week for religious instruction elsewhere. Current law only says schools may allow this if a parent requests. A seemingly simple change prompted prolonged debate about how this affects the foundational concept of the separation of church and state, and how this may infringe on local control, earning opposition from a few Republicans.
Limiting governor’s emergency powers
STATUS: Sent to Holcomb
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Holcomb received criticism for the continued renewal of the state of emergency that lasted two years. Senate Bill 234 only allows a state of emergency for the entire state to last 60 days maximum unless renewed by the General Assembly.
Helping family caregivers
STATUS: Sent to Gov. Holcomb
A bipartisan cohort of lawmakers added amendments to Senate Bill 256 to provide relief for families who, as a cost-cutting measure in light of a $1 billion Medicaid budget shortfall, have to transition from getting an hourly wage as attendant caregivers for their medically complex children, to getting a daily stipend through a program known as "structured family caregiving."
Some of those ideas made it to the end, through House Bill 1120, but in a softened way. Rather than enacting financial relief for the families, the final language sticks to requiring additional information and data from FSSA.
Carrying guns at the Statehouse
STATUS: Sent to Gov. Holcomb
A proposal from Senate Bill 14 to allow the attorney general, state comptroller, treasurer and secretary of state to legally carry guns in the Statehouse died in the House, but was resurrected in House Bill 1084 in the final week. The final version does not extend the privilege to those officers' staff, as the first version did.
Bank account lawsuits
STATUS: Sent to Gov. Holcomb
Senate Bill 188 reduces the statute of limitations available to Hoosiers to file legal challenges against banks for violating agreements on deposit accounts. The time limit to take legal action under current law is six years, but if Holcomb signs Senate Bill 188, it will be reduced to two years.
The bill received bipartisan opposition, but still passed both the Senate and the House. Erin Macey, director of the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute in a statement about the bill said it gives Hoosiers less time than neighboring states to hold banks accountable.
The idea, which has long been a policy championed by Indiana Democrats, was removed from the bill over concerns about the fiscal impact of the proposal in a non-budget year.
More: Indiana lawmakers kill proposal to eliminate 'tampon tax'
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.
Contact IndyStar's state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana's 2024 legislative session is done. These bills lived and died
