Indiana Chamber President and CEO Vanessa Green Sinders says the 2024 Indiana General Assembly session, which adjourned Friday night, was successful in advancing key Indiana Chamber priorities – namely those in the workforce development area.

“We’re pleased to see the Legislature pass notable bills that help expand childcare options for parents, improve literacy rates of Hoosier students and cultivate our talent pipeline. These are key areas impacting workforce that will advance Indiana’s future economic growth and prosperity – and are all central to our vision plan for the state, Indiana Prosperity 2035.”

Each member of the Chamber government affairs team offers their brief commentary on the ultimate or most important outcomes in their issue areas. Look for the overall scorecard and a more complete recap in next week’s Final Legislative Report.

VICTORIES: Education and Workforce (passed in House Bills 1001, 1102, 1243 and Senate Bills 1, 2, 6, 8)

“We knew heading into this session that we wanted to prioritize education and workforce policies aimed directly at strengthening each segment of Indiana’s talent pipeline,” shares Jason Bearce, vice president of education and workforce development.

“These efforts paid off on several fronts with meaningful legislative victories that promise to boost early learning and childcare access (SB 2 and HB 1102), improve reading and literacy rates (SB 1 and SB 6), and increase opportunities for students to engage in work-based learning experiences and earn postsecondary credentials aligned with employer needs (HB 1001, HB 1243 and SB 8).”

VICTORIES: Business Law Reform (passed in House Bills 1090, 1160 and Senate Bill 226)

“Not since 1995 has the General Assembly passed such meaningful business legal reform legislation,” declares Adam H. Berry, vice president of economic development and technology. “These three bills promise to offer long-lasting, significant value to Hoosier businesses. House Bill 1090 allows juries to mitigate damages based on evidence of seatbelt use. House Bill 1160 precludes foreign adversaries from funding commercial litigation and Senate Bill 226 updates an antiquated statute aimed at facilitating settlement negotiations.”

VICTORIES: Anti-Free Enterprise Legislation (defeated in House Bill 1155 and Senate Bill 53)

“Both houses of the General Assembly introduced anti-free enterprise legislation on ‘right to repair’ matters that went far beyond manufacturers’ disclosure of repair information. These bills risked the loss of intellectual property and proprietary information, encouraged litigation and introduced government price controls. This was unacceptable and we were able to stop this potentially very harmful interference,” notes Greg Ellis, vice president of environmental and energy policy and federal relations.

VICTORY: Administrative Law/General Government (passed in House Bill 1003)

“A House priority bill transforms the long-standing administrative law process in Indiana for the regulated community,” Ellis remarks. “The bill makes changes to how agency actions will be reviewed by administrative law judges and trial courts at various stages of the appeals process – and also who pays for attorneys’ fees.

“This bill was a bit of a roller coaster as our support wavered during the amendment process, but ultimately we prevailed and the legislation ended up in a positive position for the business community.”

VICTORY: Artificial Intelligence (passed in Senate Bill 150)

“Senate Bill 150 creates a task force to study and assess the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by state agencies,” Berry explains. “Work performed by this state task force will complement nicely the Chamber’s ongoing efforts to forecast AI’s impact on our private sector industries.”

VICTORY: Tax Climate 

“This session’s discussions on tax reform are not just timely but vital, setting the stage for the substantial reform efforts we anticipate in 2025. It’s a remarkable opportunity to shape a tax climate that benefits Indiana’s long-term economic competitiveness,” notes David Ober, vice president of taxation and public finance.

PARTIAL VICTORY: Health Care Costs (defeated increases in Senate Bill 3; passed in House Bill 1385 and Senate Bill 132)

“The business community was able to defeat Senate Bill 3, which would have eliminated practically all use of prior authorizations to control costs and would have cost employers billions of dollars,” remarks Ashton Eller, vice president of health care policy and employment law. “The Chamber recognizes there are necessary reforms to the prior authorization process. However, this bill went beyond that and would have completely removed a necessary tool that employers and the state use to combat growing health care prices.”

“Unfortunately, two more narrow pieces of legislation did pass and will negatively impact Hoosier employers’ health care costs. Senate Bill 132 has the potential to increase dental costs by incentivizing dental providers to leave insurance networks. Meanwhile, House Bill 1385 will directly impact small employers’ health care insurance premiums by mandating payments to ambulance providers at an extremely high government set rate.”

DEFEAT: PFAS Chemical Definition (defeated in House Bill 1399)

“Representative Shane Lindauer (R-Jasper) introduced a Chamber-supported environmental bill clarifying the definition of PFAS chemicals in the Indiana Code. Ultimately, the policy died in the conference committee process when it was removed from another bill,” Ellis shares. “There was quite a bit of confusion in the General Assembly over what this clarification did – and did not do – to a complex class of chemistries. (It was merely trying to separate and acknowledge the more hazardous soluble PFAS found in firefighter foam from the non-soluble PFAS that is safer and used in various industries and products including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, automotive applications and food packaging.)

“Often times, it’s difficult to get lawmakers to act on something when there isn’t perceived urgency. We’ll continue to pursue this as it’s a critical issue; one that we will see again next year with several pending Environmental Protection Agency rulemakings in play on PFAS, which will garner attention.”