HB 1001 – State Budget
Authored by Rep. Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville)

Appropriates money for the operation of the state, K-12 and higher education, the delivery of Medicaid and other services, plus various other distributions and purposes.

Chamber position: Support in Part

The latest: The House Ways and Means Committee transformed the introduced budget bill, representing the budget devised and proposed by the administration, into a bill reflecting the will and priorities of the majority fiscal leaders in the House.

The House version appropriates $18 billion the first year and a bit more in year two. It includes numerous one-time spending measures and has a built-in structural surplus. Education funding is taken care of with a 1.25% K-12 increase in year one and $2.5% in year two. It raises the cigarette tax increase $0.50, and will have a new 10% e-cigarette/vaping products retail tax. Also included: $250 million in broadband grants and funds a regional development program. And there are plenty of other changes. However, there is no capital project funding for universities. But as Chairman Brown said in his presentation, “this is just the first step in a long dance.”

Indiana Chamber action/commentary: The Chamber understands that it is still early in the process. The Senate has yet to develop and unveil its own set of priorities, appropriation levels, etc. The all-important April revenue forecast update is still months away and much is to be hashed out. So different approaches will be offered and different pieces will be debated, added, deleted or altered.

But there are several items the Chamber will maintain should be part of whatever version prevails in the end. Among the bigger items which we support are broadband expansion, regional development efforts and a more significant cigarette/e-cigs and vaping products tax. The proposed cigarette tax hike would be ineffective – with cigarette companies likely simply rebating the 50 cents back to customers. But we are hopeful that is just a starting point.

We applaud the attention all these matters are getting. We, of course, will be participating in the discussions and we will make our case as to how to address these big items. We too will be advocating for many more specific items; all to be included in our future updates.

Resource: Bill Waltz at (317) 264-6887 or email: bwaltz@indianachamber.com