Indiana Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Chris Johnston and State Budget Director Zachary Jackson presented Gov. Eric Holcomb’s FY 2024-25 budget plan (HB 1001) to the House Ways and Means Committee this week. The budget is balanced and provides flexibility in both years for the General Assembly to fund the Governor’s priorities and add in their own. [...]

Over the past week, Gov. Holcomb and leaders of the Indiana General Assembly have released their priorities for the 2023 legislative session. Included in these are much needed investments in Hoosiers’ physical and mental health. This past summer, the Governor's Public Health Commission released an extensive report detailing Indiana’s lack of investment in health funding that has only been [...]

The WOTUS Rollercoaster: Derailed or Just Down for Maintenance? For Indiana Chamber members that have an interest in environmental affairs or are in a heavily regulated industry, you have long heard me complain about lack of regulatory certainty surrounding the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. The changes in the definition and interpretations by the Environmental Protection Agency [...]

At the end of 2022, President Joe Biden signed the appropriations bill passed by the last Congress into law. Included in this bill is the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP). The PWFA is similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because it mandates employers provide reasonable [...]

As anticipated, Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne) reintroduced data privacy legislation that would be a win for both technology companies and Indiana consumers concerned about where their data goes online and how it is used. Her bill, Senate Bill 5, is a priority for Senate leadership. Currently, Hoosiers – and all Americans for that matter – have no federal [...]

From nearly the moment after the speaker’s gavel brought a contentious 2022 legislative session to a close, the Indiana Chamber has been pushing hard on multiple fronts to ensure that 2023 would be different. The state simply cannot afford another session consumed by factious, culture war issues that might play well politically but do little to move Indiana forward. [...]

Indiana Senate Republicans announced an agenda for the current session that includes several tax-related bills. A point of emphasis is Senate Bill 2, authored by Sen. Scott Baldwin (R-Noblesville), which focuses on reducing federal tax burdens on businesses through state legislative action. Namely, the state and local tax (SALT) deduction would provide tax relief to most Hoosier businesses (pass-through [...]

Governor Eric Holcomb announced his 2023 Next Level Agenda last week and it’s appropriately focused on the economic well-being and health of our citizens, our communities and our state. His budget priorities include significant new investments in preparing Hoosier children for the demands of a 21st century workplace (from pre-K through high school) and lifting up the skills of [...]