Last day of 2024 session: Bills get resurrected and gaming language rouses concern

The last day of the Indiana legislative session is usually a day for slicing and dicing ― stripping language here, adding language there, resurrecting dead ideas and killing new ones, then waiving any applicable rules so that they can get to the finish line faster.

Friday was no different.

The hustle and bustle lasted into the 9 p.m. hour Friday, as lawmakers were eager to adjourn a week ahead of schedule without dipping into the weekend. Eagerness rarely gave way to too much stress: The mood on the floor remained fairly jovial, with lawmakers cracking jokes across the aisle and the smell of popcorn occasionally wafting.

That was largely the case, until the very topic Republican leaders promised to avoid this session, in light of a recent federal corruption conviction, came up: gaming.

The consternation is over language that was vetted in one chamber but not the other ― a common scenario that plays out in conference committees during these final days.

Gaming language rouses concern

The Senate passed a version of Senate Bill 256 that requires the Indiana Gaming Commission to come before the state budget committee ― a committee of legislators ― if it needs more money than previously allotted to, for example, conduct expensive enforcement actions or defend against lawsuits. Further, fines and fees would revert to the state general fund rather than to the gaming commission's budget. A House committee took the language out earlier in session, but it was added back into the bill during the final hours.

To some Democrats, it's troubling to give lawmakers more power to intervene when one of their former colleagues, Republican Rep. Sean Eberhart, is on his way to prison with a federal corruption conviction for influencing gaming legislation.

"This is bad," Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said on the House floor Friday night. "We're asking for trouble. And we're undermining the confidence of the public in this body and in the gaming commission."

To Republicans who proposed and supported it, this is a necessary oversight measure.

"If there is an instance where the gaming commission utilizes and uses all of their funding in an investigation, and they need more money because it's that serious of an investigation, wouldn't we want to know that?" asked Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn. "It's oversight. That's what we're doing. It's watching."

Other ideas got moved around

There may be a dozen examples Friday alone of language from one bill being supplanted into another bill, from language about tort claims against commercial vehicle operators to provisions related to the commission on seclusion and restraint in schools to a proposal to ban sister-city arrangements with adversaries like China.

It's a process that plays out every year as lawmakers finalize bill language in conference committees, with the bulk of the work going on behind closed doors despite lawmakers' show of scheduling short public meetings where they share little information.

"It's an age-old complaint," said Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville. "There's some legitimacy to it because it's the most challenging part of the legislative session. One way or the other, we have to find a way to merge the versions of the house bills and versions of the Senate bills, and so, we chafe against that process some. We need to make sure that it's as transparent as can be."

House Bill 1120 contained a surprise at the final hour. A day after lawmakers passed a separate bill allowing Indianapolis to create a special downtown taxing district — with some new restrictions — lawmakers decided the legislation wasn't good enough. They added related language to House Bill 1120 adding another group of properties that should be exempt from the tax: single-unit rental homes.

"That was never the intent," to make those property owners pay but not, for example, duplex-rental owners, said Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton.

Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, said this last-minute carve-out exempts 561 properties in the district that would have brought in nearly $500,000 a year.

"That burden is going to shift to businesses, which makes this no longer very business friendly," she said. "I’m frustrated that this got thrown in."

Not all ideas that lacked vetting in one chamber came with heartburn. When it's a bipartisan idea from the get-go, it can be a welcome addition ― like a proposal from Senate Bill 139 to create a research fund for psilocybin, a compound derived from psychedelic mushrooms that's proven to help people with chronic illness, which died in the House but was resurrected inside House Bill 1259.

Proposals having to do with the Family and Social Services Administration's $1 billion Medicaid budget forecast shortfall were among the last to find resolution. A bipartisan cohort of lawmakers added amendments to Senate Bill 256 to require a report from FSSA about why that mistake happened, to collect data about the families impacted by the decision to cut the attendant care program for medically complex children, and to try to get more compensation into the hands of those families.

Around 8 p.m., it became clear that a softened version of those ideas found a home in House Bill 1120, a bill about property taxes. The final language doesn't result in more money for the families; rather, it sticks to reporting requirements.

Specifically, it requires FSSA to prepare a policy proposal about how to set reimbursement rates for families providing this care for their children, rather than actually setting them; it also requires reporting about how FSSA plans to better monitor Medicaid expenses, including an explanation of the $1 billion error.

In a statement, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, who publicly criticized FSSA over this situation, thanked legislators for trying but said the result was unsatisfactory.

"The results of their efforts tonight will help a little bit, but I am disappointed we fell short of what needs to be done," she said. "I will continue to fight for our most vulnerable Hoosiers and their families.”

Ideas that died Friday

Other ideas officially met the chopping block Friday.

An idea to eliminate the tampon tax, which was amended into Senate Bill 256 on the House side, didn't make the final cut.

Language to change the definition of the "forever chemicals" known as PFAS, which died in a committee, resurfaced in one conference committee report but was then cut Friday in the final version.

And the final version of House Bill 1337 no longer contains a proposal to allow religious chaplains to provide support to students in public schools.

Antisemitism bill ends on positive note

Most of the key Republican priority bills in the House and Senate, such as one expanding child care access and another aimed at improving third grade reading levels, were sent to Holcomb prior to the last week of session. Those priorities aligned closely with Gov. Eric Holcomb’s legislative goals for 2024. In a statement Friday night he thanked the General Assembly for their work.

“The legislative successes provide a game plan to ensure that progress continues for affordable and accessible child care, improved literacy rates and increased access to post-secondary degree programs to better prepare Hoosiers for jobs of the future,” Holcomb said in a statement.

A handful of House and Senate priorities, however, took until Friday afternoon to reach the finish line. Specifically, lawmakers wrapped up House bills building on workforce training efforts, providing an extra check to public retirees and condemning antisemitism.

Lawmakers struck a compromise about how to define antisemitism as discrimination in educational settings. And they managed to please advocacy groups on both sides of what has seemed an intractable issue in light of the war unfolding in Gaza.

"This is a very important moment, one in which I hope you all feel pride in this institution," Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, told the House floor. It is a very difficult time in the world. I think we’ve done a very credible job of dealing with it in this context."

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter@kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: The 2024 Indiana legislative session adjourns late Friday