By failing to offer committee hearings to the following bills, the Indiana General Assembly has missed a number of important opportunities to support working families. These bills included provisions to...
INCREASE ACCESS TO WORK SUPPORTS & SAFETY NETS: Several legislators proposed bills that would increase access to work supports and social  and safety net. Among these were SB 377 and SB 341, would remove asset limits for SNAP recipients, HB1011 and HB1014, which would create worksharing unemployment benefits, and SB 210, HB 1328, and HB 1139,  which would expand or create paid leave programs. SB 210 got a hearing and Jessica Fraser, Program Manager at Indiana Institute for Working Families, testified in support of the bill, but it did not receive a vote. 

BOOST INCOMES FOR LOW-TO-MODERATE INCOME FAMILIES: Legislators put forward a number of bills that would directly or indirectly drive up income for low-to-moderate income working families. Some of these bills increased wages directly, including SB 211 or SB 369, which would have increased the minimum wage and HB 1072, which would have provided overtime for certain employees.  SB 319 would have allowed local governments to establish a common construction wage, and SB 346 would have required employers to pay a prevailing wage - as determined by the commissioner of the department of labor - on public improvement construction projects. Other bills increased income by reducing taxes or increasing tax credits, like SB 129, which would have increased the Indiana earned income tax credit, HB 1343, which would expand eligibility for the income tax deduction for dependents,  and HB 1050, which would have provided a sales tax holiday. 

PROTECT WORKERS: Legislators sought to establish several mechanisms to better protect working Hoosiers. SB 212 would have required employers to give advance notice to employees of their scheduled shifts and compensate them when they cancelled shifts without sufficient notice. SB 99 would have provided more information on small loans to consumers and offered a more affordable extended payment plan to help working families avoid the debt trap. SB 32 would have created more transparency in relation to the use of economic development incentives and recaptured taxpayer-funded incentives when recipients did not create or retain the specified number of jobs or pay the specified wages.    

PROMOTE GREATER ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION: SB 201 would have offered in-state tuition to any student who (1) attends a high school in Indiana for at least three years; (2) registers as an entering student at or enrolls in a state educational institution; and (3) graduates from a high school located in Indiana or receives the equivalent of a high school diploma in Indiana.

Description: Abolishes the Indiana unemployment compensation board and transfers the board's duties to the Department of Workforce Development. Provides that not later than the fourth week after the week an individual begins receiving benefits, the individual must visit and receive an orientation to the services available through a one stop center in order to maintain eligibility to receive benefits.

Description: Repeals the prior healthy Indiana plan statutes and makes revisions to the currently operating healthy Indiana plan. Repeals statutes governing the high risk Indiana check-up plan.

SB 217:  Township assistance payment of electric bills
Description: Allows a township trustee to make an advance deposit of township assistance funds in the township's trustee's account with an electric service provider to pay for a township assistance recipient's electric usage charges as those charges are incurred. 

SB 301: Workforce Development
Description: Requires the department of workforce development (DWD), commission for higher education, Ivy Tech Community College, and regional work councils to use data on expected workforce needs to identify imbalances in the courses and certifications offered and develop recommendations for the career and technical education courses to be offered at high schools.
Last Action Taken: Third reading; passed; Roll Call 46: yeas 50, nays 0
Our Position: Support. This bill will help low-income Hoosiers learn about and prepare for middle-skill jobs, a pathway to economic self-sufficiency.

Description: Urges the legislative council to assign to the interim study committee on employment and labor or another appropriate interim study committee during the 2016 legislative interim the topics of employee misclassification, payroll fraud, and the use of independent contractor status.

Description: Requires the Department of Workforce Development to establish a voluntary family leave insurance plan.

Last Action: The Committee on Pensions & Labor heard testimony on this bill. Jessica Fraser, Program Manager of the Indiana Institute for Working Families, pointed out that low-income families tend to have even less access to paid leave than the general population and that new mothers who return to work after taking paid leave are about 40 percent less likely to report receiving public assistance and food stamps in the year after a child's birth than those who take unpaid leave. The Chair did not allow a vote on the bill.

Our Position: Support.

Description: Allows certain individuals who were convicted of a drug offense but have not been convicted of another drug offense in the previous five years before applying for food stamps to receive food stamps. Permits individuals who have had a conviction in the past five years but who are receiving specified treatment and drug and alcohol testing to receive food stamps.

Last Action: Committee report: do pass, adopted