Monday, April 24, 2017
Ding dong, the session’s over! In a long budget session, it can feel like endlessly walking the yellow brick road complete with trees throwing apples and gate guards that block entrance to Emerald City. But we made it! Along the way, we stopped a dangerous payday lending bill, got a summer study of paid family and medical leave through, spoke out against banning Ban the Box statutes, educated on the importance of early childhood education and Head Start, fought to expand access to SNAP to prior drug felons, passed a bill increasing SNAP asset limits, added an adult literacy report to the table, protected the Work Force Ready Grant, and battled for affordable housing. Read on for more details and a look at how our policy agenda fared.
The Institute’s 2017
Legislative Public Policy Agenda detailed the “missing pieces” in
Indiana’s economy that affect a third of Hoosiers who are not self-sufficient,
meaning do not make enough to pay for the basics. The legislative session is
over and with that, we take a look at which missing pieces were filled in and
where there are still holes in Indiana’s economic puzzle.
A
PATH TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY: Put families on a path to self-sufficiency by
protecting them from high-cost payday loans and predatory lending products.
Support asset-building and financial literacy training by increasing funding
for individual development accounts (IDAs).
SB
245 Long term small loans (Holdman) was a bill that sought to
extend the payday industry with a long-term loan up to $2,500 with an annual
percentage rate (APR) of 240%. (You can read about the details on the blog here
and here.
Highlights, on a $2,500 loan, a person making $10,000 less than the self-sufficiency
standard for one adult with one child in Marion county
would owe over $9,000 in interest over those two years. Yikes!) The Institute
fought hard against in the first half of the session, rallying over
20 religious leaders, former payday borrowers and employees,
and advocates to speak against this harmful and unnecessary legislation. It was successfully defeated in committee with
bipartisan 4-5 vote. Later in the session, the payday industry tried to insert
language about high interest small loans into another bill, but the amendment
was never voted on thanks in part to several advocates who dropped what they
were doing to be a voice in that committee hearing. SB
474 Small loans (Melton) provided for more disclosures and an
extended payment plan not over $50/weekly or $100/biweekly and was amended into
SB 245 in the first half of the session, perhaps as a way to make the bill more
palatable. While those were good ideas, the Institute was still happy the bill
died.
INVESTMENT IN
TWO-GENERATION SOLUTIONS: Investments in Head Start, preschool and the Child
Care Development Fund (CCDF) ensure that young children continue to learn and
grow while their parents work or seek further education.
SB 276 Early childhood grant
pilot program (Holdman) and HB 1004 Prekindergarten education (Behning) were
the two big Pre-K bills this session. In the end, the House bill is what went
through with aspects of SB 276 folded in. It passed 31-19 in the Senate and 82-16 in the
House. The final version expands Pre-K to 15 additional counties, details
income eligibility requirements (127%-185% of FPL depending on the
circumstances), and increases spending by $10 million including $1million for
an online preschool program. It also contains voucher language that allows an
eligible student in the Pre-K pilot program to get a private school voucher for
kindergarten at that same choice scholarship school. The Institute is excited that Pre-K in Indiana is expanding and more families will have access to the family-wide benefits of early childhood education! *UPDATE - Governor Holcomb signed this bill into law on April 26, 2017.
REMOVE BARRIERS TO
ADULT EDUCATION & WORKFORCE TRAINING: Allow for better coordination of
skills training, higher education and necessary support services. Increase
support for the Indiana Adult Student Grant and the WorkINdiana training
program, and create Indiana’s first fund for job-driven adult literacy.
SB 198 Career and
technical education (Long) and HB 1008 were the workforce bills the Institute
followed throughout the session to ensure that the Workforce Ready Grant was
included. This grant helps Hoosiers as they seek training and certification for
high-value jobs. At one point the language was removed, but is in the final
version of SB 198 which passed as a hybrid with HB 1008. The Senate passed the
bill with a 50-0 vote and the House passed it with a 98-0 vote. This is a great
step in connecting Indiana employees with the thousands of openings for
high-demand, high wage jobs.
SB 108 Education matters (Kruse) had a
technical correction in the last days of the session. It requires,
among other things, the department of workforce development to commission an
entity that specializes in improving access to adult literacy programs to: (1)
prepare and submit a report regarding adult literacy programs to the
legislative council; and (2) present the report to the state workforce
innovation council. Literacy is an important factor in determining employment
and thus self-sufficiency; the Institute wants to help ensure that Hoosiers
have access to quality programs that put them in the best position to succeed.
There were two
work-sharing unemployment insurance bills that did not get hearings this
session, HB 1212 Work sharing
unemployment benefit (Hatfield) and HB
1464 Work sharing unemployment benefits
(Carbaugh). The legislature missed an opportunity to help employers reduce layoffs
by cutting hours wages and spare employees the hardship of full unemployment.
ASSISTS &
REBOUNDS: Help Hoosiers rebound more quickly from tough times by removing the
asset test from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility
requirements and raising Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
eligibility to 50 percent of the federal poverty level.
We had some great success in this area, but also some
frustrating missed opportunities. Good news first, SB
154 Removal of asset limits for SNAP eligibility
(Merritt) passed, increasing the asset limit to $5000. This will help
families save, while still getting much needed food assistance. *UPDATE - The Governor signed SB 154 into law on April 27, 2017. Huzzah!
The bad news, SB
9 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and
drug convictions (Merritt) made it through the Senate, but did not move in
the House. Currently, those with other felonies are eligible for food
assistance. There is no good reason this benefit should not be extended to
those with prior drug convictions too. A subject of much legislation this
session was the opioid epidemic in Indiana. The argument was made that if we
want to stop this epidemic, we need to make sure those in recovery, who may
have drug felonies, can get food assistance in order to stay clean. Even that
was not convincing enough for some members. This is a topic that the Institute
will continue to support and work on.
Another disappointing
missed opportunity was SB
527 TANF eligibility (Stoops), which was heard in Senate Family
and Children Services, but never acted upon. This bill would have increased
access to TANF by changing income eligibility and would have removed the dollar
amounts dictated in statute, which has not kept up with inflation. Hopefully,
this is something legislators will be more amenable to in the future.
QUALITY OF LIFE &
QUALITY OF WORK: Ensure that all working Hoosiers can balance work, family and
household budgets through policies that promote fair scheduling, paid leave and
high-quality, well-paying jobs.
The legislature took a
step towards increasing the quality of life and work by passing SB
253 Study of voluntary paid family and medical leave (Tallian).
There is data being collected now on some options for paid family and medical
leave programs, which will be presented to the summer study committee. The
Institute is hopeful there will be open ears and that the General Assembly
continues to take steps forward on this.
This policy point had several missed opportunities including
SB 318 Minimum wage (Mrvan), HB 1183 Employee paid sick leave (Lawson), HB 1442 Paid sick and safe leave (Porter), and SB
3 Paid personal leave (Randolph). Legislators may be more
willing to move legislation like this forward after the summer study when they
have heard some of the options.
BUILD A MORE JUST
HOOSIER ECONOMY, STARTING WITH EQUITABLE BUDGET CHOICES: Make equitable budget
choices that remedy Indiana’s regressive tax structure, increase economic
mobility for working families and promote a more just economy for all Hoosiers.
HB 1001 Biennial budget
(Brown) is a huge document (183 pages!), and includes, among many other things,
$22M/year for Pre-K expansion with $1M/year earmarked for online Pre-K
reimbursement, $300,000/year for food banks, $970,000/year for Individual
Development Accounts, $5M/year for
WorkINdiana Program, and $7,579,858/year for adult student grants.
HB 1002 Transportation infrastructure funding (Soliday) increased
gas tax by $0.10 per gallon, created a new registration fee, and moves gas
sales tax funds to road funding over the next several years.
________________________
The
Institute had over 100 bills on its tracking list this session. Though many did
not make it past the first set of deadlines, there were several notable ones
that did. These bills have passed both chambers, but have not yet been signed
by the Governor.
HB 1470 Government information (Ober) passed
93-2 in the House and 37-13 in the Senate. A main concern was privacy of
personal information that Hoosiers entrust to the state. Hopefully, the
management performance hub will be able to use public data released to them to
solve issues that will impact Hoosiers for the better.
HB 1523 Search fee for public records request
(Richardson) has been signed by the President Pro Tempore and the Speaker and
heads to the Governor’s desk. When it goes into effect in July, it will
interesting to see the affect it has on public records requests and if the cost
is burdensome to individuals, political parties, companies, and research
organizations like the Institute.*UPDATE - Governor Holcomb vetoed this bill.
SB 312 Use of criminal history information
in hiring (Boots) is on its way to the Governor’s desk. The Institute, the ACLU, and the NAACP among others have signed a letter asking Governor Holcomb not to sign
SB 312 without an executive order to Ban the Box for state employees. This legislation
preempts local ability to address the unique employment circumstances in
different areas and help portions of the population obtain meaningful
employment. *UPDATE - Governor Holcomb will sign SB 312, but has said he will also sign an executive order banning the box for State employees. See IIWF's press release on the Governor's announcement.
SB 558 Leases
and sales of real property (Holdman) is on its way to the Governor. The
Institute fought against this bill as it preempts local ability to solve
affordable housing problems by limiting requirements municipalities can put on
new developments. It also defines occupancy standards by room (2 per specified sleeping
area) instead of square feet. This could cause families with three children to
rent three bedroom apartments instead of two, increasing housing costs by
hundreds if not thousands per year.
These
bills are law!
SB 242 Indiana housing first program
(Merritt) was signed into law on April 21. This establishes a Housing First
program in Indiana that helps find housing and support services for those with
mental health and addiction challenges. Reliable housing can help individuals
tackle the next step towards self-sufficiency like transportation, employment,
and savings.
SB 307 Veteran preference for employment and
training (Hershman) fits right in to the discussion of the Indiana economy and
increasing access to employment and improved skills. This bill was signed into
law on April 21, and will hopefully connect service members and their families
to jobs that acknowledge and build upon their service and skills.
HB 412 529
Education savings plan matters (Koch) was signed into law on April 13. It
excludes 529 education savings plans from asset tests for some scholarships and
grants and for certain public assistance programs (LIHEAP, TANF, and Medicaid).
HB 1268 Traffic amnesty program (Shackleford)
was signed into law at the end of March. This bill assigns to a study committee
the topic of lower traffic fines and fees for certain individuals. Removing
barriers to a driver’s license is not only beneficial to working families who
need transportation to work, but to the economy who gains reliable workers.
More
missed opportunities:
Food
Supply – SB 277
Healthy food initiative program (Head) and HB 1425 Fresh food initiative (Olthoff)
would have helped businesses and other legal entities to provide fresh food
options for underserved geographic areas, which are sometimes known as food
deserts.
Child
Care – SB 364
Child care tax credit (Stoops) was heard in Senate Rules and Legislative
Procedure and Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy, but failed to advance. Child care
costs are incredibly expensive and this could have helped families pay for
quality care as they work or go to school.
Criminal
History and Employment – HB 1267 Former
offenders (Shackleford) would have done the opposite of SB 312 by
prohibiting employers from asking about criminal history information until they
are sure the applicant meets the minimum employment requirements. This would
have been an opportunity to give those who have served their time a second
chance by increasing their ability to even get interviews for jobs. HB 1611 Tax
incentive for hiring ex-offenders (Mayfield) would have done just that, also
increasing the ability of former offenders to find gainful employment.
You
can see how ALL the bills on the Institute’s Inside the Statehouse watch list
fared by going to this
blog post. It will be updated for a few more weeks until all the bills have
been signed, left to become law after 7 days with no signature, or vetoed.
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| L-R: Amy Carter, Andrew Bradley, Jessica Fraser, and Erin Macey |
