SB242, State and Local Administration issues includes a late amendment that would affect the Indiana Earned Income Tax Credit. IIWF Director Jessica Fraser testified in Conference Committee on concerns the Institute has in regards to the long-term impact of proposed changes to the EITC. "We understand the desire to put Indiana's tax code in line with federal changes, however we'd like to see low-income taxpayers held harmless in the implementation of these changes," she said. SB242 would make permanent changes to the state's Earned Income Tax Credit starting with just a $10,000 cut in FY2018, but by FY2020, $500,000 would be cut from this vital income support, and this would further increase the burden on low-income families. Ask your legislators to preserve Indiana's EITC at current levels until a full review can happen before next year's budget session.

SB11, the bill which would remove the lifetime ban from SNAP placed upon people with felony drug convictions, passed the Senate but failed to advance out of the House Family and Children's Services Committee. Thanks to the efforts of a coalition of supporters, Senator Mike Bohacek's dedication and Rep. Clere's support, language from SB11 was amended into HB1317, authored by Rep. Ed Clere. HB1317 addresses a variety of health matters, including pharmacy transparency. It is scheduled for conference committee on Monday March 12th at 11:30. You can watch the conference committee live here.

HB1245, will reform current occupational licensing regulations in regards to restrictions placed upon people with criminal records. HB1245 limits restrictions to criminal history that is directly related to the occupation, places time limits on how long a persons record a can be considered, and creates an inquiry and petition process for those seeking an occupational licence. HB1245 passed out of the Senate on third reading and is now scheduled for a conference committee hearing on Monday, March 12th at 2:00 that can be watched live here.  Please call: Conference Committee Chairman Rep. Dale Devon to thank him for his efforts to address this much-needed reform and for authoring the legislation, and Sen Philip Boots the Chairman of the Senate Pensions and Labor Committee who protected the reform language in committee and removed sections of the bill which may have stalled the passing of  HB1245 on the floor. Please thank them for their support of the reform language and ask for their continued support. Also call Rep. Charles Mosley, Sen David Niezgodski, and the remaining conference committee members and ask them to protect the provision of HB1245 to reform licencing restrictions. These reform measures will help many people working towards a better future for themselves and their families. Ask your legislators to preserve the reforms in Section 1 of HB1245 in their votes on the final conference report on the bill.

NEXT WEEK: The following are conference committees which have been scheduled so far. Conference committees can be scheduled with as little as an hour's notice. Many bills still have yet to be scheduled. To keep up with bills and committees are they become scheduled please visit the Indiana General Assembly home page where you can also find the links to watch each committee in progress.