Advocacy Update | 01.31.24

It’s week four of the Indiana General Assembly and we’re almost to the halfway point of the 2024 session! Here are some upcoming deadlines to keep in mind as the session moves forward.  

• Monday, February 5 – Last day for 3rd reading of House bills in House 
• Tuesday, February 6 – Last day for 3rd reading of Senate bills in Senate  

If you want to see our earlier Advocacy updates, please click here! 

As a reminder, this year’s Call to Action continues the conversation with talent attraction and retention, focusing mainly on housing development, availability and affordability of childcare and eldercare, incumbent worker training options, employability of people with disabilities, and eliminating worker shortages.  

New this Week: 

Advocacy Leadership Committee Chair Jim Epperson traveled on behalf of the committee to testify on SB-61, Tourism Improvement District. The bill received the following amendments from the committee: 

• Removed Marion County from the bill. 
• Changed the renewal of a district after the term ends to re-establishment.  
• Increased the threshold of businesses needed to approve the district from 50% (original number) to 65%. This would make Indiana have the highest approval threshold in the country.  
• Adding language on how the petition threshold is calculated.  

The Tax and Fiscal Committee did not take testimony regarding the amendments, and it passed the committee on Tuesday, the 30th. 1si continues to engage and provide feedback to the authors regarding this bill and the amendments made.      

Bills 1si is Monitoring:  

• HB-1199 – Repeal of Economic Enhancement District Law – House Bill is currently on Third Reading 

• HB-1368 – Riverfront Economic Development Tax Area – No major updates 

• HB-1183 – Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land – Committee Report amend do pass, adopted 

• SB-155 – Compensation for Business Losses – Sitting with the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee  

• SB-295 – Indiana Economic Development Corporation – Senate Bill is currently on Third Reading 

Current List of Bills 1si Supports or Opposes: 

Supports: 

• SB-61 & HB-1345 – Tourism Improvement District – SB-61 – recommends passage as amended. Yeas: 12; Nays: 0 – HB-1345 has been referred to the Ways and Means Committee 

• SB-2 – Child care – Senate Bill is currently on Third Reading 

• HB-1165 – Regulatory Sandbox Program and Right to Start Act – No major updates 

Opposes:  

• HB-1157 – Non-Disclosure Agreements in Economic Development – No major updates 

 We’ll keep you updated, but if you’d like more information on our 2024 Advocacy Agenda, or to download a copy of it, please visit www.1si.org/advocacy or download your PDF copy here.