Local residents gathered Saturday to hear state legislators talk about challenges of moving Indiana forward.
State representatives Beau Baird and Jeff Thompson and State Sen. Brian Buchanan presented opening remarks and then answered questions from the audience during the State Legislative Breakfast sponsored by the Crawfordsville/Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.
This year’s short legislative session closed six weeks ago. Baird reported there were 742 bills filed for consideration and 163 (22%) of the bills were made into law.
Baird said that 86 of the bills, or 53%, passed unanimously in the House with 90% of the bills passed being sponsored by both Republican and Democrats working together.
Baird said many voters believe there is no cooperation between the two political parties, but he said that is untrue.
“I wish the media would report how many of the bills are passed unanimously and with parties working together,” Baird said. “We all work together to weigh and pass bills. The divide between parties is not as wide as some want people to believe.”
Baird reported the federal government recently made funding available to support rural healthcare.
“The federal government will give Indiana $50 billion over the next five year for rural health and it is to be used to fill in the gaps of healthcare in rural areas,” Baird said. “We have $207 million to use in Indiana this year and we will use the funds to support rural healthcare.”
Baird also mentioned Thursday’s announcement by Gov. Mike Braun that the state is restoring $200 million into the childcare voucher program which helps families pay for childcare.
Baird said the voucher program was initially reduced at the statehouse and it did not take long for lawmakers to realize that cutting the program hurt Indiana families.
“The voucher program was initially a one-time thing from the federal government as a part of the Covid epidemic to help struggling families,” Baird said. “We underestimated the voucher program, and we did not have a good understanding of how important the voucher was especially for rural areas.”
Thompson said there are problems when the state receives federal monies as a one-time payment. The state must now solve the problem going forward.
“Anytime the federal government provides money one time, we have to realize the funds are not promised to be an annual thing,” Thompson said. “We made the initial cut because we realized we would not have federal funds this year. But it became obvious to the governor something had to be done because so many childcare facilities were dependent on the money. This is something we will have to figure out at the next session to make sure we help fund childcare.”
“This issue has become a new layer for the state legislators, and we must find a way to keep it at a satisfactory level,” Buchanan said.
The 2025 Senate Bill 1 was discussed again. The bill has overhauled how state funds are distributed between all taxing units within Indiana.
“We continue to work on SB 1 and there is more work to be done,” Buchanan said. “The challenge is to make sure taxing units get the funds due them.”
Another topic discussed was the high cost of Medicaid in Indiana. Thompson said when he first became a legislator, Medicaid represented 8% of the state’s budget. Today that figure has grown to 22% of the state budget.”
“We have to figure out how to lower medical costs,” Thompson said. “We must fight fraud in the system and make sure only those who truly need Medicaid are receiving it. If you are 33 years old and capable of working, we want you to get a job.”
All three legislators agree that the soaring costs of utility rates also need to be addressed.
Other topics brought forward to the panel from the audience were: soil and water conservation; encouraging young people to become civic-minded; and toll roads in Indiana.
