Three state legislators participated Saturday in the Crawfordsville/Montgomery County Legislative Breakfast at Fusion 54. Those in attendance heard from State Sen. Brian Buchanon and State Representatives Beau Baird and Jeff Thompson.
All legislators started the meeting by providing updates on legislation presently in the works during the current session.
Senate Bill 1 deals with an attempt to improve reading skills for third grade students. If the bill passes, students must meet grade level standards. If a student does not meet the guidelines, then the student cannot move on to the fourth grade, Buchanon said.
Another priority is Senate Bill 2 which has the goal to increase the number of childcare workers.
Buchanon is working on Senate Bill 295 that would mandate that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation must give a 30-day notice if it plans to purchase more than 100 acres. The hope is that the agency would be more transparent.
Senate Bill 150 deals with artificial intelligence and would study and assess the use of AI technology by state agencies.
“AI is coming at us extremely fast,” Buchanan said. “We need to set ground rules for state officials and agencies on the use of AI.”
Buchanan is sponsoring Senate Bill 142 which establishes a health care pilot program in Montgomery, Delaware and White counties that would require health plans to provide reimbursement for emergency medical services performed under a mobile integrated health care program.
Crawfordsville’s mobile integrated health program, which is nationally recognized, would benefit if the bill passes according to Buchanon. He noted how successful the program has been.
Thompson discussed the fact that some media outlets had reported the state’s revenue was short $1 million under projections. Thompson said that is not the case when looking at the projections used to make the 2024 budget.
“The news was generated from an April 2023 forecast that ended up being short,” Thompson said. “We were not short on our original forecast developed for making our 2024 budget. Right now, our cash balance looks good.”
Baird explained the process of a bill being passed. He reminded attendees just because a bill was not passed by either the House or Senate, those same bills could be passed by conference committees that will meet soon.
Baird said the House has passed 112 bills out of the proposed 446 bills filed. He added the Senate has passed 110 of 310 proposed bills.
Thompson said House Bill 1417 addresses the impact to counties when new projects take agricultural land for the construction of new commercial projects.
Thompson said the bill would force commercial developers to perform a case study on the financial impact of a project as large as the Boone County plan.
“We need to know the cost of agricultural production to a county in economic development projects,” Thompson said.
Attendees were able to direct questions to the lawmakers. Some of the subjects addressed were home rule control and taxes, wetland preservation, soil and water conservation, redistricting and the treatment of incarcerated inmates with mental illnesses.
