Sen. Fady Qaddoura

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION recognizing South Bend Police Officer Brian Meador.

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION recognizing South Bend Police Officer Brian Meador.

A SENATE RESOLUTION to honor Senator Eddie Melton upon his retirement from the Indiana Senate.

Provides for a thirteenth check for certain members, participants, or beneficiaries of the: (1) Indiana state teachers' retirement fund; (2) Indiana public employees' retirement fund; (3) state excise police, gaming agent, gaming control officer, and conservation enforcement officers' retirement plan; (4) state police pre-1987 benefit system; and (5) state police 1987 benefit system. Provides for a $50 payment to members of the Indiana state teachers' retirement fund and Indiana public employees' retirement fund, and to participants of the state excise police, gaming agent, gaming control officer, and conservation enforcement officers' retirement plan.

Authorizes the metropolitan development commission of a consolidated city or city plan commission of a city other than a consolidated city (commission), following a written recommendation from the board of public works or board of public works and safety (works board) of the city, and subject to the approval of the city legislative body, to adopt a resolution designating a wastewater facility improvement district (district) as an allocation area for purposes of the allocation and distribution of property taxes, allowing incremental property tax revenue to be captured to connect properties in the district to the municipal sewer system. Provides that, before making a recommendation to the commission to establish a district, a works board must: (1) establish the boundaries of the district; (2) identify the owners of property in the district; (3) create a proposed plan; and (4) hold a public hearing. Requires the establishment of a wastewater facility improvement fund (fund) for each wastewater facility improvement district and requires the commission to administer the fund. Provides that the incremental property tax revenue from a district shall be deposited in the fund and may be used only to connect properties in the district to the municipal sewer system. Authorizes the issuance of bonds payable from the fund. Requires the commission to make an annual report on each district to the fiscal body of the city and the department of local government finance. Authorizes a local governmental unit (or two or more local governmental units) to: (1) designate an area as a clean energy improvement financing district; (2) establish a voluntary property assessed clean energy program in the district under which qualified clean energy improvements will be made in eligible properties to lower utility costs to consumers through efficient generation and consumption of energy or generate energy through local sources such as community solar facilities; (3) designate a clean energy improvement financing district; and (4) authorize within the financing district the financing of qualified clean energy improvements. Defines "qualified clean energy improvement". Defines "eligible property" as including commercial, industrial, and agricultural property, school buildings, and local government buildings, and provides that a residential property may also be an eligible property for the purposes of connecting the property to a sanitary sewer system. Makes property owner participation in a clean energy improvement program voluntary. Provides for property owners to pay for qualified clean energy improvements to their properties through assessments. Allows liens to be imposed for unpaid assessments. Allows the funding of a clean energy improvement program by the issuance of bonds or through commercial lenders, federal or state grants and loans, or local government sources. Requires the Indiana utility regulatory commission to establish technical guidelines for the administration of clean energy improvement programs.

Adds a new chapter to the Indiana Code governing hospitals' billing practices and financial disclosures to patients. Provides that the unpaid earnings of a consumer who resides in Indiana may not, at any time, be attached by garnishment in satisfaction of: (1) any amount of health care debt owed or alleged to be owed by the consumer; or (2) in an action against the consumer in which a judgment has been entered, any amount of the judgment that represents health care debt determined to be owed by the consumer. Prohibits a health care provider from reporting or furnishing to a consumer reporting agency any information related to health care debt owed or alleged to be owed by a consumer who resides in Indiana. Defines a "third party furnisher" as a person that regularly and in the ordinary course of business furnishes to consumer reporting agencies information about the transactions and experiences of health care providers with consumers, including information regarding delinquent account actions. Requires a health care provider to include in any contract entered into with a third party furnisher a provision that prohibits the reporting or furnishing to a consumer reporting agency any information related to health care debt owed or alleged to be owed by a consumer, including information concerning any delinquent account action taken with respect to health care debt. Provides that if information related to health care debt is reported to a consumer reporting agency in violation of these provisions: (1) the consumer who owes or is alleged to owe the health care debt is relieved from any liability to pay the amount of health care debt reported; and (2) the health care provider and any third party furnisher engaged by the health care provider before or after the reporting of the information may not collect or pursue the collection of the amount reported. Prohibits a consumer reporting agency from recording or retaining in the file of a consumer any information that is: (1) related to health care debt incurred or alleged to be incurred by the consumer; and (2) reported to the consumer reporting agency after June 30, 2024. Provides that if a consumer reporting agency receives a request from a consumer to delete any record of health care debt maintained in the file of the consumer, the consumer reporting agency shall, not later than five business days after receiving the request, take all lawful and reasonable actions to delete from the consumer's file the record of the health care debt, regardless of when the health care debt was reported to the consumer reporting agency. Prohibits a health care provider from: (1) charging or collecting interest on the unpaid balances of health care debt at a rate that exceeds an annual rate of 9%; or (2) initiating any delinquent account action with respect to health care debt during the pendency of an appeal by the consumer for the denial of insurance or other third party coverage for the health care services, products, or devices with respect to which the health care debt was incurred. Prohibits a creditor from obtaining or using a consumer's medical information in connection with any determination of the consumer's eligibility, or continued eligibility, for credit, as required under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Provides that a person that violates these provisions commits a deceptive act that is actionable only by the attorney general under the Indiana statute concerning deceptive consumer sales. Amends the statute concerning adverse claims against deposit accounts to prohibit a depository financial institution that receives notice of an adverse claim based on health care debt owed or alleged to be owed by a consumer from: (1) recognizing the adverse claim in any manner; or (2) placing a hold on, or otherwise restricting withdrawal of funds from, a deposit account in which the consumer who is the subject of the adverse claim has an interest. Provides that: (1) any amount of health care debt owed or alleged to be owed by a consumer; or (2) in an action against a consumer in which a judgment has been entered, any amount of the judgment that represents health care debt determined to be owed by the consumer; does not constitute a lien against the consumer's principal residence or against certain personal property of the consumer. Provides that in any action filed, in a court of competent jurisdiction in Indiana, for the recovery of health care debt owed or alleged to be owed by a consumer, the court does not have and shall not entertain jurisdiction in any: (1) action of attachment against the real or personal property of the consumer; or (2) action of garnishment; upon, or any time after, the filing of the complaint in the action. Provides that in any action filed, in a court of competent jurisdiction in Indiana, for the recovery of health care debt owed or alleged to be owed by a consumer, the principal residence of the consumer is not liable to judgment or attachment or to be sold on execution against the consumer.

Permits the use of cannabis by: (1) a person at least 21 years of age; and (2) a person with a serious medical condition as determined by the person's physician. Establishes the adult use cannabis excise tax, and requires a retailer to transfer the tax to the department of state revenue for deposit in the state general fund. Exempts veterans from payment of the sales tax on medical or adult use cannabis. Establishes a cannabis program (program) to permit the cultivation, processing, testing, transportation, and sale of cannabis by holders of a valid permit. Establishes the Indiana cannabis commission (ICC) as a state agency to oversee, implement, and enforce the program, and establishes the ICC advisory committee to review the effectiveness of the program. Requires that permit holders take steps to prevent diversion of cannabis to unauthorized persons. Requires that cannabis and cannabis products be properly labeled, placed in child resistant packaging, and tested by an independent testing laboratory before being made available for purchase. Prohibits packaging cannabis in a manner that is appealing to children. Authorizes research on cannabis in accordance with rules set forth by the ICC. Establishes a procedure for the expungement of a cannabis related conviction if the act constituting the conviction becomes legal. Makes conforming amendments.

Establishes a procedure for the lawful production and sale of cannabis in Indiana. Makes conforming amendments.

Increases the income cap of a family, from 150% to 185% of the federal poverty level, that may participate in the On My Way prekindergarten program. Increases the maximum grant amount under the prekindergarten program from $6,800 to $10,000. Provides that a child who is otherwise eligible for participation in the federal CCDF voucher program may continue to participate unless the child's family income exceeds 185% of the federal income poverty level. Provides that, beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, a student is bound by compulsory school attendance requirements from the beginning of the fall school term for the school year in which the student is five years of age on August 1 of that school year. (Current law provides that a student is bound by compulsory school attendance requirements from the beginning of the fall school term for the school year in which the student becomes seven years of age.) Requires the department of education (department) and the office of the secretary of family and social services to adopt procedures to simplify and streamline the certification process for establishing early childhood education programs within existing school districts. Limits the number of choice scholarships that may be awarded for the 2024-2025 school year. Appropriates $300,000,000 of additional funding to traditional public schools under the funding formula to address inflation and support teacher pay increases. Appropriates $100,000,000 to the department for the 2024-2025 state fiscal year to be used to provide early intervention grants to local school corporations under an early intervention program to be administered by the department. Appropriates $100,000,000 to the prekindergarten program fund for the 2024-2025 state fiscal year to be used to fund the increase in the income cap and the increase in the grant amount under the prekindergarten program. Appropriates $100,000,000 to the office of the secretary of family and social services for the 2024-2025 state fiscal year to be used to fund the expansion of the CCDF voucher program. Appropriates $50,000,000 to the department for the 2024-2025 state fiscal year from the state general fund to be used by the department to distribute supplemental funding to school corporations to be used for the employment or retention of school counselors in the school corporation. Appropriates $25,000,000 to the department for the 2024-2025 state fiscal year to eliminate the funding gap and provide full reimbursement for the actual costs to schools to provide curricular materials to students at no cost. Requires the state comptroller to transfer to the state general fund from the total appropriated amounts made to the Indiana economic development corporation in the 2023 state budget bill and that remain unencumbered on the effective date of the bill, $150,000,000 first to be transferred from unencumbered amounts in the deal closing fund, and if the unencumbered amounts in that fund are insufficient, then from unencumbered amounts in the corporation's land acquisition fund or account, and if those two transfers are insufficient, then from any other fund administered by the Indiana economic development corporation to which money was appropriated. Repeals a $380,000,000 portion of the total appropriations made to the department of correction in the both the 2021 and 2023 state budget bills for correctional facility upgrades and requires that amount to be deposited in the state general fund and used to fund the appropriations made in this bill. Makes conforming amendments.

Provides that an individual who meets certain conditions is eligible for the resident tuition rate as determined by the state educational institution. Requires such an individual to verify that the individual meets the criteria to receive the resident tuition rate.