February 22, 2010
LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS
Bills moving forward
It was a relatively busy week last week with a large number of bills being heard in committee and an increasing volume of bills considered for second and third reading on the floors of the Senate and House.
Bills on which we worked this week include:
HB 1001: The bill, dealing with legislative ethics and lobbying reform, would require state and university employees that spend 10 percent or more of their time performing "legislative liaison" activities to report to the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission $50 or more in expenditures for meals or gifts to a legislator or legislative staffer in a day or $250 in a calendar year. The bill passed out of Senate committee.
HB 1063: The bill requires that government buildings, including universities, meet LEED or other energy efficient standards. The bill was amended in committee to incorporate provisions from Governor Daniels' 2008 Executive Order addressing energy efficient construction.
HB 1135: The bill was amended in committee this week to require universities to accept credit for AP coursework in which the student scores a three on the AP exam, but such credit may be applied to electives. The bill also specifies that for credit towards a major, the university may require a higher score.
HB 1297: The bill was amended in committee to address several capital financing technical provisions.
HB 1365: As passed by the House, the bill would have required higher education institutions to waive tuition for dual credit courses taken to meet Core 40 Academic Honors diploma requirements. The bill was amended in committee to affirm that higher education institutions may charge tuition for dual credit courses.
Looking ahead to next week, the deadline for hearing bills in committee will fall early in the week. Any bill not receiving a committee hearing will die, although the content of a bill that passed either the House or Senate may be inserted into another bill during the conference committee process. We expect the volume of bills on second and third reading will be high as the General Assembly attempts to move bills to the conference committee process and wrap up its session about a week early.
Contact Information:
Jeff Linder
Associate VP for Public Affairs and Government Relations
jmlinder@indiana.edu
317-681-1776
This report has been brought to you by the Indiana University Office of Government Relations with editorial and technical support from the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations.
Please contact IU Government Relations via e-mail at gov@indiana.edu or by phone at 317.681.1776 if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for improvement.
