State Budget Moves Forward

The Senate review of the House passed budget, HB 1001, is underway as the Senate Appropriations committee heard author and Ways and Means Chair Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) present the "key contents" of the bill. Senate Appropriations will be scheduling hearings on an agency by agency basis over the next few weeks. 

House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) has yet to assign all of the Senate bills to their House committees. Sen. Pat Miller's (R-Indianapolis) SB 500, the group home bill, and her SB 551, the Affordable Care Act Medicaid "expansion" bill, are among those still waiting for committee assignment. 

The Senate Health and Provider Services committee has set HB 1483, the bill requiring drug testing for TANF recipients or adult recipients on behalf of a child, for hearing on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in Room 431. Sens. Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) and Randy Head (R-Logansport) are the Senate sponsors. 

HB 1011, the metropolitan transit district bill, has been assigned to the Senate Local Government Committee. Chair Randy Head has not yet indicated when, or if, he will set the bill for hearing. 

Committee activity will increase next week as the process moves into the second week for committee action in the second house. 

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