ICAN Update 4.28.23

 The Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC) is the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Indiana regarding state and national matters. To act on these bills via action alert or by directly contacting your legislator, visit our Action Center. Listed below are the bills the ICC is monitoring most closely. The list is not exhaustive yet highlights the issues of greatest priority and relevance. 

Not every bill is listed in our Action Center: we list action alerts for certain bills when they become most relevant in the legislative process. 

To hear about the ICC’s activities from the past week, listen to our ICAN Podcast. 

Indiana’s Biennial Budget

This is the final week of the session, and lawmakers have been diligently working on the state’s biennial budget (HB1001). Below are some areas of the budget the ICC is most interested in: 

Mental Health Crisis Infrastructure (SB1): Funded at $50 million/year. The Indiana Behavioral Health Commission estimated a fully funded mental health crisis response would cost more than $130 million/year. While the ICC hoped for the full funding, some lawmakers and advocates are hopeful that the $50 million, alongside federal funds, will be enough to adequately establish a robust mental health crisis response in Indiana. 

School Choice: The Indiana Choice Scholarship Program income ceiling was expanded. Families with an income of less than 400 percent of free and reduced lunch income eligibility would qualify for a Choice scholarship (meaning a family of four that makes less than $220,000 annually could qualify). The budget also eliminates the pathways into the program, removing yet another barrier for families. 

Conservation: The budget contained $10 million ($25 million ask) for land conservation and $30 million ($50 million ask) for trail infrastructure. 

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): The budget also includes a section that couples the state EITC with the federal EITC. While expansions to the EITC were not included as we hoped, the coupling would mean better treatment for foster parents, married couples, and parents with more than two children who qualify for the EITC. 

Real Alternatives: This program was funded at $7 million for the biennium, and supports women and families through grants to pregnancy resource centers across the state. 

Food Banks: Funding for food banks doubled in comparison to the 2021 budget appropriation, which is a welcome investment as hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers continue to struggle with food insecurity. 

Bills Signed into Law* 

SB334 Simplified SNAP Application 
SB265 Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) 
HB1138 Drink Water Testing 
HB1568 Pharmacist Contraceptive Prescriptions 
SB1 Behavioral Health Matters 
*or likely to be signed very soon 

Dead Bills 

SB248 Driving Cards   
SB364/HB1243 Paid Family and Medical Leave 
SB375 Child Care Assistance 
HB1547 Supervised Loans 
HB1009 Pregnancy and Childbirth Expenses 
SB335 Climate Solutions Task Force 
HB1290 Earned Income Tax Credit