Statehouse Report 16

April 30, 2009

LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS

With its statutory deadline, the legislative session ended at midnight on April 29. Unfortunately, the biennial budget bill failed to pass in the House after passing the Senate. A number of other bills of interest to IU were also enacted during the just completed legislative session.

Biennial Budget Bill (HB1001)

Indiana University is disappointed that the biennial budget bill failed 27-71 after passing the Senate 37-13. IU would have fared quite favorably in the budget, considering the state's fiscal condition. Unfortunately, disputes over levels of funding for K-12 public schools were one of many issues found unacceptable by members voting against the proposal.

The following is a summary of the funding for Indiana University that was included in the budget.

Operating appropriations:

• Operating appropriations were essentially funded at the FY 2009 (current fiscal year) level for both FY 2010 and FY 2011;
• Using federal State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF), the 1 percent cut in FY 2009 state appropriations instituted by the Governor earlier this year were replaced with SFSF funds;
• State appropriations were also cut by 1 percent during the two years of the upcoming biennium but again were replaced with SFSF funds resulting in operating funding for most campuses at the FY 2009 level;
• Some campuses would have received limited additional funds if they experienced enrollment growth and progress in graduating students in four years and;
• Finally the joint IU/Purdue Indiana Innovation Alliance initiative would have been funded at $27.5 million per year.

Capital projects included in the bill were as follows:

• $16 million for phase II of the Bloomington Cyber Infrastructure building;
• $43 million total for phases I and II of the Neurosciences building in Indianapolis;
• $33 million for Tamarack Hall replacement at the Northwest campus;
• $10 million for life science laboratory renovations at Bloomington;
• $10 million for life science laboratory renovations at Indianapolis;
• $12 million for a new Center for Medical Education facility renovations at West Lafayette ($6 million from the state);
• Repair and rehabilitation funding for the upcoming biennium would have been funded at one-half of the formula amount providing $25 million for IU's system. In addition, $12.6 million in funds for the current fiscal year that were previously cut were restored and;
• $27 million for the IU South Bend Education Arts Building

Again, we are extremely disappointed with the failure of the bill. Funding levels reflected very strong support from legislators for higher education and Indiana University in particular. We are very grateful to legislators for their support, and hope that we can again tap this support in the upcoming special session that will be necessary to pass a biennial budget.

Other Legislation

While enormous energy is spent pursuing the budget bill, the State Relations team also worked extensively on dozens of other bills. Of these bills, the following were enacted:

SB 39 Purple Heart (Delph, Klinker): The bill revised the current statute, which provides tuition exemption for a person awarded the Purple Heart while serving in the military after September 2001, by extending the benefit to any Purple Heart recipient, regardless of their service date.

SB 218 Indiana Anatomical Education Board (Miller, C. Brown): The bill amends current statute to permit the AEB, which is administered by the IU School of Medicine, to offer cadavers donated by families for education and medical research, to other states. Currently Indiana receives more donated cadavers than are needed, while other states face shortages.

SB 219 Immunizations (Miller, C. Brown): Among other provisions, authorizes a college or university to receive information from the State Department of Health immunization data registry.

HB 1014 Age Discrimination (V. Smith, Kruse): The bill increases the maximum age limit for age discrimination claims from 70 years to 75 years.

HB 1193 E85 Fueling Stations (Pearson, Alting): Adds colleges and universities to the list of entities that are eligible to apply for a grant under the state E85 fueling station grant program.

HB 1121 Identity Deception (L. Lawson, Steele): The bill creates an identity theft unit in the attorney general's office and requires the owner of a data base to notify the attorney of a breach of the security of data. Among other provisions, the bill also requires a data base owner to take certain steps to safeguard data unless it has its own safeguards in accordance with federal laws.

HB 1132 Correctional Peace Officer Fund (L. Lawson, Wyss): The bill establishes the correctional peace officers' fund, which can be used to pay for tuition assistance to a correctional employee or family member when the correctional officer has suffered a loss from a natural disaster or was killed or injured in the line of duty.

HB 1210 Medical Professions Programs (C. Brown, Miller): The bill creates the mental health services development program to provide incentives, including a loan forgiveness program, to attract psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, and public sector psychiatrists to practice in Indiana. The bill also establishes the primary care physician loan forgiveness program and the primary care physician loan forgiveness fund. However, because of the state's fiscal condition, funds were not appropriated for either loan forgiveness programs.

HB 1382 Clinical Trials (Welch, Gard): The bill requires that certain services related to cancer clinical trials be covered under a state employee health plan, the state Medicaid program, a policy of accident and sickness insurance, and a health maintenance organization contract.

HB 1389 21st Century Scholars (Summers, Boots): The bill requires school corporations to provide enrollment forms to each student who applies for the free or reduced lunch benefit.

HB 1398 Ethanol Incentives (Grubb, Gard): Among other provisions, the bill requires public universities to purchase mid-level blends of gasoline and ethanol, E85, and blended biodiesel fuel to the extent possible.

HB 1462 Various Education Matters (Kersey, Lubbers): Among other provisions, the bill, which passed the Senate, expands current statute regarding criminal history background checks for teachers and other personnel to be employed in a school, and exempts universities from paying for the criminal history check for School of Education students beginning their classroom experiences.

HB 1479 Recruitment of Educators (Porter, Lubbers): The bill, which requires the Indiana Department of Education to work collaboratively with the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, universities and non-profit corporations to increase the number of educators from underrepresented populations, was signed into law by the Governor.

HB 1561 High Speed Internet (Van Haaften, Hershman ): The bill requires the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to develop a high speed Internet service initiative and to create a statewide geographic information system of telecommunications and information technology services.

HB 1573 Professional Matters (Welch, Mishler): Among many other provisions, the bill establishes a new, but unfunded, program to provide grants to recruit dental hygienists and dentists to underserved areas in Indiana. The bill also permits persons with a bachelor's degree in nursing with at least three years of nursing experience to serve as clinical nursing faculty.

HB 1671 Nursing Scholarships (Michael, Head): The bill changes an existing state nursing scholarship program administered by the State Student Assistance Commission by requiring a recipient to agree in writing to work as a practicing nurse serving in a direct patient care setting after graduation.

HB 1681 Educational Assistance for Foster Care Youth (Summers, Dillon): The bill establishes eligibility requirements for the state's Twenty-first Century Scholars Program for foster care children and requires a foster child caseworker to provide information regarding various college scholarship programs.

Finally, we are very grateful for the assistance we have received from dozens of IU expert bill reviewers throughout the session. Hundreds of bills were reviewed, and the technical assistance we received has been invaluable. Thank you!

What's Next

We are awaiting word on when a special session, which must be called by the Governor, will begin. Of course, a budget must be passed by June 30 prior to the beginning of the biennium on July 1 for the state to have funding to continue operations. We will provide additional statehouse reports during the special session to keep you informed.