State Relations
Active Bill Watch
During the legislative session there are hundreds of bills that are monitored by the Government Relations team and technical experts throughout the university. Here is a listing of bills that were enacted during the 2009 session:
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.
B 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 3 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.
