Tag Archives: state senate

A new State Senate bill which seeks to expand child abuse victim protections went into effect on July 1. State Senator Mark Messmer told The Herald-Tribune that he wrote State Senate Bill 551 after a constituent shared his story. The constituent told Messmer he struggled to block a 40-year-old-man’s attempts to contact his 14-year-old daughter. Messmer said the man sent …

The Indiana State Senate approved a nearly $34.5 billion state budget, today. Indiana works on a biennial budget, meaning every two years the state legislature votes on allocating billions of dollars to the state’s general fund. The 2020-2021 budget is nearly $3 billion more than the budget approved for 2018-2019, including an increase in funding for the Department of Child …

The Indiana House Committee on Financial Institutions will consider a bill tomorrow, allowing for higher interest rates on payday loans. Senate Bill 613 would raise rates to levels that are currently considered felony loansharking. The Indiana State Senate narrowly passed SB 613, last month. It would enable subprime lenders to charge interest rates on loans at levels above what is …

State Senate Republicans passed an amendment to Indiana’s leading Hate Crimes Bill, yesterday evening. Republican State Senators voted to pass an amendment to Senate Bill 12, which deleted two-thirds of the proposed hate crimes bill; The original 21 page document was cut down to just seven pages, after the State Senate Republicans voted to pass an amendment gutting the bill. …

During its meeting last night, the Bloomington Common Council declined to approve $18.5 million in bond funding to rebuild the Fourth Street Garage; The Bloomington Board of Zoning Appeals meets tonight, to decide whether to grant a for-profit addiction treatment company their request to proceed with a rehabilitation clinic; An Indiana State Senator filed a proposal on Tuesday, to legalize …

Medical marijuana is likely to be brought up again before the Indiana legislature, this coming session. State Senator (D-Bloomington) Mark Stoops is the Indiana said Democrats in the State Senate are likely to push for a medical marijuana bill in January, when the state legislature reconvenes. With just 10 Democrats in the senate, any push to legalize medical use of …

Midterm elections earlier this month left Democrats in the state with just 10 of 50 seats in the State Senate. Democrats control 33 seats in the 100 member State House of Representatives, leaving Republicans with another super-majority in Indiana, until 2020. Despite their super-majority, Senate Democrat Mark Stoops said Republicans will need to reach across the aisle to advance at …

Today was Organization Day in the Indiana legislature, marking the first formal meeting of the State Senate and State House of Representatives since election day; The Monroe County Election Board reviewed 260 provisional ballots in a four-hour meeting, last Friday. Most ballots were rejected; The Richland Bean-Blossom School Board approved $5.2 million to build a connector between Edgewood Primary and …

Indiana House Republicans will hang onto their super-majority in the state’s legislature. The Republicans have held a super-majority of over two-thirds in both the state house and state senate since 2012. The Grand Old Party currently maintains 67 seats in the state’s House of representatives to the Democrats 33 seats. Democrats picked up one seat during last week’s midterm elections. …

Indiana residents voting in the upcoming midterm elections will face three public questions on their ballot. The first is a proposed change to the Indiana State Constitution, while the other two ask if two judges in statewide voting jurisdictions will keep their offices. The first public question is a proposed amendment to the Indiana state constitution. If the amendment passes, the …