Funding, Infrastructure, Supporting Educators, Curbing Illegal Drugs
by State REPRESENTATIVE HOLLI SULLIVAN Â DISTRICT 78
The Indiana General Assembly recently reached the mid-point of the 2016 legislative session. The House of Representatives approved 116 proposals for new laws, sending them to the Indiana Senate for consideration. The Senate has sent 150 bills to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Among these bills are proposals to fund Indiana’s infrastructure needs, support educators and curb illegal drugs.
Lawmakers passed House Bill 1001, a comprehensive plan to fund Indiana’s infrastructure needs at the state and local level. The bill uses multiple resources to tackle the issue by tapping into the state’s excess reserves and devoting the funds to roads and bridges and also indexing the gas tax to reflect the change in buying power from 2002 to today.
Currently, the equivalent of only one cent of the gas sales tax is dedicated to the Motor Vehicle Highway Account. HB 1001 would dedicate an additional 4 cents of the gas tax solely to roads and bridges. It’s important that we change the way the gas tax money is allocated. Hoosiers need to know that their user fee, the gas tax, is going to go to roads. I am advocating for all roads and transportation taxes to be used solely for roads and transportation from this point forward.
Leadership from both the House and Senate worked with Gov. Mike Pence and the superintendent of public instruction to address issues from last year’s ISTEP test. Legislators moved quickly so the governor could sign House Enrolled Act 1003; which ensures the more stringent standards do not unfairly penalize Hoosier teachers and schools. Gov. Pence also signed Senate Enrolled Act 200 into law, which holds schools harmless for their A-F accountability grade for the 2014-15 school year.
The House has also taken a tough stance when it comes to drug offenses. We have supported legislation that would increase penalties for drug traffickers, restrict access to meth precursors and establish a reporting requirement to combat meth fires.
In the same realm, House Republicans have championed proposals to curb meth addiction by enhancing substance abuse and addiction treatment, and cracking down on the flow of pseudoephedrine to meth cooks.
These bills will now move to the Senate where they will go through the same legislative process they did in the House. In the coming weeks, House members will be debating and voting on Senate bills.
If you have input or questions, please call (317) 232-9648 or 1-800-382-9841, or email H78@iga.in.gov. You can also find more information about the session on the Indiana General Assembly website at iga.in.gov.
I welcome and encourage feedback from members of our community on this legislation or any other issues you may have. I would also be happy to host those families from Southwest Indiana who would like to visit the Indiana Statehouse during session.
