• By Olivia O’Neal, TheStatehouseFile.com

• At a meeting held during the special session in which mid-cycle redistricting drew most of the attention, the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development heard testimony from eight people in favor of legislation that would require all Indiana schools to prohibit students from using their personal cellphones during the entire school day

  Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, an author of Senate Bill 78, called it “essentially a rehash of [Senate Bill] 185.” Now Public Law 24, Indiana became the second state to require school corporations to ban cellphones during instructional time, following the example of Florida, which was the first. Currently, 35 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted school cellphone-ban legislation.

  Raatz told the committee at the Dec. 9 meeting that SB 185 was applied differently than what was intended and that he and fellow author Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, wrote SB 78 to “tighten up” the current law, adding specifications and restrictions.

  Testimony revolved around rising smartphone usage among adolescents and the negative impacts that cellphones have on both student learning and and mental health.

  “I have heard from our membership teachers around the state that this is one of the most significant disciplinary and behavioral issues in classrooms, district and statewide,” John O’Neal, a lobbyist for the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA), said. “The issue now is that we need uniformity and enforcement.”

  But testifers also brought up their concerns such as the cost of phone storage units like Fort Wayne Community School District’s Yondr phone pouches.

  “We’re not asking to open the budget, but there are dollars that revert to the general fund, and school districts need financial assistance to implement this correctly and efficiently,” O’Neal said. “We are asking that a portion of the reverting funds—$5 million—be provided to support this.”

  He also requested that administrators collaborate with teachers as they develop a cellphone policy.

  Susan Harris, a nurse practitioner representing the Coalition of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses of Indiana (CAPNI), pointed to a line in the legislation allowing a student to use a cellphone provided it was needed “for the management of a documented medical condition pursuant to a physicians directive.” CAPNI asked that advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) be included alongside physicians.

  Another testifer, Justin Swanson with the Indiana Urban Schools Association, requested that school corporations have civil immunity if cellphones are confiscated.

  Committee members questioned the legislation in the context of emergency situations when parents need to be contacted. A line in SB 78 says that an individual authorized by the superintendent or their designee would be tasked with communicating with student parents in emergency situations.

  Although no high-school students testified, Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, said “halfway jokingly” that the opinions and perspectives of high-school Hoosiers should be considered as well. Lawmakers expect students to voice their opinions on the matter.

  “It is an important thing that we can continue on helping educational outcomes in the state, if we do this and additionally help [students] understand that there’s more into communication than being on a cellphone,” Raatz said.

  The committee heard testimony only and did not vote on the bill. The regular legislative session begins Jan. 5.

  Olivia O’Neal is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news site powered by Franklin College journalism students.

Since before President Trump took office, many of us—the Attorneys General of Indiana, Nebraska, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Wyoming—have argued against the rescheduling of marijuana as a Schedule I drug. See July 2024 Comment of Nebraska and 10 Other States. We all believe the science surrounding marijuana—which has become only more clear in recent weeks—properly establishes it as a Schedule I drug, and we have seen firsthand the harm the drug has caused in our communities. The negative impacts of expanded marijuana use, especially on children and adolescents, are worrisome. And the public policy challenges, such as the exponential increase in difficult-to-combat driving under the influence, are both significant and serious. We have conveyed our concerns to the Administration, and we are grateful for the Administration’s good faith consideration of our views.

Because of our long-held views, we are concerned with the issuance of this Executive Order, which directs the Attorney General to “take all necessary steps to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III.” We will evaluate the order closely to determine how we can best continue to engage, protect the public health, and ensure the safety of our citizens.

Evansville Water and Sewer Utility (EWSU) extends our best wishes for the holiday season. In observance of the holidays, our office hours will be slightly different Christmas week and New Year’s week, and some city trash and recycling pickups will be delayed by one day.

EWSU Holiday Office Hours

EWSU business and administrative offices will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, December 24 and 25; and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, December 31 and January 1, 2026. Our offices will be open on Friday, December 26, and Friday, January 2, 2026. 

For water or sewer emergencies during holidays, at night or on weekends, please call our After Hours Emergency Number, 812-421-2130. Our team remains ready to assist with problems involving EWSU water or sewer lines. 

Republic Services Holiday Trash & Recycling Schedule

Republic Services will not operate on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. Trash and recycling pickups scheduled on Thursday and Friday will be delayed one day both weeks. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday trash and recycling pickups will operate as usual. 

Christmas Tree Disposal

Disposing of your Christmas tree could not be simpler. From December 29 to January 9, 2026, EWSU city residential customers can place their Christmas trees next to their trash cart on regular pickup days and Republic Services will take care of everything. After January 9, Republic Services will still dispose of your Christmas tree, but it must be placed inside your trash cart for pickup and not on the ground. 

Medicaid eligibility checks result in large decrease in enrollment

BY: TOM DAVIES

Indiana’s state budget surplus could grow to nearly $5 billion by the middle of 2027 under new and much rosier tax revenue projections.

An updated report presented Thursday to the State Budget Committee forecast tax collections growing by 4.2% this fiscal year and by 2.7% the following year.

That would give the state about $2.4 billion more than officials expected when the new state budget was finalized in April — and revenue growth was anticipated at 0.8% and 0.1% for the two years of the spending plan.

But Republican state fiscal leaders showed no signs of any spending boosts for the tight budget that took effect July 1.

“It was a positive forecast and it was good news for our state,” House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jeff Thompson said. “But remember, we’re less than 25% through this biennial budget, so there’s some uncertainty still.”

The revenue growth would push the state’s cash reserves from what had been an expected $2.7 billion in mid-2027 — about 12% of annual state spending — to $5 billion, or about 22% of state spending. That is well above the 10-15% level that leaders usually aim for.

Democrats said the unexpected revenue should allow the state to restore spending cuts made after the Legislature was “spooked” by the dismal April forecast.

Rep. Greg Porter, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said the state needed to make better use of the available funds rather than more tax cuts.

“The people who really need it, the special needs individuals, our children, seniors, they’re going to be left out in the cold,” Porter said.

Gov. Mike Braun touted the revenue forecast as “evidence that our focus on jobs and wages to grow the economy is working.”

“We are boosting Hoosier wages and lowering taxes,” Braun said in a statement. “While many other states are struggling to gain momentum, Indiana is thriving and Hoosiers are keeping more money in their pockets.”

Medicaid costs growing slower

New projections also show Indiana’s Medicaid program costs will grow slower than expected as the number of people it covers has dropped about 15% in the first year of Braun’s administration.

Medicaid officials are also planning a 10% cut in the payment rate for an autism therapy program that has drawn particular concern for its fast-growing expenses.

The state’s rising Medicaid expenditures have been a major worry of state budget officialsfor the past several years — and a new forecast of those costs released Thursday indicated some relief.

The previous forecast released in April had Medicaid costs jumping by 9.5% during the current state fiscal year and 7.7% next fiscal year, for a total increase of $1.2 billion over those two years.

The new projections have those growth rates slowing to 3.2% and 6.4% per fiscal year, totaling about $465 million less in state spending for the two-year period.

That cost slowdown comes as Indiana’s enrollment in the low-income health care coverage has dropped from about 2 million people at the beginning of this year to 1.7 million in November — a removal of about one in every seven people who were enrolled.

Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Mitch Roob, who oversees the Medicaid program, attributed much of the enrollment drop to the income verification letters now sent every three months that started in April.

But the state’s Medicaid expenses haven’t dropped by a similar rate because those who’ve not maintained their enrollment are healthy and not often seeking health care, Roob said.

“You have fewer patients, but you’re covering the sicker patients,” Roob told the Indiana Capital Chronicle ahead of Thursday’s State Budget Committee presentation.

Roob said the state agency doesn’t know yet how frequently those dropped from the Medicaid rolls by not responding to the income-verification letters eventually are re-enrolled.

“You’d probably need at least 18 months worth of data to discern that,” Roob said. “I think that’s an important question and it’s worth knowing, but we don’t know it yet.”

Payment cuts for autism therapy

Medicaid officials presented their plan to reduce payments for applied behavior analysis, or ABA, therapy that is often used to improve communication and learning skills in children and young adults with autism or other developmental disorders.

The plan is to reduce the state’s current ABA therapy payment rate of about $68 an hour to near what Medicaid officials say is the national average of $61 an hour.

The payment cut is planned to take effect in April for a program that has seen its use surge in recent years. More than 8,000 Hoosiers rely on Medicaid to pay for ABA therapy, with most of them between three and eight years of age.

Roob said Braun had told him to get ABA therapy costs to a “reasonable” spot.

“We think smack dab in the middle is reasonable,” Roob said. “We value ABA therapy, right? But we can’t afford ABA therapy for all in perpetuity.”

Indiana’s Medicaid program began covering ABA services in 2016, spending about $21 million over the following year.

Expenditures peaked at $611 million in 2023, and dropped slightly to $445 million in