(Statehouse) – Indiana lawmakers approved the new state budget early Friday morning, mainly along party lines.
The two-year spending plan was given the thumbs up in the House by a 70-27 vote, while Senators approved it by a 39-10 margin.
Governor Eric Holcomb says he will “gladly” sign the budget bill, which includes funding for public and mental health, the elimination of textbook fees in public and charter schools, and an additional $500 million for the second round of the READI program.
The Republican-controlled legislature approved the following components of Gov. Holcomb’s 2023 agenda.
Public Health
Dedicating $263 million over the biennium to fulfill the recommendations of the Governor’s Public Health Commission to improve the health outcomes of Hoosiers by providing the necessary resources and delivery of services.
Of the total, $225 million will directly go toward local public health departments that opt-in to the local/state partnership. The remaining $38 million will be used for state resources to assist local health officials improve health outcomes. This includes integrating public health data and analytics, improving emergency preparedness through EMS training and readiness programs, increasing the state’s strategic stockpile of supplies, and promoting childhood and adolescent screenings.
New legislation will provide $100 million for mental health services and resources to more Hoosiers by expanding mobile crisis teams and crisis stabilization units and continuing to offer the 988 Crisis and Suicide Lifeline services.
The state will implement the Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide among veterans and service members to partner with communities, state agencies, and veterans to come up with strategies and a prevention plan.
The state also will strategically invest the more than $500 million the state will receive in the coming years from the national opioid settlement to create more community substance use programs to help those suffering from addiction.
Education and Workforce
K-12
The state will continue to make historic investments in K-12 education with an additional $1.47 billion in tuition support over the next two years. The increase will empower local public schools to reach the goal of achieving a statewide average teacher salary of $60,000.
With the General Assembly’s support, the state will remove a hidden tax on Hoosier parents by eliminating textbook and curriculum fees for more than 1 million students in traditional public and charter schools.
The state will also launch Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library statewide by investing $6 million over the next two years to provide every child with high-quality books from birth to age five. State funding will be put toward literacy initiatives to achieve the state’s goal of 95% of third-grade students indicating reading proficiency skills by 2027.
Higher Education
Through legislation, the Commission for Higher Education will implement the governor’s goal of auto-enrolling eligible students in the 21st Century Scholarship Program.
The budget also delivered on the governor’s promise to support first-generation and low-income minority students by dedicating $10 million to Martin University and several other programs with similar initiatives.
Early Learning
Eligibility for On My Way Pre-K will be expanded by raising the income eligibility limits for the programs from 127% to 150% of the federal poverty limit. The governor will simultaneously expand eligibility for Child Care and Development Fund vouchers to provide program access to about 5,000 more lower-income working families.
Workforce
The budget delivers on Governor Holcomb’s sustained commitment to providing Hoosiers with more opportunities to obtain the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow by investing $58 million over the biennium in Next Level Jobs Grant programs to benefit employers and employees.
Aligned with the governor’s proposals, the enacted budget provides increases across the state’s adult education ecosystem to offer Hoosiers more opportunities to obtain skills to enter the workforce, including $12 million to reduce waiting lists and expand capacity for adult education training programs as well as $16.3 million to expand adult charter high schools, including the Excel Center.
Economic Development
Thanks to the agreed-upon budgets, Indiana will continue its global reach to bring growth to our state by:
- Formalizing a deal-closing fund totaling $500 million over the biennium and an additional $250 million-per-year tax credit cap
- Establishing an ongoing revolving fund of $150 million for site acquisition efforts
- Doubling resources for the Manufacturing Readiness Grant Program
- Appropriating dollars to complete four capital projects: the new Westville Correctional Facility, new state archives building, co-location of the state’s blind and deaf schools and a new state park inn at Potato Creek State Park
- Investing in Indiana tourism by increasing the Indiana Destination Development Corporation’s funding
Community Development
The legislature passed the governor’s proposal of an additional $500 million for the second round of the Regional Economic Acceleration & Development Initiative (READI). READI has become a nationally recognized innovative program that connects communities to build sustainable partnerships for growth.
The Indiana General Assembly further showed its support of community development by:
- Funding Next Level Trails to expand the state’s trails system and move even closer to the governor’s goal of becoming the most trail-friendly state in the country
- Allocating dollars for land conservation efforts
- Providing the funds to pursue more direct flights options from Indianapolis International Airport
- Appropriating dollars to provide upgrades to regional airports throughout the state
- Partnering with the state’s Food bank network by doubling funding to $2 million a year
Good Government
The governor’s budget supported salary increases for the Indiana State Police and other agency law enforcement officials by raising the starting salary of state police troopers from $53,690 to $70,000 a year.
With the support of lawmakers, the state will invest more than $7 million in a regional firefighter training infrastructure to provide a standardized training model across the state. With the help of the Department of Homeland Security, the existing training locations will be enhanced, and new sites will be created to help cover gaps that exist in an area of Indiana.
The state will dedicate $10 million to purchase necessary equipment for volunteer firefighting organizations.
To bolster school safety, the state will increase the Secured School Safety Grant Fund to $25 million per year and expand how schools can utilize the grant dollars. The state will invest in more free training for school safety specialists.
Click HERE to view the 2023 Bill Watch.
Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis) voted against the budget and offered the following comments:
“This budget, just like this entire legislative session, can be summed up in two words: missed opportunities. We entered this year in a strong fiscal position with the goal to pass policies and a budget that worked for Hoosiers. Coming off the heels of the pandemic, rising housing costs, and inflation, I was extremely hopeful that we could focus on the issues that matter and make this legislative session about uplifting our residents and truly investing in Hoosiers. I was praying we could pass a budget that made it clear that the education, health, and quality-of-life improvements of our residents were our top priorities. We did not do that.
“I know my colleagues across the aisle claim that fiscal responsibility is their top priority, but I don’t believe this bill reflects that either. It is not fiscally responsible to underinvest in mental and public health when we know that will lead to a lack of sufficient resources, providers, and care. It’s not fiscally responsible to unload billions of dollars in the pre-96 when we could use those dollars to fund vital items now.
“It’s definitely not fiscally responsible to give a handout to wealthy families so they can use state dollars to pay for their kids’ private school education. Expanding voucher programs while allowing charters to take property taxes away from public schools in Marion, Lake, Vanderburgh, and St. Joseph County (while also allowing charters to share referendum dollars in SB 391) will have a devastating impact on traditional public schools. The ongoing attack on public schools and teachers, which harms our children by lessening the quality of their education and harms our future and economy, is the least fiscally responsible thing this body could do, and my Republican colleagues have made a sport of it.
“I’m disappointed by this budget that underinvests in important areas that impact Hoosiers’ quality of life, and I’m disappointed by the culture wars that were too often present during a session that should have been about helping struggling residents. With the economic position Indiana is in, this Legislature could’ve done so much more for Hoosiers.”
