The following is a statement from Sen. Jean Leising regarding the completion of the 2020 legislative session.
Indianapolis, IN — Earlier this month, the Indiana General Assembly completed the 2020 legislative session. Below are statistics and highlights from my time in Indianapolis.
The Indiana Senate and House of Representatives, each, introduced 451 bills. Of the 902 bills introduced, 167 bills have become law – 78 from the Senate and 89 from the House.
Of the 168 bills that passed the General Assembly, 97% passed the Senate with bipartisan support and 61% received unanimous support.
This session, I worked to pass several measures that will improve agriculture, local government and education across our state.
To end ongoing debates surrounding herbicide and pesticide regulations, I authored Senate Enrolled Act 438, which aligns state herbicide and pesticide regulations with federal regulations, removes daily fines for the misuse of herbicides and pesticides, and establishes a working group to review existing guidelines and civil penalties imposed by the state chemist.
SEA 438 will ensure that our farmers have the resources they need to plant and harvest their crops effectively.
Given the high costs of health care and volatile incomes, many farmers across our state don’t have health insurance. To improve farmers’ health, I authored, Senate Enrolled Act 184, which grants nonprofit agricultural organizations the ability to sell medical coverage to its members. SEA 184 will allow farmers to have access to more affordable health care options.
As modern medicine and ‘best practices’ continue to advance, I sponsored House Enrolled Act 1067, which modernizes outdated requirements a dental hygienist or dental assistant must follow when administering topical, local dental anesthetics and nitrous oxide.
Elections are a constitutional right, but they do have costs. To help limit burdens placed on local governments, I sponsored House Enrolled Act 1147, which authorizes the legislative body of a town or city that has a population of less than 3,500 residents to adopt an ordinance to move the election of all elected officials of the municipality to even-numbered years.
Finally, as a member of the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development, I was proud to have voted in favor of several measures that will benefit our teachers and students.
Senate Enrolled Act 2 provides a two-year “hold harmless” policy for state accountability grades and teacher evaluations for the 2019 and 2020 ILEARN results.
House Enrolled Act 1002 removes the requirement that a school corporation’s annual teacher performance evaluation plan must be based on students’ performance on ILEARN and other standardized tests.
When the legislature is not in session, please contact my office with any questions, comments or concerns you may have regarding these topics or others by email at [email protected].
