INDIANAPOLIS — NOTE: The above video is from a previous report on key bills coming up in the 2022 legislative session.
Indiana lawmakers decided to amend and move forward a bill that will end the public health state of emergency and limit workplace vaccine mandates.
The House Employment, Labor and Pensions committee reviewed three amendments for HB 1001. The 13-person committee passed two of the three amendments and voted to move the bill forward. It will now go to the floor for a vote, which could happen as soon as next week.
One of the amendments addressed a criticism from the business community that the bill was too costly because it required businesses to pay for the testing of employees who decide to opt out of getting vaccinated. The amended bill would allow businesses to turn to the state to help pay for that testing.
The bill also expands who is exempted from a workplace vaccine mandate. It already allowed for medical, religious and “natural immunity” exemptions. At first “natural immunity” only applied to employees who could prove they had and recovered from COVID in the last 6 months. Now that expands to include people who provide an antibody test showing they still have a certain level of natural protection.
The board also approved an amendment allowing Indiana to continue to access expanded SNAP benefits from the federal government.
Here’s a link to the amendments lawmakers reviewed.
Here are some of the other key bills in the 2022 Indiana General Assembly
There are plenty of important dates for bills and votes in the session that will affect you and your family.
Education
Parents and students have several school bills to keep an eye on.
Senate Bill 167 and House Bill 1040 both appear to be a response to debates over Critical Race Theory, which, by the way, is not being taught in local schools. But the bills would lead to more parental review of teaching materials and also require more parental consent for certain activities.
Taxes
Both Holcomb and lawmakers want to cut taxes. The question is, how far will they cut?
There are some bills that focus on certain groups, like businesses, veterans or teachers. House Bill 1027 would cut the income tax rate for everyone, dropping it from 3.23% to a flat 3%.
Marijuana
We will also see several marijuana bills come up for debate during the session.
Indiana Democrats say they plan to champion the issue, but we're seeing legislation from both sides of the aisle proposing everything from simple decriminalization to legalizing pot for everyone.
In the past, these bills have died without a hearing. But the question is if 2022 is the year Republican leaders will allow a debate on dope.
See all the bills
The filing deadline for state senators is the end of this week. Representatives have until next week.
Click here to see all of the bill that have been filed and posted online.