INDIANAPOLIS — In just over a month, Indiana lawmakers will return to the Statehouse for a new legislative session, where they'll debate proposed bills and, in some cases, pass them into law.
Tuesday, lawmakers gathered for Organization Day at the Statehouse.
Republican lawmakers said, this session, they wanted to address issues like reading proficiency and truancy.
Republican House Speaker Todd Huston, R-District 37, said how well Hoosier students are reading by third grade needs to be looked at, as well as the possibility of holding students back if they're struggling.
"Passing them along is a terrible disservice to the students and stacks the odds against their very own future," Huston said.
Last session, lawmakers passed science of reading standards and created a grant program for reading coaches in elementary schools. Democratic lawmakers say those measures need more time to work.
"We need to make sure that schools have the opportunity to train their teachers and implement strategies across the board before we start throwing new legislative hurdles in the way," said State Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-District 46.
Truancy is another issue Republicans say needs to be addressed in schools. The Indiana Department of Education recently released a study that showed thousands of Hoosier students are missing at least 10 school days a year.
"The question is, how much of this will be legislation and how much will just be a refocus of the execution of laws we have in place right now that will be a bigger discussion?" said Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-District 37, of how the truancy problem should be tackled.
Democrats offered their take on the problem.
"We need to ask the schools, ask the districts, ask the superintendents what they're already doing. Because many districts around the state have creative and innovative approaches that they're already doing," Hunley said.
When it comes to higher education, Huston said the House will revisit the issue of preventing antisemitism on Indiana's college campuses.
Last year, the House unanimously passed a bill that would have addressed that. That bill didn't get through the Senate.
Huston said you can expect to hear about the issue again.
"It was a good bill last year," Huston said. "It's even more appropriate this year."
"We need to protect all students on all campuses from any act of hate," said Senate Minority Leader Greg Taylor, D-District 33, when asked about such a bill.
Republican lawmakers also discussed the need to develop a plan that would expand Interstate 65 and Interstate 70 to three lanes from border to border.
Democratic lawmakers said they planned to address what they called an affordability crisis for Hoosiers who are struggling to afford rent, utilities, medical bills and child care.
Democrats also said they'd be proposing legislation that would allow Hoosiers to collect a certain number of signatures to be able to put an issue on the ballot, so that voters could have a more direct voice on specific issues.
"Fundamentally, it's democracy. It's democracy here in our state. Let the people have the say in what they want to see the policy coming out of this building," said Senator J.D. Ford, D-District 29.
Senate Republican leadership said Indiana's constitution doesn't allow for that.
"We pass laws here in the General Assembly, and we hope and ask that voters hold us accountable for the policies we have," Bray said.
The upcoming legislative session kicks off Jan. 8.