The 2020 legislative session begins Monday as lawmakers gather in Indianapolis for a short session, which is slated to end in mid-March.
2020 is a non-budget-writing term and Republicans are insistent they don’t want to re-open the state budget this year – unless it’s for their priorities.
Those priorities include spending new state surplus dollars on cash payments for capital projects, like a swine barn at the State Fairgrounds and a Purdue veterinary teaching hospital. It does not include extra money to boost teacher pay – something thousands of teachers recently rallied for at the Statehouse.
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Still, teacher issues will be in the spotlight this session, as lawmakers of both parties look to ease licensing requirements.
Also on the list of priorities are Indiana’s high health care costs. Lawmakers expect to pass a bill for transparency in medical prices and a ban on surprise billing – where patients, for instance, find out after a procedure that one of the doctors was out-of-network.
Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
