Tagged: Indiana General Assembly

A tort reform measure from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's first-year agenda has gone down in defeat amid opposition in a key Senate committee.

Republican Sen. Mike Delph said today he was withdrawing the proposal that would make the losers of lawsuits pay all legal fees because it was unlikely to pass the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The measure sparked controversy when it was first submitted earlier this month. Pence didn't include the proposal in his campaign "roadmap" and has declined to comment on it in multiple interviews.

The Indiana House has rejected an attempt to delay when Amazon.com and other online-only retailers might have to start collecting the state's sales tax from customers.

House members in a voice vote today kept July 1 as the date when online retailers would have to start charging Indiana's 7 percent  sales tax. That would be six months earlier than planned under a deal former Gov. Mitch Daniels brokered with Amazon.

Republican Rep. David Wolkin argued the tax requirement shouldn't start until Jan. 1 because the state has an obligation with Amazon.

An Indiana Senate committee heard public comment today  on a bill that would require  school corporations across the state to develop and publish a policy on the restraint and seclusion of children, typically involving youngsters in a special education setting.

Officials say most of the state’s school corporations have restraint policies, but they’re inconsistent and some are vague.

Senate Bill 345 would require them to include specific information, provide training for teachers and staff and publish the policies in a handbook.  

An Indiana legislative committee has delayed a hearing on a bill that would place new limits on specialty license plates.

Rep. Ed Soliday's proposal would create an eight-member bipartisan panel to review requests from nonprofit groups and universities for specialty plates. The Republican says state roads are crowded with so many different plates that it's difficult for police to identify vehicles.

Soliday delayed a hearing of the House Transportation Committee Wednesday to review amendments filed to the bill.

An Indiana Senate committee has backed tougher limits on quantities consumers may buy of cold medications that can be used to make methamphetamine.

The Senate's Corrections and Criminal Law Committee voted 10-0 today (Tues) in favor of the bill that would allow the purchase of up to 61 grams a year of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. That's about an eight-month total of the current law's monthly limit of 7.2 grams.

Some police groups have pushed for a state law requiring a doctor's prescription for those medicines, but the bill doesn't take that step.

An Indiana Senate committee has approved a bill that would crack down on retailers who sell synthetic drugs.

Lawmakers have previously outlawed substances such as synthetic marijuana, also known as Spice or K2, and bath salts, but Sen. Jim Merritt (R-Indianapolis)  says some shops are still selling them.

"If it walks like a skunk, and it smells like a skunk and it looks like a skunk, it’s a skunk.   And what we have on retail counters today are skunks," Merritt said.