Tagged: Indiana General Assembly

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has vetoed his first legislation since taking office in January, rejecting two bills with new licensing requirements.

Pence vetoed a bill requiring licenses for diabetes educators and a measure creating new license requirements for anesthesiologist assistants and dietitians, as well as state certification for music therapists.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has signed the state's new two-year, $30 billion budget into law.

Pence says the plan includes $600 million a year in tax relief for Indiana residents and will boost investment in the state.

The budget approved April 27 by the Republican-led General Assembly includes a modest increase in school funding, new money for roads and highways and roughly $350 million in income tax cuts.

Planned Parenthood officials say they anticipate a court challenge to a bill signed into law by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence today that tightens the state's regulations on distribution of the abortion pill.

The bill  cleared the Republican-controlled legislature last month. The new law will also require clinics that provide only drug-induced abortions to meet the same standards as clinics that perform surgical abortions.

Pence says the new law will ensure that the abortion pill is given under proper medical care.

The Indiana General Assembly has approved a two-year, $30 billion budget that gives Gov. Mike Pence a partial victory in his quest for an income tax cut and restores some money cut from education and transportation.

Lawmakers worked into early Saturday to reach final agreement on the budget and other issues, including an expansion of the state's school voucher program and changes to sentencing laws that would require those convicted of the most serious crimes to spend more time in prison.

A proposal making it illegal to secretly take videos or photographs that could make a business look bad has failed in the Indiana egislature.

Bill sponsor Sen. Travis Holdman said Friday night he wouldn't try to advance another version of the bill a few hours after it was withdrawn in the House. That followed a lengthy debate during which several opponents criticized it for exposing industrial whistleblowers or even unhappy restaurant customers to possible criminal charges.

A bill that would have made it a crime to secretly videotape the operations of a farm or factory with the intent to harm the business may have  died in the Indiana General Assembly.

Without comment, House Speaker Brian Bosma abruptly withdrew the measure during floor debate today, the final day of the session.    

The heavily amended legislation had earlier won Senate approval, but some lawmakers raised concerns about its constitutionality.

Opponents of the bill say it would weaken effort to expose the mistreatment of workers or animals, or other illegal activity.