This State Update provides a summary of bills the IU State Relations team is tracking and that moved during the eighth week of session. We are now seeing a flurry of activity as the time for bills from the opposite chambers to be heard in committee remains short. Bills must move out of the opposite chamber’s committees by the Thursday, Feb. 19 deadline to remain eligible to still become law.
House Bills
HB 1004: Various education matters
Passed Senate Education 8-4 and recommitted to Senate Appropriations
The bill removes and repeals various education provisions and expired education provisions in Indiana Title 20: Education. This is the second deregulation bill in a multi-year process to “cut red tape in education by eliminating unnecessary rules and regulations, freeing up resources and giving K-12 schools more flexibility to focus on educating our kids.”
Senate Bills
SB 76: Immigration matters
Passed House 61-28
The bill, among other provisions, provides that if a law enforcement officer, governmental body, or postsecondary educational institution is made a party to a civil suit and the attorney general determines that the suit has arisen out of certain immigration matters, the attorney general may defend the law enforcement officer, the governmental body, or the postsecondary educational institution if representation is requested. The bill provides, with certain exceptions, that if the attorney general determines that probable cause exists that a governmental entity has not complied with an immigration detention request, the attorney general may bring a court action to: (1) enjoin an act or practice constituting a violation of an immigration detention request; (2) impose a civil penalty for noncompliance with an immigration detention request; and (3) and obtain other such relief as is necessary.
SB 88: Various education matters
Heard in House Education and held for amendments
The bill, among other provisions, requires a state educational institution (SEI) to accept the Classic Learning Test (CLT) examination to the same extent the SEI accepts the ACT or SAT examination with respect to admission criteria.
SB 161: Education matters
Passed House Education 7-4 and recommitted to House Ways and Means
The bill, among other provisions, requires the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to adopt rules that prohibit certain funding from being allocated or expended, directly or indirectly, to low earning outcome degree programs. It provides that the Indiana Department of Workforce Development must maintain alignment with federal rules governing workforce Pell grants.
SB 199: Various education matters
Passed House Education 7-4
This bill requires the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, not later than December 1, 2026, to evaluate accrediting agencies of state educational institutions and to report the commission's findings and recommendations to the general assembly. The bill requires state educational institutions to obtain approval from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to continue degree programs with low enrollment or those classified as “low-earning outcome programs”.
SB 204: Various education matters
Passed House Education 8-4 and recommitted to House Ways and Means
This bill, among other provisions, repeals reporting requirements related to duplicative or outdated reports in Title 21: Higher Education and changes certain amounts concerning construction, land purchases, and repair and rehabilitation by an institution to $3,000,000, adjusted for inflation. It provides that a state educational institution that has been denied approval to continue a degree program may: (1) permit students to enroll in the degree program until June 1 of the year following the denial; and (2) provide students enrolled in the degree program with the opportunity to finish their degree prior to the degree program's closure. The bill prohibits health profession education programs from requiring students to receive immunizations as a condition of participating in required clinical training if the student, or parent, if the student is a minor, objects on religious grounds. The bill requires a state educational institution to award course credit for a satisfactory score on an AP exam in which the AP exam corresponds to the state educational institution's course in the core transfer library.