indiana state senate

The Senate easily approved its version of the budget bill Tuesday, setting up final negotiations over the state’s $43 billion spending plan.

The state budget plan from Senate Republicans does not include any expansion of the state’s school voucher program – marking a major split from the House GOP.

People applying to vote by mail in Indiana will face new identification requirements under legislation poised to become law.

Indiana lawmakers are close to requiring schools to fire – or not hire – people with certain criminal records. But the bill also opens the door for schools to make exceptions in some cases.

Direct support professionals can provide a critical service to people in Indiana with disabilities by providing in-home and group-setting care. But in some cases, DSPs abuse and neglect those they’re supposed to care for and, advocates say, often get away with it by switching jobs.

The Indiana House and Senate are advancing each other’s mental health treatment priority bills this session. And chamber leaders say providing funding for both will be part of the final budget bill.

A bill that makes it a crime in many cases to electronically track someone goes a little less far after changes by a House committee Wednesday.

Law enforcement officers get a 25-foot bubble around them that the public can’t cross when told to stop under a bill that’s a step away from the governor’s desk.

State officials say some of the tight rules on unemployment benefits end up clogging up the system, preventing people from quickly getting paid and costing the state a lot of money – especially during economic downturns. A bill to alleviate some of DWD’s administrative burden and expedite the process of getting more money to beneficiaries heads to the governor’s desk after passing the Senate Tuesday.

It now goes back to the state House to consider changes made to the bill.