Indiana governor inks his approval of new Region-related laws

Altogether, the Republican chief govt up to now has signed each one of many 93 proposed statutes he is been introduced by the Republican-controlled Common Meeting.

One other 100 or so measures seemingly quickly are headed to Holcomb for his approval because the Legislature subsequent week is anticipated to complete debating its remaining laws after which adjourn for the 12 months on or earlier than April 29.

Listed below are the newest Area-related statutes to earn the governor’s signature. Until in any other case famous, every new regulation takes impact July 1.

Illiana Expressway — Senate Enrolled Act 44, championed by state Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, deletes all references in state regulation to the never-constructed Illiana Expressway, a public-private toll highway that will have linked Interstate 65 in south Lake County to Interstate 55 close to Joliet, Illinois, in an effort to alleviate through-truck congestion on the Borman Expressway.

Niemeyer defined that eradicating the Illiana authorizing language will finish uncertainty over the Illiana that he stated has depressed property values and slowed improvement in south Lake County, since potential enterprises have been reluctant to take a position whereas ready to see if the expressway can be constructed.

Lake County authorities — Senate Enrolled Act 154 directs the county’s buying and information processing businesses stay beneath the management of the board of commissioners efficient instantly, however latest court docket rulings authorizing the county council to take cost of the departments.

Niemeyer, a former county council member, stated it does not make sense from a good-government standpoint to have the council each answerable for appropriating county funds and spending the cash. He stated contracting and buying are powers extra appropriately exercised by the commissioners, who function the county’s govt.

Tax gross sales — Senate Enrolled Acts 156 and 157 search to enhance the tax sale course of in Lake County by prohibiting people who’re barred from bidding on tax sale properties from being assigned a tax sale certificates by one other profitable bidder (156), and by giving the county new choices for disposing of land parcels with unpaid property taxes that regularly churn by way of tax gross sales (157).

Youngsters’s hospitals — Home Enrolled Act 1313 instantly ensures Northwest Indiana households coated by Medicaid proceed to have entry to kids’s hospitals in neighboring states by sustaining Indiana’s elevated cost charges for providers at out-of-state kids’s hospitals first licensed in 2021.

Annexation — Home Enrolled Act 1418 authorizes a but to be constructed residential subdivision positioned south of Aberdeen, in Porter County, to additionally make use of, efficient instantly, the voluntary annexation course of created final 12 months for the Aberdeen neighborhood to decide on to be annexed by Valparaiso, regardless of being positioned effectively exterior present metropolis limits.

PFAS discover — Home Enrolled Act 1341, spearheaded by state Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Level, mandates all firefighting gear bought in Indiana starting July 1, 2024, embrace a completely affixed label indicating whether or not it incorporates PFAS, probably cancer-causing substances, also called “perpetually chemical substances,” utilized in firefighting tools as a result of they’re heat- and moisture-resistant.

Insurance coverage fund — Senate Enrolled Act 353 establishes a course of for completely closing the funds operated by the largely inactive Indiana Political Subdivision Danger Administration Fee, and returning the $5 million remaining within the fee’s accounts to entities together with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District and town of Portage.

Housing commissioners — Senate Enrolled Act 15 permits a commissioner of a neighborhood housing authority to be paid as much as $100 per assembly, as a substitute of a most of $25, as a part of an effort, led by state Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, to entice extra people to function native housing commissioners.