The legislative session concluded Wednesday, with the General Assembly passing a number of measures to help Hoosiers by assisting veterans, improving health care price transparency and supporting Hoosier schools, among other topics, said State Sen. Brian Buchanan (R-Lebanon).
Assisting veterans in Indiana
Senate Enrolled Act 427, which Buchanan authored, will streamline the occupational license process for military spouses, allowing a military spouse who holds a valid occupational license in another state to be issued a provisional license for their regulated occupation.
“The U.S. Department of Defense is encouraging states to adopt this language to help military families who frequently have to move,” Buchanan said. “This legislation would allow the spouse of a military member who is licensed in a different state to easily continue their career in Indiana without causing undue hardship on their family.”
Improving health care cost transparency
“In 2017, the average Hoosier spent $819 more on health care than the average American,” Buchanan said. “This is especially troubling because Indiana used to be a relatively low-cost state for health care.”
Senate Enrolled Act 5 will create an All-Payer Claims Database that systematically collects health-insurance claims for both services and medications. This will give Hoosiers the ability to shop for the best-priced heath care. In addition, the General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1004, which will curb “surprise medical billing” by requiring hospitals to give patients a good faith estimate for the cost of services before they can charge out-of-network rates.
Supporting Hoosier students and teachers
In 2019, Indiana switched from the ISTEP test to ILEARN, creating a new challenge for schools and teachers. To give the schools more time to adapt to the new test, lawmakers passed Senate Enrolled Act 2, which holds K-12 schools and teachers harmless for the 2019 and 2020 test scores.
In addition, the General Assembly passed several measures that remove unnecessary requirements, providing teachers more flexibility. House Enrolled Act 1003 repeals statutory requirements on teacher trainings so that the State Board of Education can oversee the requirements, and House Enrolled Act 1002, removes language in state law that requires each teacher’s annual evaluation to be based in part on their students’ test results.
“Over the interim I visited a number of schools around District 7 to meet with teachers and discuss their concerns,” Buchanan said. “There is still a great deal of work to do regarding education, and I believe the legislation passed this session is a step in the right direction – giving local school boards more control. As a member of the Senate Committee on Education, I will continue to support legislation that helps our students and teachers.”
To learn more about these bills and others passed during the 2020 legislative session, visit iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills.