The Indiana Publisher

Page 13 June 2020 Sen. Tallian. The bill died in the Senate Public Policy Committee, chaired by Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette. H.B. 1216, authored by Rep. Lisa Beck, D-Hebron, would have created a medical marijuana program. HSPA had a concern over a confidentiality provision. Before HSPA could talk to Rep. Beck, the bill died in the House Public Policy Committee, chaired by Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn. H.B. 1359 would have created a five-year medical cannabis pilot program administered by the state Department of Health. It was authored by Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary. HSPA had a concern with a provision concerning confidentiality of certain records. Before HSPA could talk to Rep. Hatcher, the bill died in the House Public Policy Committee, chaired by Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn. H.B. 1163 was a bill about medical marijuana. It was authored by Rep. Sue Errington, D-Muncie. HSPA had a concern with a confidentiality provision included in the original bill. HSPA talked to Rep. Errington who was willing to look at an amendment and asked HSPA to look at language in other states. The bill died in the House Public Health Committee, chaired by Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer, R-Beech Grove. S.B. 85 would have prohibited racial profiling and pretextual stops by law enforcement agencies. It was authored by Sen. Greg Taylor, R-Indianapolis. HSPA asked Sen. Taylor to consider an amendment to language concerning confidentiality of records. Sen. Taylor was receptive to the HSPA language and said he would likely incorporate the proposed language, but the bill died in the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee, chaired by Sen. Michael Young R-India- napolis. H.B. 1178 would have outlawed racial profiling and pretextual stops. It was authored by Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis. It mirrored S.B. 85, authored by Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis. HSPA initially approached Sen. Taylor with a request for an amendment, which he agreed to accept. That language was then shared with Rep. Pryor, who said she would consider it. The bill died in the House Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee. H.B. 1373, authored by Rep. Doug Gutwein, R-Francesville, would have allowed for video gaming terminals in veterans' service organizations under a licensing structure overseen by the state. HSPA was concerned over differences in the level of confidentiality for the proposed licensing compared to other gambling operations. Before HSPA had the opportu- nity to talk to Rep. Gutwein about the issue, the bill died in the House Public Policy Committee, chaired by Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn. H.B. 1229 was an education matters bill authored by Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour. It included a confidentiality provision that concerned HSPA. Before HSPA could talk to Rep. Lucas, the bill died in the House Education Committee, chaired by Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis. S.B. 4 concerned state adminis- tered health programs. It was authored by Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso. HSPA reached out to Sen. Charbonneau concerning language creating a fee for access to certain information. Charbonneau clarified that the language only gave the entity an option to charge a fee and that any fee would be subject to I.C. 5-14-3-8, which limits a fee to direct costs. The bill died in conference committee, after passing in the Senate, 47-3, and in the House, 82-12. S.E.A. 50 addressed various trust and probate law issues. It was authored by Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis. HSPA talked to Sen. Freeman about confidentiality provisions included in the bill. He directed HSPA to the Indiana Bar Association, whose witness during the bill's committee hearing explained the language mirrored the Supreme Court's Administrative Rule 9 (the court's version of the state Access to Public Records Act). Her explanation resolved HSPAs concern. The House passed the bill, 92-0 and the Senate concurred with the House version, 41-0. It was signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb on March 18 S.E.A. 61 would put Indiana into an EMS personnel licensure interstate compact. It was authored by Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Val- paraiso. HSPA felt there were provisions of confidentiality that were unnecessary, but unfortunately, interstate compacts are not open to amendments by the compact states, which may reject Indiana's application if the state's legislation is not consistent with the compact. The Senate passed the bill 50-0 and the House passed it with no amendments, 94-0. Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill into law on March 11. S.B. 355 would have had Indiana join a psychology interjurisdictional compact. It was authored by Sen. Veneta Becker, R-Evansville. HSPA believes the compact has confidenti- ality provisions that would be broader than normal in Indiana law, but as noted previously, compact legislation is rarely amended for fear that the compact states will reject Indiana's admission if it deviates from the introduced bill. The bill was passed by the Senate 50-0, but died in the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville. S.B. 361 concerned municipal electric utilities contracts for power. It was authored b Sen. Stacey Donato, R-Logansport. It requires the utility to make available for public inspection and copying under the statute governing access to public records: (1) a verified copy of a power-purchasing contract; or (2) a memorandum of the contract that includes information concerning certain specified terms of the contract. Requires a municipally owned electric utility to monitor, and maintain data on, the levels of peak demand and electricity usage on the electric utility's electric system, including seasonal and time-of-day variation in such levels. Requires the utility to: (1) compile the required data on a calendar year basis; (2) maintain the data compiled for a particular calendar year for a period of five years; and (3) make the data available for inspection and copying at the offices of the utility. There was a provision that HSPA felt needed an amendment. Before HSPA could talk to Sen. Donato, the bill died in the Senate Utilities Committee, chaired by Sen. Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis. S.B. 380 would require county election board to adopt a county election incident response plan to deal with man-made or natural disasters. It was authored by Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis. HSPA was concerned with language that documents considered in the drafting of a plan or amendment would be confidential. The bill died in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Transportation, chaired by Sen. Michael Crider, R-Greenfield, prior to any conversation between HSPA and Sen. Ford on the bill. S.B. 349 would have amended statutory provisions for the Office of Community and Rural Affairs to give grants to improve broadband service in under-served areas. Sen. Erin Houchin, R-Salem, was the bill's author. HSPA had a concern with a confidentiality provision and attended the bill's Senate Utilities Committee hearing so it could talk to her about the issue afterwards. The bill died in that committee hearing when the chair, Sen. Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis, declined to give the bill a vote. Advertising S.B. 182 addressed health practitioner advertising and identification. It was authored by Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg. HSPA talked to Sen. Leising about Errington Charbonneau

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