Statehouse Update 7
Introduction
The General Assembly finished the first half of the 2025 Legislative Session this week as three important deadlines for committee reports, second reading amendments, and third readings lapsed and eliminated multiple bills from consideration this session. The House and Senate referred surviving bills to the opposite chamber where they will undergo an identical legislative process during the second half of session. Of the nearly 1,250 bills introduced, only about 350 (28%) survived into the second half of session, of which our office is monitoring almost 80 bills that could impact University operations.
HB1001 (State Budget) continued through the legislative process this week as it passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee (Yeas: 14, Nays: 7), second reading amendments, and third reading vote on the House floor (Yeas: 66, Nays: 28). It is now referred to the Senate to undergo an identical legislative process which will start with the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Below is a sampling of bills being tracked by Ball State Governmental Relations that moved during the last week. If you have questions about these or other bills that you may have heard about, please contact the Office of Governmental Relations at gov@bsu.edu.
Bills That Moved
House Bills (HB)
HB 1032 – Foreign Interests: Prohibits a prohibited person from entering into a contract for the provision of goods or services with the state, a state agency, and a political subdivision. Requires agents acting on behalf of certain countries of concern to register with the attorney general. Establishes the foreign adversary enforcement fund. Requires schools and school corporations in Indiana to disclose certain foreign gifts and contracts. Requires public and private postsecondary educational institutions in Indiana to disclose certain foreign gifts and contracts. Prohibits certain individuals and business entities from acquiring: (1) an interest in business entities governed under Indiana law; and (2) real property located in Indiana. Requires certain individuals and business entities to divest their ownership of any interests in business entities or real property not later than January 1, 2026. Repeals existing statutes regarding foreign ownership of real property. This bill passed third reading vote on the House floor (Yeas: 68, Nays: 21) and was referred to the Senate.
HB 1041 – Student Eligibility in Interscholastic Sports: Requires, for purposes of interscholastic athletic events, state educational institutions and certain private postsecondary educational institutions to expressly designate an athletic team or sport as one of the following: (1) A male, men's, or boys' team or sport. (2) A female, women's, or girls' team or sport. (3) A coeducational or mixed team or sport. Prohibits a male, based on the student's biological sex at birth in accordance with the student's genetics and reproductive biology, from participating on an athletic team or sport designated as being a female, women's, or girls' athletic team or sport. Requires state educational institutions and certain private postsecondary educational institutions to establish grievance procedures for a violation of these provisions. Establishes a civil action for a violation of these provisions. Provides that state educational institutions and certain private postsecondary educational institutions are not subject to liability in a civil, administrative, disciplinary, or criminal action for acting in compliance with these provisions. This bill passed third reading vote on the House floor (Yeas: 71, Nays: 25) and was referred to the Senate.
HB 1515 – Education and Higher Education Matters: Provides that accredited nonpublic schools are eligible to participate in the following: (1) The establishment of police departments. (2) The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teacher recruitment grants. (3) The principal institute. Provides that charter schools are eligible to receive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teacher recruitment grants. Allows a parent of a choice scholarship student or an eligible choice scholarship school on behalf of a parent to petition the department of education to reconsider the eligibility of a choice scholarship student enrolled in the school if the parent has reason to believe that the student was determined ineligible due to enrollment data inaccuracies reported by a school. Provides that a student must be withdrawn from enrollment in a school corporation's virtual education program if the student accumulates 10 consecutive or 18 cumulative unexcused absences (instead of the number of unexcused absences sufficient to result in the student's classification as a habitual truant). Amends eligibility requirements for the high value workforce ready credit-bearing grant. Restricts a county, city, or town (unit) in using the unit's planning and zoning authority to regulate a school corporation's or charter school's use of school property. Provides the following regarding a charter school: (1) A charter school is a permitted use in all zoning districts. (2) A charter school's land use application must be processed by a unit on a first priority basis. This bill received its first reading in the Senate and was referred to the Education and Career Development Committee.
HB 1235 – Military and Veteran Matters: Expands the eligibility requirements for admission to the Indiana Veterans' Home. Adds a definition of an "eligible person" for purposes of administering grants for veteran services (GVS). Provides that a qualified entity may receive a GVS to provide certain services to support an eligible person. Makes changes to the qualifications to receive a veteran's burial allowance. Establishes the Medal of Honor license plate. Restores a provision of current law concerning certain disability ratings, as determined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and educational cost exemptions. Provides that the disability ratings and educational cost exemptions apply to an individual whose parent enlisted in the armed forces after June 30, 2017 (instead of June 30, 2011). Updates references throughout the Indiana Code relating to the armed forces of the United States or uniformed services to include the United States Space Force. Replaces references to an honorable discharge with references to a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable. Makes technical changes to various references relating to the components of the armed forces of the United States. Makes technical corrections. This bill passed third reading vote on the House floor (Yeas: 93, Nays: 0) and was referred to the Senate.
HB 1326 – Student and Teaching Scholarships: Provides that a student must be at least three years of age to qualify for a scholarship granting organization scholarship and removes income eligibility requirements. (Currently, the student must be at least four years of age to qualify and be a member of a household with a certain annual income.) Provides that applicants enrolled in a transition to teaching program after June 30, 2024, may qualify for certain scholarships if the applicant is a member of a household with an annual income of not more than 400% of the amount required for the applicant to qualify for the federal free or reduced price lunch program. (Currently, the annual income threshold is $100,000 or less.) Permits the commission for higher education to use the remaining balance allocated to certain teaching scholarships or in certain teaching scholarship funds to fund additional specified teaching scholarships. This bill passed third reading vote on the House floor (Yeas: 65, Nays: 28) and was referred to the Senate.
Senate Bills (SB)
SB 448 – Higher Education and Workforce Development Matters: Requires the Indiana management performance hub, in collaboration with the department of education (department), to: (1) collect and compile certain student income data; and (2) report certain credential information on the department's website. Requires the secretary of education to establish a plan to develop a market driven stackable credentials and qualifications framework and submit the plan to the general assembly. Provides that the commission for higher education (commission) shall (instead of may) approve or disapprove certain branches, campuses, centers, new colleges, new schools, degrees, or programs. Provides that before the commission approves or disapproves a degree or program, a state educational institution shall provide, and the commission shall consider, certain information regarding the degree or program. Requires the commission to: (1) review each degree or program for approval or disapproval at least one time every 10 years; (2) outline a process for degree and program monitoring, improvement, suspension, and closure; (3) publish certain information; and (4) take official action regarding the approval or disapproval of certain requests within 90 days. Requires the commission to prepare and submit an annual report to the legislative council regarding certain student enrollment data. This bill passed third reading vote on the Senate floor (Yeas: 48, Nays: 1) and was referred to the House.
SB 472 – Cybersecurity: Requires political subdivisions, state agencies, school corporations, and state educational institutions (public entities), with the exception of specified categories of hospitals, to adopt not later than December 31, 2027, a: (1) technology resources policy; and (2) cybersecurity policy; that meet specified requirements. Requires the office of technology (office) to develop: (1) standards and guidelines regarding cybersecurity for use by political subdivisions and state educational institutions; and (2) a uniform cybersecurity policy for use by state agencies. Requires the office to develop, in collaboration with the department of education: (1) a uniform technology resources policy governing use of technology resources by the employees of school corporations; and (2) a uniform cybersecurity policy for use by school corporations. Requires: (1) a public entity to biennially submit to the office the cybersecurity policy adopted by the public entity; and (2) the office to establish a procedure for collecting and maintaining a record of submitted cybersecurity policies. Establishes: (1) the cybersecurity insurance program (program) for the purpose of providing coverage to a participating government entity for losses incurred by the government entity as a result of a cybersecurity incident; and (2) the cybersecurity insurance board (board) to administer the program. Provides that coverage for losses incurred by a participating government entity as a result of a cybersecurity incident are paid under the program from premiums paid into a trust fund by participating government entities. Specifies that claims from the fund shall not be paid until the balance in the fund reaches $10,000,000. Provides that the board shall contract with cybersecurity professionals who can be dispatched by the board to assist a participating government entity in the event of a cybersecurity incident. Provides that fines recovered by the attorney general for any of the following violations are deposited in the trust fund: (1) Failure of an adult oriented website to implement or properly use a reasonable age verification method. (2) Failure of a data base owner to safeguard personal information of Indiana residents. (3) Failure of a data base owner to disclose or provide notice of a security breach. (4) Violation of consumer data protection law. Makes an appropriation. This bill passed third reading vote on the Senate floor (Yeas: 47, Nays: 2) and was referred to the House.
Looking Ahead
The General Assembly is out of session next week and will reconvene on Monday, March 3. Next week we will host a lunch to honor current Ball State students serving as interns with the Indiana General Assembly. These students work full-time during the spring semester for the legislative caucuses and, through their work, illustrate the value of investment in Ball State University. We will continue to monitor important legislation and provide weekly updates each Friday once the General Assembly returns.
