Indiana Senate And House Republicans Unveil 2021 Agendas With COVID-19 Focus
Unable to load the audio player.
playpausemuteunmute
Article origination IPBS-RJC
Indiana House and Senate Republican agendas for the 2021 session are focused heavily on fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lauren Chapman/IPB News
Indiana House Republicans plan to make a lot of one-time investments in the 2021 session to address their top legislative priorities, while Senate Republicans 2021 agenda is tightly focused on fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of the House GOP’s top priorities stem from needs that either arose or were intensified over the last year. That includes money to expand rural broadband, a one-time grant to help combat children’s learning loss from the pandemic and funding for local police departments to buy body cameras.
Credit Brandon Smith / IPB News
House and Senate Democrats 2021 legislative agendas are focused on issues that they say the pandemic showed to be incredibly urgent.
For Senate Dems, that includes raising the minimum wage, police reform and expanding vote-by-mail.
Indiana hasn’t raised its minimum wage since 2009. Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis), said that’s despite a 20 percent increase in the cost of living.
“Our society relies on minimum wage workers, Taylor said. And yet our state refused to pay all Hoosiers a living wage.”
Sen. Eddie Melton (D-Gary) said 2020 also further revealed an urgent need for police reform. House and Senate Democrats are backing a broad agenda unveiled last year by the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, including bans on no-knock warrants and chokeholds by police.
Indiana State Senator Eddie Melton Announces Aggressive 2021 Legislative Agenda Eddie Melton/Indiana State Democrats
INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) State Senator Eddie Melton (D-Gary) announced his aggressive legislative agenda for the 2021 legislative session.
“This year, Hoosiers are dealing with an unprecedented number of issues,” Sen. Melton said.
“While a great deal of our residents’ struggles are directly tied to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, many of the struggles Hoosiers are facing predate this virus. This pandemic has merely worsened the problems of many, while exposing to others the deep cracks in several of our state’s institutions.”
“My 2021 legislative agenda is a direct response to the calls of residents who are looking for meaningful and fundamental change. We have a difficult session ahead, but I’m looking forward to working on behalf of all Hoosiers in my new role as Assistant Minority Leader for the Indiana Sena
Holcomb sets priorities for legislative session
12/29/20 6:17 AM
INDIANAPOLIS Gov. Eric Holcomb’s fifth legislative session will focus on helping Indiana’s economy rebound from COVID-19 shutdowns, improving teacher pay and more, according to a list of goals released earlier this month.
Many of the priorities are extensions of past goals by the administration, some of which Holcomb said are more pressing to achieve because of the ongoing pandemic.
“Every single thing on this agenda is very important to the growth of our state,” Holcomb said. “Every single thing on this agenda is big.”
While legislative leaders, including House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, said they support much of the agenda, Indiana Democrats said it ignores a more urgent reality that many Hoosiers are struggling because of the pandemic.
Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, Gov Eric Holcomb propose different 2021 session agendas chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.