Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb Tuesday unveiled his legislative and administrative agenda for 2020 which he says will focus on improving the lives of Hoosiers with better health, improved career opportunities and a better place to live.

The 2020 Next Level Agenda includes the following…

  1. Creating the Indiana Destination Development Corporation whose goal will be to attract more jobs and more people to the state.  Indiana will also build a 21st-century defense innovation ecosystem to triple federal defense investment in Indiana by 2025.
  2. Expands broadband service to unserved areas in Indiana, grow the state’s systems of trails and creates more nonstop international flights. The 2020 agenda also focuses on preserving our highways and decreasing distracted driving by enacting a hands-free device driving law.
  3. Continue to make finding long-term sustainable solutions to improve teacher compensation a top priority by supporting the Next Level Teacher Compensation Commission. The 2020 agenda also includes identifying unfunded mandates and unnecessary requirements in K-12 education for elimination in 2021, holding schools harmless for ILEARN scores, changing career-related teacher professional growth points from required to optional, and redesigning our prison education system to better prepare Department of Correction offenders to re-enter society.
  4. Raise the age to purchase tobacco and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21 and enhancing enforcement to prevent underage buyers. Provide healthcare price transparency for consumers via an “All-Payer Claims Database,” protecting consumers from surprise medical bills, improving mental health services at schools and hospitals, and incentivizing more community paramedicine programs. In the fight against the drug epidemic, the Governor wants to add more recovery housing for Hoosiers coping with substance use disorder. The state will continue to work toward becoming the best state in the Midwest for infant mortality by 2024 by protecting pregnant workers by providing more workplace accommodations.
  5. Saves Hoosiers more than $125 million in borrowing costs by using $300 million in cash now to fund capital projects. Additionally, Gov. Holcomb will simplify how Hoosiers reach out for health and human services assistance by integrating the 2-1-1 helpline into FSSA call centers.

“These aren’t just lofty goals – they are solutions to improve the lives of Hoosiers around Indiana,” Gov. Holcomb said. “We are charting a bold course for our state to become the absolute best place in America to grow as an individual, a family, a business and as a community.”