Sunday retail alcohol sales, workforce development, fighting opioids, reforming civil forfeiture laws and increasing funding for schools are all part of the the Indiana Senate Republican legislative agenda for 2018.
Senate President David Long says the agenda includes the following…
- Fight the drug epidemic (Senate Bill 221, authored by Sen. Erin Houchin, R-Salem)
- Help prevent opioid abuse by phasing in a requirement for doctors to check INSPECT, the state’s prescription-monitoring service, when prescribing opioids to a patient.
- Improve workforce development (Senate Bill 50, authored by Sen. Doug Eckerty, R-Yorktown, and Senate Bill 172, authored by Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Centerville)
- Expand financial aid for job-training programs and require high schools to offer computer science.
- Support our schools (Senate Bill 189, authored by Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, and Senate Bill 177, authored by Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn)
- Increase school funding to account for higher-than-expected enrollment and adjust Indiana’s diploma system to make sure all high-school graduates are counted in Indiana’s federal graduation rate.
- Reform civil forfeiture laws (Senate Bill 99, authored by Sen. Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville)
- Reform Indiana’s civil forfeiture laws to better balance law-enforcement needs and property owners’ Constitutional rights.
- Allow Sunday alcohol sales (Senate Bill 1, authored by Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette)
- Act on the recommendation of the Alcohol Code Revision Commission to allow the carryout sale of alcohol on Sundays in Indiana.
You can hear Long, as well as the various State Senators, in the Leon-Tailored Audio above. It is divided into two parts. In part one, lawmakers spell out their agenda, in part two, they take questions from the media.
