INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers return to the Statehouse as the summer special session continues Thursday.
The House was scheduled to be in session at 9 a.m. to discuss Senate Bill 1 on abortion and Senate Bill 2, an inflation relief measure that includes a $225 taxpayer refund.
The House decided to go into recess until 11 a.m. after beginning its session. Republicans and Democrats both went into caucus.
Rep. Timothy Wesco opened the session with a tribute to Rep. Jackie Walorski, who died in a car crash in Elkhart County Wednesday.
SB1 passed in the Senate 26-20, garnering just enough votes to advance to the other chamber. A House committee heard public testimony on the measure and approved several amendments earlier this week.
An additional 86 amendments have been filed.
The House amendments tempered some of the Senate provisions, including one that would permit the state’s attorney general to prosecute crimes if local prosecutors decline. Instead, the House version called for the creation of an “oversight board” to make determinations in specific cases.
Other House amendments changed the mother’s health exception, altering the language to include the “permanent impairment of the life or physical health of the pregnant woman.” The Senate version only covered impairment of a mother’s life.
Another House change removed the affidavit requirement for the rape and incest exception. The House also adopted a standard 10-week post-fertilization deadline for rape or incest survivors regardless of age. The Senate mandated 8- or 12-week deadlines depending on age.
The House amended the bill to add a “lethal fetal anomaly” exception that didn’t appear in the Senate version. The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee advanced the legislation in an 8-5 vote Tuesday.
Senate and House lawmakers remain divided on their economic relief measures. The House Ways and Means Committee stripped Senate Bill 2 of the Hoosier Families First Fund, a $45 million measure to that would establish a fund to support families.
The committee instead replaced it with language from House Bill 1001, which includes a $225 direct payment for Hoosiers and additional adoption resources, among other provisions.
The original House Bill 1001 passed with overwhelming support in the House, 93-2.
In an equivocal move Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy stripped House Bill 1001 of its original language, replacing it with the language from Senate Bill 2 and Senate Bill 3. SB3 is the Senate’s centerpiece plan for inflation relief, which includes a six-month holiday on the utilities tax and a cap on the state’s gas tax.
The Senate is scheduled to gavel in its session at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the reworked version of HB 1001.