The Indiana General Assembly has reached the halfway point of its 2018 legislative session. This is often called the “crossover,” when bills that passed the House cross over to be heard in the Senate and bills that passed the Senate cross over to be heard in the House. However, not all of the bills introduced make it to the “crossover.” This year, legislators filed a total of 901 bills to begin the session, but only 302 have survived this far into the process. There are 130 House bills and 172 Senate bills still alive. Not all of them will survive the second half, which will end when legislators head for home on March 14 to begin the long 2018 campaign season.
As the second half of session gets underway, the League will be actively engaged in getting several bills across the finish line.
- A top priority will be a continued push to pass HB 1095 that would allow the BMV to create an Electronic Lien and Titling (ELT) program for motor vehicle titles. The bill easily passed the House thanks to the efforts of State Rep. Sally Siegrist (R-West Lafayette). The bill has been assigned to the Senate Homeland Security and Transportation Committee and the Senate sponsor of the bill is Senator Mike Crider (R-Greenfield), who chairs that committee. We expect the bill to receive wide support from the Senate.
- We also will continue to support the Department of Financial Institutions’ legislation, HB 1397, that includes several provisions benefiting state-chartered credit unions. The bill would help the DFI create an expedited branching process, make a few minor changes to the State Credit Union Act, and codify permitted “additional charges” under the Uniform Consumer Credit Code (UCCC) that have previously been permitted by DFI policy (like skip-a-pay and expedited payment fees). The bill has been assigned to the Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee where we expect that Chairman Chip Perfect (R-Lawrenceburg) will give the bill a quick hearing and vote.
- The League also will continue to push for passage of HB 1090 and SB 376, which easily passed the House and Senate during the first half. The bills address a conflict in the unclaimed property statute and would clarify that the existing process of using returned mail to trigger abandonment is correct rather than being required to hear affirmatively from a member at the time of renewal.
- There are other issues that the League will be following closely including electronic and remote notarization authority, towing notices, civil forfeiture, and payday lending.
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