The General Assembly has reached its half-way point. The Senate has sent more than 175 bills to the House for consideration and the House has sent more than 160 bills to the Senate. In addition, Senate Joint Resolution 7, a constitutional balanced budget amendment resolution, has also switched houses.

Some of the major bills coming out of the Senate address workforce development, the opioid epidemic and Pre-K programs and funding. The House pushed through the biennial budget along with a roads and transportation bill, but not much else of note from a fiscal perspective. It has been a fairly quiet first half but is expected to pick up as the Senate works on the budget.

Below are links to the various caucus’ press releases addressing the switch.

House Republicans:

http://www.indianahouserepublicans.com/news/press-releases/house-republican-priorities-on-track-as-session-reaches-halfway-point/

House Democrats:

http://indianahousedemocrats.org/house-democratic-leader-pelath-on-2017-sessions-first-half-destined-to-be-little-known-and-long-forgotten/

http://indianahousedemocrats.org/porter-house-gop-budget-flounders-on-an-ocean-of-blah/

Senate Republicans:

http://www.indianasenaterepublicans.com/news/2017/03/01/2017/long-senate-completes-productive-first-half-of-session/

Senate Democrats:

http://indianasenatedemocrats.org/mrvan-week-in-review-227-32/