Legislative leaders preview 2023 session priorities
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s top-ranking state lawmakers told business leaders on Monday workforce development and health care costs top their priority lists.
House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, Senate President pro tem Rod Bray, R-Martinsville and their Democratic counterparts provided a preview of their 2023 legislative priorities as part of a panel discussion with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Huston said he wants lawmakers to look into changing high school coursework to better reflect employers’ needs, such as courses in personal finance and coding.
“We’re going to lay out a plan to really reinvent high school to make sure high school is much more relevant for students, that it becomes an opportunity for kids to work, that they have more work-based learning opportunities, that they learn what’s actually in the economy,” Huston said.
A recent report by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education showed 53% of 2020 high school graduates went on to some kind of post-secondary education, the lowest share in a generation. Senate Minority Leader Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, said lawmakers need to rethink how they incentivize people to pursue higher education. He said post-secondary education will remain unattainable for many otherwise-qualified students until policymakers address cost.
“I think companies eventually, as we provide this great business tax climate, are going to look at the state of Indiana and say well, we can’t find a workforce to actually create the jobs, who are going to create the jobs, so they’re going to choose another destination,” Taylor said.
On the topic of health care costs, Huston and Bray said they want to increase price transparency and competition among the major hospital chains in the state. Huston said he also would like to find a way to incentivize medical school graduates to work as independent general practitioners outside of major metropolitan areas, such as through residency programs. Taylor and House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, said lawmakers need to rein in drug prices. Taylor said he also would like to look for ways to allow nurse practitioners to expand their practices into rural areas separately from physicians.
Asked to name priorities for the session besides health care and education, Huston named affordable housing and infrastructure. Taylor said he wants to secure funding for the state’s new bone marrow registry, the authorizing legislation for which he wrote this past session. GiaQuinta said he wants to see more pre-K funding and full funding of public education. He also said he hoped lawmakers avoid some of the more divisive issues that marked the 2022 session.
“Let’s give the social issues a rest,” he said.