And we made a lot of progress yesterday right here. I said something, and I believe some of our, members that like to have fun called fellow members, and we got some some cash in there. So I may wanna do it again today. Who knows? So with that, we'll go right to the agenda, and it's house bill 10 o one as introduced. We have, I believe, close to a hundred people have signed up to testify, and
we're welcome, of course, that that's that's how we should do that. They're in the process of getting me a timer of three minutes. As you know from my past practice, if there's discussion going on, you know, I'm I'm gonna try ought to be reasonable, but but, like, wise, when the same things over and over again, I need to probably wrap it up because I think some members would like to be done before too late. And, again, we we we signed up for this. So, again, we expect your your your remarks and comments. And I'm not gonna really talk
much about the bill at all. It's been talked about now in some of the hearings for the past past couple weeks. And so with that, we'll go right to testimony. And the first one I have is the one by paper. I can't go ahead. Please go ahead. Yeah. I can't read that. Tim Maloney from Indiana Conservation Alliance. K. I think
and that's the only one that's wondering. Go ahead, please, sir. There it is. Thank you, Chairman Thompson and members of the committee. Tim Maloney with the Indiana Conservation Alliance and the Alliance is a informal coalition of environmental and conservation groups who are focused on state investment in conservation. So that's the topic of our interest on the budget bill and we have been sharing with many of the
members a handout of our, suggested appropriations for conservation and for those who didn't get one yet, I'll be sure that you do. But, some highlights from our recommendation are that the budget include a, a robust appropriation for the President Harrison Conservation Trust of 15,000,000 over the biennium, increases in operating, money for several divisions at the DNR
including state parks and nature preserves and fish and wildlife, that you recommend you fully appropriate the, dedicated funding for the Lake and River Enhancement program. The fees that support that program were increased a couple years ago and, 10,000,000 for deferred maintenance costs at DNR. And also, there's some good things in the governor's budget, the money for McCormick's Creek State Park, the matching money for Lilly Endowment, and the general fund
appropriation for Clean Water Indiana. Those are all good appropriations in there. And I just make one statement about why we hope you will, take this under consideration and act in amending the budget and that is, a lot of these programs, particularly the land acquisition programs, at DNR have a track record and it's a very successful track record. So you know when you invest
public dollars in the Harrison Trust or, the Next Level Trails program, that you're getting a good return return on investment and they're very successful at leveraging non state dollars in, in bringing that to those projects. Both the Harrison Conservation Trust, the program that Governor Daniels had, the Bicentennial Nature Trust, Next Level Trails, all very successful at leveraging private and non state dollars. And so, when you think about what's the best way to spend state money,
these programs have a track record and they're very effective public investment. So we we strongly encourage you to look at those very seriously. You also get, other benefits to, economic development in terms of the economic impact of outdoor recreation in Indiana, about $16,000,000,000 a year in value added. You get, of course, well known benefits from the physical activity that comes with parks and trails and other outdoor
recreation areas, both for physical health and mental well-being. So you check off a lot of boxes when you invest in conservation. And so that is our urgent request to you that you look hard at those appropriations in the budget bill and that you make those adjustments to, to provide for robust state investment. Thank you. Thank you. Questions? Thank you for testifying.
Go ahead with the next one. Okay, next up we've got Andrea Huntington from Indiana Land Protection Alliance. And on deck is Laura Vale.
Thank you, mister chairman, members of the committee. My name is Mike Moga. I'm an attorney at Barnes and Thornburg. I'm joined alongside Andrea Huntington, who is here to represent the Indiana Land Protection Alliance. We are here regarding the president Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust Fund as well, which is the state's funding on land conservation. Back in 2023, the general assembly allocated $10,000,000 for this fund. We are asking for continued support from the state for this land conservation funding. From here, I want to pass it over to Andrea, the expert in the field, to tell you about how the fund
is used and needed to enhance Indiana. Mike, thank you for the introduction. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to speak in support of continued funding for the President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust. As Mike mentioned, I'm the Executive Director for Indiana Land Protection Alliance. We are the state association for Indiana's non profit land trusts. Collectively, our 22 non profit members serve all 92 counties in our state. The President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust was
established by the Indiana legislature in 1992. This program is led and administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. In 2023, you supported this program with a $10,000,000 budget appropriation and we are here to ask you for your continued commitment at that level. Since inception this program has made possible five forty six projects, which protected 63,853 acres. Expanding our parks, fish and
wildlife areas, nature preserves, forests and trails. It has leveraged millions of dollars in private support. For example, when organizations like Nonprofit Land Trust partner with the Department of Natural Resources through this program, we contribute a minimum 50% financial match and the state retains a permanent interest in that property. We use our private donations and funding to build and maintain trails, conduct restoration and reforestation projects, provide public programming and
public access to our properties. This program has been made all the more important because of Indiana's recent and unprecedented success in attracting new businesses. Our state has made significant investments and strides in economic development. It is critical we continue to invest in quality of life. If we wish to attract and retain entrepreneurs and the talent that these new businesses demand, we need to continue funding land
conservation and increased opportunities for outdoor recreation. I can attest that our Land Trust community has already been contacted by several of these elite companies coming to Indiana to learn about their conservation work and discuss partnership opportunities. They know exactly what their employees expect and care about. Studies show that young professionals and families want to live in places that prioritize and support their active lifestyles. This is not possible without continued support
for programs like the President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust. Thank you for your time. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for testifying. Thank you. Next, we have Laura Val. I hope I'm saying that correctly. And on deck is Margaret Bloomer. We have, up here a a timer just to kinda give you some guidance. Again, everybody's doing doing great so far. And then if it goes off, we'll shut it off. And if
you're finishing up, that'd be okay. Ma'am, go ahead. The the floor is yours. Hello, members of the House Ways and Means Committee. I am Laura Valle, and I'm here in support of expanding the career scholarship account, or CSA program. I had the pleasure of establishing the first certified nursing assistant program at Cardinal Ritter High School. Developing this program would have been significantly more challenging without our students having access to the CSA.
These grants cover the students' personal expenses related to obtaining scrubs, TB tests, and background checks, and will cover the fees associated with their certification testing in the spring. These fees alone would have kept many students out of the program. The excitement in the building has been palpable, and we are anticipating an even larger CNA program next year. It has been an amazing experience seeing our students walking into school excited to learn and engaged in materials relevant to their intended career choices. Other teachers have commented on how nice
it is to see the CNA students in their scrubs and how they carry themselves more professionally. My students have started the clinical component of the course, where they go into long term care facilities and care for residents, giving baths, assisting with feeding and toileting, and repositioning. Most recently, my students had the opportunity to assist a hospice CNA perform post mortem care. While I realize that this sounds unpleasant to most of you, it was a beautiful learning opportunity that the students accepted with grace, care, and
compassion. We plan to continue the program next year with a capstone course and work based learning options. Our students, both honors and CTE diploma future graduates, are quickly learning while still in high school whether high healthcare is the right field for them to pursue before investing time and money in college. They are meeting potential employers in their clinical experiences and setting attainable goals for their future. All of this was made possible by the career scholarship account. I wholeheartedly urge you to support additional
funding for our CSA program so more students have this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your your service. Questions? Thank you for testifying. Next up, we have Margaret Bloomer, and on deck is Angel Acosta Martinez. Welcome, Anne. The floor is yours.
Good afternoon, members of the House Ways and Means Committee. I am Margaret Bloomer, a CSA student at Cardinal Ritter High School. I am here today to ask you to support expanding funding of our career scholarship account program. When I was in third grade, my mom was in the hospital off and on for two years because she was suffering from an illness. During these long two years of waiting for my mom to get better, I started taking an interest in the nursing field.
I saw the compassion and empathy these nurses had to share, and I knew one day I wanted to be a part of that. When I saw Cardinal Reuter High School as offering a CNA program, I knew I had to be a part of it, but how was I going to pay for it? The scrubs, shoes, background checks, testing fees, and all the equipment we needed, including a mannequin and a hospital bed, all of this would be fully funded by the career scholarship account program or CSA. This lifted the weight
off of many students shoulders, including mine. Some kids are in this program because they need it for graduation pathway or just want to see if working in the health care field is right for them. My classes started clinicals where we take care of residents in a long term care facility. The clinical experience confirmed that this was the right field for me. This program is so helpful to us students because we get to experience working in health care before we get to college and decide what we are going to do with the rest
of our lives. Many more students are planning to participate in this program next year. The only way for these students to pay for this program is using the CSA. Sadly, there is a wait list for the career scholarship account, and many students are left waiting to see if they can afford their futures. I ask you to expand the funding so more kids like me can have the opportunity to achieve their dreams and change their lives. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Member of
the committee, any questions? Representative, Klinker? Yep. Thank you for what you do. Is this during your junior and senior year or, what does it what's it comprised of? You're Yes. So, first, for our school, we have to take introduction to health care, then we take a medical terminology class. Okay. Then around junior to senior year, depending, like, when you finish those classes, you can join
the CNA program. Do you receive any, money for that? Any For the CNA program? We don't get paid. You get credit. You get credit in schools. Yes. We do. Yeah. Hours. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Do you have further questions? Again, thank you for being here. Thank you. Next, Angel Acosta Martinez, and on deck
is Eric Longnecker. Welcome, sir. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, my name is Angel Acosta, CSA recipient asking you to support expanding the careers scholarship account program. I am a first generation Mexican American, and I've been raised on taking on responsibility and doing things nobody wants to do. To be
completely transparent, I am from a lower middle class household, and I do whatever I can to support my mother and younger brother. I've worked at night salt in the streets, and I occasionally do landscaping. But when I found out that I could have I could get an HVAC certification at my high school, I was ecstatic. I received an opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and learn an an incredibly important trade while I look at the choices for my future. Something you may not know about me is that I have wanted to be a lawyer for as long as I can remember. Since I was young, I saw the importance of lawyers, and I hate to see
somebody be taken advantage of. So I decided that I want to fight for people's justice and bring them peace for whatever wrongdoing they have endured. My grandma would always tell me, shoot for the moons, and you'll land among the stars. Sadly, due to recent changes in the world, I'm not very sure if I'll have that opportunity one day. Thankfully, I have the HVAC program that provides me with what I would say is the most secure backup plan. What I am most thankful for is the financial support of the career scholarship account or CSA for short, the financial burden that has been lifted off of me and so many other students. Cardinal Reeder High School has given me
the privilege to be among the trades where I can make a livable wage and provide for my family if anything were to occur, after I get my lessons, of course. This program has reignited my ambition, and now I can chase my dreams without worrying about having nothing to fall back on. Thank you for allowing me to testify today, and I ask you to support expanding the funding to our CSA program so more students have the opportunity to grow like me. Thank you for being here. Representative Andrade? Thank you, mister chairman. I am also
first generation Mexican American, and I have the honor serving now as a member of the house of representatives. And one of my dreams growing up was to be an attorney because I saw the injustice in the immigrant community, especially with my parents as they were trying to work through the process of getting their citizenship and how there were attorneys who were, ripping them off financially. So I'm very proud of you. Keep pressing on. Keep working hard. Thank you. And you could achieve anything that you want in life.
What what year are you now? I'm a junior. Thank you. What year are you? In my I'm a junior. Junior. Junior. You're a junior, and, what do you think you're going to, go into it in the future hopefully with your background? Hopefully, an attorney. Thank you. Good luck to you. Thank you. Thank
you. Other questions? Thank you for being here. Appreciate that. Next, we have Eric Longnecker. On deck, Seth Moust Moth. Sorry. In the hole is Tom Christian. Welcome. The floor is yours.
I didn't wanna have to use them. I'm just keeping up. No. Thank you. I just wanna say thank you for, just giving my kids that space to shine. It's just an honor to be here with you. I've prepared a little script just to share and keep me on track too. So thank you for allowing me to speak to you today. My name is Eric Longenecker. I'm the vice principal
of Cardenacker High School. I am here to share with you the impact of the career scholarship accounts, the CSAs that our school has been having this year. The CSA program has not only been an essential ingredient to our school, but it's provided the necessary resources to make a positive difference in our community. We're providing four different programs. We have the pharmacy program, the CNA, as you heard Margaret talk about, cybersecurity and HVAC. Angel talked about that being as a good stepping stone. Our students are getting real world experience in the high school classroom even before they graduate.
Cardinal Ritter needs this funding to build our programs further with much needed equipment, expand our student enrollment, and continue to add new certifications, dual credits, and credentialing our teachers. And as we find ways to address these new diploma challenges and requirements and offering work based learning programs, the CSAs are a bolstering method to help us make that possible. It starts in high school and the future is looking bright with this CSA program. I know we have about 4,000 students who are also
on this wait list. There's a huge demand in the state to make this happen and make it a reality. And I just wanna back up to Angel and Margaret. Having them speak up for their students and being advocates is just a wonderful honor to see, and the career scholarship accounts gives us that funding that we don't get typically to build these programs and make them robust. And I just get excited, and I'm gonna keep adding more programs to our school because I see the success my kids get. So thank you for your time. Thank you, and thank you for all you're doing for our our students.
Questions? Thank you for you and your students. I appreciate that. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Next up, Seth Moust on deck is Tom Christian. In the hole is Erica Briggs. Thank you, chairman, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Tom Krishan. I serve as chief legal officer for the Arc of Indiana. I'm I'm here to highlight the need to ensure that Hoosiers with disabilities have access to services and supports necessary to
live and work in their communities. I appreciate governor Braun's commitment to fully funding the Medicaid forecast and anticipated growth. The investment is critical to ensuring Medicaid meets the needs of people with disabilities and the most vulnerable members of our community. However, additional steps must be taken to eliminate barriers that prevent Hoosiers from disabilities from working, achieving financial security, and accessing essential services. One such area is the growing wait list for the Medicaid home and community based services waivers. While Indiana has expanded HGVS waivers, wait lists have
surged to alarming levels. As of December 2024, '8 thousand '6 hundred and '50 '8 individuals were waiting for the family supports waiver with applications from February 2022 just now being contacted. The health and wellness waiver has 4,617 waiting, and the pathways waiver had 7,611. Before 2024, the age and disabled waiver, now divided into the health and wellness waiver and the pathways waiver, had no wait list for nearly a decade.
Indiana cannot afford to go backward. Long wait lists increase institutional placements, which carry significant higher late costs for the state. More importantly, these these delays, it result in a decreased quality of life, shorter lifespans for people with disabilities, and greater hardships for families. Addressing the critical issue with this critical issue is upholding the state's commitment to community based services. Another issue is Indiana's Medicaid buy in program or MedWorks. This program allows people with disabilities to
work and earn income while maintaining access to their Medicaid while paying a monthly premium on a sliding scale based on income. However, restrictive income and asset limits, 350% of the federal poverty level, and a $2,000 in countable resources, force many to remain unemployed or underemployed out of fear of losing their health care coverage. The current asset limit prevents even modest savings for emergencies. Rising income and asset limits would
allow people with disabilities to seek employment, avoid financial crises, and fully participate in their communities. Finally, the Medicaid marriage penalty. Under current under current rules, individuals who rely on Medicaid may lose eligibility if they marry due to restrictive income and asset rules that apply to couples. No one should have to choose between their health care and their marriage. The current system discourages marriage because of the financial disincentive it imposes. Excluding a spouse's income and assets
when determining eligibility would promote family stability, reduce financial hardship, and ensure equitable access to HCBS waivers. These policies impact real people, our friends, neighbors, colleagues who wanna work, contribute to their communities, and build families without necessary unnecessary financial penalties. We recognize that you face difficult decisions in the budget process. However, we hope that you find a way to continue supporting Indiana's most vulnerable population while also encouraging work and marriage for people with disabilities and approach that aligns with the goals of the administration
and many elected leaders. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Questions? Thank you for testifying, sir. Next up, Seth Moust. On deck is Erica Briggs, and in the hole is Matt Craig. Sir, the floor is yours. Thank you, chairman Thompson, members of
the committee. My name is Seth Moss. I'm the president of a nonprofit youth serving agency, that was founded in, 02/2005, headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana. And last year, we reached over 20,000 kids a week through our programs. We reach kids k through 12 with a majority of our impacts happening in partnership with public schools. I'm not here today to ask for operational support. 95% of our funding
comes from the private sector. I'm here to address a directed grant of a hundred thousand dollars per year we received in the last fiscal budget called the juvenile recidivism reduction pilot project. Under the current version of the budget, this grant funding has been removed. This grant allowed us to reach first or second time offenders who, according to Saint Joseph County, data, eleven to seventeen year olds reoffend 33% of the time. Over the course
of two years, thirteen, 13 year olds were found to reoffend 60% of the time. We targeted in our program eleven to seventeen year olds with the caveat that parents had to attend the program, were mandated to attend the program along with their kids. And we're excited to report that over the last two years, we had an eighty nine percent success rate keeping them from reoffending. We are launching the program
in Elk Grove County next month, and other counties across Indiana are looking to, bring this to their county. So I have two requests that I believe are common sense. The first is that you put back in the hundred thousand dollars per year we received for this program to continue. The second request is this. There's a separate line item in the last version of the budget for juvenile diversion grant programs. The 2023 budget allocated $5,000,000 per year for counties to draw from
to focus on diverting juveniles from the system. Under the current version of this budget cycle, the $5,000,000 has been removed. My request is that we keep a portion of this $5,000,000 so that counties have the ability to bring the successful models to their community. We will continue to fight for kids and families who wanna see as many counties in our great state get the same results. I'm happy to answer any questions and look forward to touching base with all of you individually to talk further about our program and how we can scale the success across Indiana. Thank you. Thank
you, sir, for being here. Representative Clinker? Thank you. It sounds like you're saving money in the long run because those students that are in trouble will, hopefully, with your help, get back into the system regularly rather than costing the system as they grow older. And you found that to be true? Yes. Absolutely. It's pennies on the dollar we're saving, which is why counties are contracting us to to bring the program.
Representative O'Brien? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Seth, good afternoon, how are you? I'm good, good afternoon. Representative O'Brien? Thank you. You said eighty nine percent success rate, that's quite impressive. How do you achieve that? So when you our curriculum that we write, and the program targets what research says moves the needle. Research says when you target their operating system, a kid's operating system, their mindset with
the right values, and you target the core of a family, their parents, you get those two together, and it's really powerful what happens. So that's kind of the simple recipe we follow in that six week program. Further questions? Thank you, sir, for being here. Appreciate your your comments. Thank you so much. Next up is Erica Briggs. On deck, Matt Craig and in the hole is Sean Fulton.
Welcome, floor is yours. Great, thank you so much. Chairman Thompson and members of the committee, I'm grateful for the opportunity to share our organization's perspective with you seen through a national lens. So my name is Erica Briggs and I serve as Midwest policy manager for the Rails to Trails Conservancy. We were founded in 1986 and we're working to build a nation connected by trails because we believe that everyone deserves to have safe places to walk, bike, and be active outdoors. We have over a million grassroots supporters
and for a number of years we've been holding up Indiana as a model and a shining example of success to the rest of the nation. Across administrations from Governor Daniels to Pens to Holcomb, Indiana has recognized trails as powerful cost effective investments that spur economic development, improve public health, and offer and facilitate the quality of life amenities that make Indiana a great place to live, work, and do business. To quote Governor Holcomb, we viewed the investment in trails as
as an investment in our transportation system, in our infrastructure program, just as important as roads and bridges, rails, airports, and water ports, and what ended up happening was the success stories spoke for themselves, and the outpouring of interest and investment really made the case for us. So over the last six years, Indiana has invested $180,000,000 to develop and connect locally and regionally significant trail networks. Not just because they are nice recreational amenities, but because they can be leveraged to
benefit local economies and a myriad of other public policy goals. One trail network of particular interest to our organization is the advancement of the Great American Rail Trail. This is the nation's first cross country multi use trail stretching more than 3,700 miles from Washington DC to Washington state, and when completed in Indiana, this iconic trail will offer residents and tourists two fifteen miles of connected multi use trails. I will say that when approached Indiana said put as many miles of trails here in Indiana
as you can, and that, conservatively this trail system alone is estimated to generate 13,100,000 annually in spending just from visitors. It's currently about 55% complete. We know that you're working to develop a more constrained budget this cycle and as such investments of all types of infrastructure projects have been reduced. State agencies been asked to trim budgets by 5%. However funding for trails has been cut by 100%. Indiana will not only lose
its place as a leader, unfortunately it's gonna drop to dead last in the nation. So we encourage this committee to revisit this priority, restore the $30,000,000 of funding for trails minus the 5% trim. Trails are not only incredibly popular to your constituents, your transportation network, and the outdoor recreation economy. As you've learned, they are essential infrastructure where small investments have outsized returns. So we look forward to continuing this conversation with you or answering any questions. First name,
Path. I hadn't even raised my hand. I thought you did. I I apologize. I'm sorry. No. No. I I do wanna speak. Thank you very much, mister chairman. So you said about 55% is done in Indiana so far. That's correct. Could you explain, I know I looked at the map, it does not go through Terre Haute. So can you explain to the members of the committee that the kind of where it goes? It's pretty much northern part, correct? Yeah, that's right. So it's on the, the Great American Rail Trails connects,
other existing trail networks within the state of Indiana. So it goes from sort of the eastern side of the state at the northern, up close to Chicago. It's connecting the trajectory is Richmond, the Chicago, and it's the Cardinal Greenway, and then the Nickel Plate Trail. So those are kind of some of the key trails that may pop out for people. Okay. Thank you. I'm a huge supporter of trails. My husband and I ride our
tandem on them all the time. Wonderful. Yeah. And I think for folks who obviously, they're great for walking and biking. They also are facilitators for all types of outdoor recreation. What was your name, Jordan? Thank you, mister chairman. Given that you highlighted we have a limited budget this year, what are your thoughts about, using public health dollars for trails? Do you think that's a legitimate trade off for health for trails? I mean, just Yeah, I
think there's, they resonate across so many different public policy areas that they can certainly, you can view them through the transportation lens, you can look at them through the public health lens, you can look at them through the economic development development lens. So I think you can draw from and be creative in terms of what sources of funding you're looking to draw upon. Representative Delaney?
Could you give us some sense of the economic impact of the monon as I write it from Indianapolis to Carmel? It appears to me that it's driving up home values and filling up restaurants and so forth. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, we've seen trails are a really powerful economic, catalyst. So the National Home Builders Association, has documented in their study that trails are actually the first amenity that folks look for when they're
buying a home. And so we see the economic impact has been pretty profound both in terms of whether that's interest from, driving up home values or trail tourism, to just creating jobs through creation of, you know, the whole spectrum of development of trails. And a slightly tougher follow-up. I've taken the Cardinal Greenway from Richmond, up to Muncie. It's going to go all the way
to the Northwest corner of the state. But how do we increase the impact for this rural communities where it passes through? They don't have the kind of volume of traffic that we have on the Monon. But what can we do to benefit the locals there from those trails? Yeah. I mean, that's why, if you then we wants to Google trail trail towns, you'll see that that has really been, there is a model for developing economic
development within rural communities and trails particularly, I mean, if you're talking about a one mile trail segment, that's mean I could be the catalyst that you're looking for, but a longer connected trail network is really an opportunity for, trails somewhat similar to the national, sort of the, main street program. You can really build, programs and and tourism around that. And so there are a lot of, programs that we're working on within within the real estate trust, conservancy, both associated, with,
the working with your economic development corporation, and working across the national, level to to provide those resources to local communities. Yeah. I find it hard to get a milkshake or a beer between, Richmond and and Muncie's. I'm hoping we'll find ways to get some of those local communities Absolutely. And we know that, folks, when you're out, people want people want to buy. Right? They you wanna stop some place. You wanna get your milkshake or your beer. Representative Porter.
Thank you, mister chairman. Representative Jordan had asked the question, is the trails, you know, could be part of the health plan Yeah. That we have. And my my comment is, I I think it's not either or, it's a both and, because, you know, is you working on physical well-being as well as mental well-being, and the social determinants of health are
included in the hundred million plus dollars that we and this, I think, is currently in there. So Yeah. I just wanna say I I understand, but I I think we need both in a a good, even part of it. We wanna do it because that that that is what helps our our community, both from our sustainability and development of our community when it comes to health care and outdoor activities. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It can't be one or the other. Thank you for your testimony. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Next, we have Matt Craig. On deck, we have Sean Fulton and in the hole, Lower Holscher. Sir the floor is yours. So thank you Chairman Thompson, members of the committee for hearing the test only about House Bill ten-one. I'm Matt Craig and I appreciate the opportunity to testify in support of appropriation proposed in Representative Lindauer's
House Bill sixteen-fifteen. And advocate for the inclusion of 50,000,000 in the biennial state budget to fund Indiana military base infrastructure grant program. Sitting before you today, I'd like to make the case that this allocation, if granted, will serve as an investment, not an expense to the state of Indiana with ample opportunity for return on that investment. Indiana's military bases and the defense industry contribute 4 to 5,000,000,000 directly annually into
supporting the our economy. Over 29,000 department of defense personnel using standard economic multipliers condoned by the congressional budget office, this total impact reaches 12 to 16,000,000,000 when accounting for both direct and indirect economic impact. With an $8,600,000,000 in federal defense spending and a $1,500,000,000 payroll, this workforce will generate nearly $91,000,000 in state income taxes over the next two years. However, the aging infrastructure of our Indian
military bases threatens mission readiness and sustainability, ultimately creating threats to this essential piece of our state economy. Naval support activity crane, for example, experiences three to five electrical outages per week due to an outdated electrical grid, causing 1,600,000.0 in daily mission losses. The water system failures jeopardize fire suppression and overall operations. Without investments, these
missions, among others across the state, would only worsen, limiting growth and putting Indiana at risk in future mission assignments and base realignment and closure conversations. The proposed $50,000,000 program will first attract private and federal investments. Every dollar invested in the infrastructure enhances the attractiveness of Indiana's military installations, driving additional federal missions and private sector investments into the state. This program mirrors successful
models in other states, such as Texas and Florida, that have leveraged state funds to secure long term economic growth in the defense sector. Two, it will create high paying jobs. Infrastructure improvements will catalyze economic activity, creating high quality jobs in both the defense industry and supporting sectors. For example, the Westgate At Crane Technology Park has already generated over 900 jobs with an average salary
of $86,541. It will drive regional development. Targeted investments in military base infrastructure will bolster economic development in surrounding communities, creating ripple effects that benefit local businesses and residents. New defense contractors will be attracted to locate, near our current military bases. A great example of this is the proposed munitions campus under construction near NSA Crane. This funding aligns with Indiana's leadership position
in defense innovation and ensures our military installations remain competitive. I thank you for your support, and I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have. Representative Mayfield? Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you for your testimony. So yesterday, we spent a lengthy amount of time talking about Crane and its potential involvement in quantum computing corridor and the importance of that to the defense industry. And then, yet, I think I heard you say that with the water and electrical infrastructure, that that could still put Crane
on in danger of the next brack. Did I hear you correctly? You you heard me correctly. That so that there is the quantum quarter is a wonderful opportunity for the future, yet you still need the underlying infrastructure that supports the computing power that makes the quantum computers functional. Thank you. Representative Path? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I was looking at this handout and I see that seven other states are doing
this. So my question is, is Indiana, at a disadvantage in competing with these states for new opportunities because we don't have this program in place in light of security concerns for Indiana and BRAC? Yes, ma'am. So, certainly, we in Indiana have not been as competitive as other states in terms of new defense missions, and part of the reason is our lack of the infrastructure on our military bases. So it has certainly hurt us in the past.
Thank you for testifying. Next up we have Sean Fulton. On deck is Laura Holcher in the hall of doctor Boslett. Hello. Thank you for letting me speak. So I'm here today to talk to you about, MedWorks and, the marriage penalty. So first, the merit the the marriage penalty,
is kind of crazy to me because, people with disabilities are just like everybody else and want to be married and have a a way of life as everybody else, and so hopefully that, and I want to get married one of these days, but people with disabilities, if they get married or different abilities, get married, they are penalized. Either one of them loses their benefits
or both of them loses their benefits or taking way down that they can't live in. That shouldn't be how it is. And then MedWorks, I was the chair of the MedWorks work group, and so this one is very passionate for me because the asset limits has not been raised since 02/2002, I do believe, since it was, first introduced. And it
affects me because I work for even though I work for the ARC and I do all this, advocacy work for, the ARC and going to different provider agencies telling people with disabilities that they can work in the community. But the $2,000 asset limit scares them. And we've always been told if we work in the community, we'll lose our benefits. And so if you raise this
asset limits, it will help with people that will be able to save, I think it's 20,000 that we're looking at, I can't remember, without having to go and get a loan because some of us own our own houses, and we have to rely on other people to buy stuff for us. And that should not be how that is, or we have to put it in a trust, which is kind of ridiculous. If we have a
job and we're saving money, that should be what we should be doing. And I don't think anybody in here would like it if, anybody would tell them if they can only save $2,000 in their account when it shouldn't be that we are penalized for having a different ability, and hopefully you guys pass this stuff. So that way we can do like everybody else, and that's
all we want. We we just have different abilities. Thank you. Thank you. Representative Campbell. Thank you for sharing your testimony. Yes, I participated on the MedWorks Committee this summer and, I learned a lot about the differently abled community and with this $2,000 asset limit, for somebody like yourself, that if you needed to repair your roof,
I'd have to get a loan. You would have to get a loan even though if you were able to save that money, you wouldn't have to take out that loan, so it makes it more difficult for you to be able to even stay in your home and be less dependent on the public funding that you need to get from the state. So thank you for sharing your testimony.
Thanks. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Next up, we have Laura Holcher. On deck, Doctor. Boslett and the whole Jim Tid. Welcome. Thank you. Chairman Thompson and members of the committee, I'm Hannah Carlock with RJL Solutions and
also the interim CEO of the Indiana Association of Area Agencies on Aging. And today, I have one of our members, Laura Hoelscher, who is the executive director down the Vincennes area, and I'm gonna kick it over to her. Mister chairman and members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to testify. I'm here today to ask that you retain the choice budget at $48,000,000 and eliminate the transfer of choice dollars to Medicaid. As you know, choice is administered through the Indiana Area
Agencies on Aging and provides home and community based services to older adults and individuals with disabilities to assist them in maintaining independence in their homes. Choice is Indiana's closest initiative to a Medicaid diversion program and has shown to prevent or slow the progression to clinical and financial Medicaid eligibility. Choice funding serves a critical unmet need to provide in home services to those who are not yet eligible for Medicaid and to another group of participants with disabilities who are under the age of 60 and
do not qualify for Older Americans Act funding. Choice funds can be used short term and as a means of prevention to divert clients from long term Medicaid eligibility and nursing facility placement. For example, Pam is a 59 year old living alone who was admitted to the hospital and the nursing home due to a broken hip. Pam improved with rehab but was not able to return home because the entrance to her house and her bathroom were not accessible. The case manager worked with a contact tractor group to make the appropriate modification in Pam's bathroom and to the outside of
her home at only minimal one time choice expense. With the upfront assistance of a case manager helping to connect Pam to the appropriate resources and the one time expenses to modify Pam's home, she was able to return home safely and it prevented long term placement in a nursing facility. We are an aging nation. By 02/1930, and that's only five years away, one in five people living in Indiana will be 65. We know that seventy five percent of
individuals want to remain in their homes as they age. If we can eliminate or prolong someone's entrance into a nursing home, we can not only improve their quality of life, but we can save money doing it. Choice requires those that are financially able to contribute to the cost of their own care. Individuals at higher levels of income or who have assets are required to pay for a portion of their services, which gives folks a sense of ownership and accountability and delays the progression to Medicaid.
According to the most recent Choice Report presented by FSSA, the average cost per day for Choice Services was $189 lower than the average cost to support someone in an institution. $40 a day for Choice versus $229 a day for nursing facility placement. The state's share of that savings is $65 a day. Annualized that is a savings of over $25,000 per enrollee. For waiver the comparison is $40 a
day for Choice to $148 per waiver for a savings of $108 with the state's share of savings being $37 per day. Annualized savings is over $15,000 per enrollee. Choice funding serves a critical unmet need to provide in home services to those that are not yet eligible for Medicaid and whose needs could be met at home with minimal support instead of a nursing home. Choice funds can be used short term and as a means of prevention to divert individuals from long term
Medicaid eligibility and nursing facility placement. Please fully fund Choice. Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you. Questions? Ruth Ann Porter. Thank you. You took forty five seconds in my comments. Oh, I'm so sorry. Because I only get thirty seconds. But sincerely, what is your, waiting what's your verifiable waiting list for choice? Mhmm. Yes. We think around
'22 around 2200, I think. You're you're 2200? Yes. And we've had our Choice dollars have been in the budget, been 48,000,000 for how many years ago? Since, it's been since the the last budget, we got an increase. However, 12 and a half million of that gets diverted to the Medicaid waiver. Can you say that again? So 12 and a half million comes right off the top and goes to the Medicaid waiver. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes. Thank you. Other questions? Thank you
for being here. Appreciate that. Next up, we have Doctor. Boslett. On deck, Jim Tidd, and the whole Chris Switzer. Welcome, the floor is yours. Thank you. Chairman Thompson, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Doctor. Sarah Boslett. I'm a pediatrician, right here in Central Indiana and a
past president as well as a current board member for the Indiana chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. I'm here to ask you to fund the CARE program. This is a unique care navigation program that connects Hoosier families to pediatric mental health care across the state. As you all know, mental health needs have skyrocketed in the last fifteen years. Finding therapists for children is especially difficult. Year after year, Indiana pediatricians identify mental health
as their number one concern. This is why Indiana AAP developed the CARE program. The program launched in January of twenty twenty three with COVID-nineteen relief funding and one care navigator. Since then it has expanded to four full time navigators serving every region of the state and has so far helped families in 62 of our counties. Demand continues to grow as families and providers learn about us.
Let me tell you how the care program works. An example would be a very common day where I have a teenager on my schedule, a middle schooler, who comes in with her family for, or her mother for a checkup. And I walk in the room and they're immediately arguing. Every question I ask, they're arguing about. And I learn that the parents have gone through a really contentious divorce. I look at the teenager's mental health screening and there are all kinds of red flags. It's clear
that she's struggling. In the old days before the care program, what would often happen is I would hand them this packet of outdated resources knowing that they were gonna come across all sorts of barriers. Time and energy, figuring out where the therapists are that actually see children, do they take my insurance, are they available when I need them? So many barriers existed and it was very frustrating for both me and the family. But now that the care program exists, it's actually
very different. Once we identify a need for therapy, I'm able to get on the computer, go to the care program website, enter just a few pieces of information and then I let the family know that somebody, an actual human being, is going to reach out to them and help figure this out. So they connect the family with the services that are in their area that meet their needs. I want to highlight three reasons why the care program matters. The first is that
it serves all demographics, rural, urban, uninsured, Medicaid insured, private insured. In fact, 50% of our referrals are from families with private insurance. Doctors for their own children, state employees, insurance professionals, many people who struggle to navigate this system. The second reason that this program matters is that it supports our clinicians. We have a shortage of primary care doctors. This program helps families get help
they need without overburdening the physician. And the third is it empowers the families. It's system agnostic. It doesn't matter where you're at, who your doctor, what system they're in, what insurance you have, where you live. This program serves everybody. And that's very unique and really critical to keeping children out of the ER when they have mental health needs. Thank you. You're welcome. And Johnny? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Very interesting. I thank you
for your advocacy. Can you elaborate a little bit more on data, specifically with the shortage of workforce that we have in the pediatric mental health? Yes. So, there is definitely a discrepancy between the number of providers that we need to see children who have mental health needs and the numbers available. That is two different things. It's both the psychiatrists who manage medication, but also the therapists. And the majority This program focuses
on the therapy. Therapy is critical because it helps us decrease the likelihood of need for medication, although medication can be incredibly helpful and important, but therapy is a really key piece to helping families work through a lot of these struggles. Follow-up, yes. Thank you. Can you also elaborate on the data that shows the percentage that has grown since COVID? Numbers show that we have seen an
increase from the ages of five to 17 receiving mental health treatment. Can you help us out with some of that data as well, please? Yes. I couldn't tell you the exact data. I can tell you anecdotally. Absolutely. There was a huge increase both in the need for mental health resources and the willingness of families to ask for it. We also uniquely have an increase in need for small children, young children, ages one to six. A third of our referrals last year
in the second quarter were for children in that age group. And so there's really no other program that helps connect families like this one does. Thank you. I have house bill 13 o nine, pediatric mental health, and it was brought to me last year by the experts and how desperately we need funding, to continue to ensure that we are addressing those issues with our young children and adolescents. So thank you for your advocacy. House Bill
thirteen oh nine, pediatric mental health is something that I have authored that will give a tool to continue seeing these programs succeed and also the pediatric care when it comes to mental health. So thank you. Wonderful. Rubenia Klinker? Thank you, mister chairman. What dollar amount, doctor, are you asking for? And Yes. We're asking for $300,000 the vast majority of that funds the just the salaries of the navigators that we hire. What about the services that you're giving? Don't you need some more dollars
for the services that you're providing? Right. So the the program helps connect the family with the services. So in other words, if this family wanted a Christian therapist that takes their insurance that's available on Thursday nights, our program helps figure out who those options are and then gives the families choices to call and set up an appointment. That's great. And who pays for that then? Once the the parents get the services, who pays? Yes. So it depends on both what
the parent prefers and what they have. So it might be cash pay. It might be, their insurance. It depends on what they have and that's what our program helps them figure out. Is does your insurance even cover mental health care? And if so, how much and does it meet the needs of what you have? What amount are you asking for? Dollars 300,000 a year. I can do it? Yes. For this for this navigation at at where we're at, that would help us maintain those four navigators.
Mhmm. Thank you. Representative Campbell. Thank you, Speaker. Are you working at all with the 988 number? Are they able to also navigate to find providers? So that's a great question. It's different. The 9888 number is for crisis. We are not a crisis line, although we do help keep people out of crisis mode. In addition, our program actually connects
back to the provider. So I get information back that did my family get connected with a therapist, did they go, what are the resources, the 988 number does not provide that that loop around. I can imagine that, you know, maybe parents are, searching for answers that that may utilize the 988 number. You know, that it's also, you know, a number to call to
find out where services are. Mhmm. I've worked locally with with mental health groups where we're we're trying to figure out all the the moving pieces with this. So it seems like something that that would be beneficial. Yes. Both are important, right? You need your crisis access and then you need today, I just need to find a therapist. Help me to do that. Thank you for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you. Next up we have Jim Tidd,
on deck Chris Schwitzer and the whole Sarah Boslett. Welcome Sarah, the floor is yours. Thank you sir. Chairman Thompson and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this afternoon. I am Jim Tidd, I'm the executive director of the Miami County Economic Development Authority which is home to the four hundred and thirty fourth, Air Refueling Wing which is the largest
refueling wing in Air Force Reserve Command. I also have the pleasure of serving as chair of the Indiana Defense Task Force. Task force that was created, by the legislature back in 2019 and consists of members from all of the state and federal military installations, around the state, our great state. The bill now, Indiana code
four-three 21.5 outlines certain duties of the task force. The first such duty states that the task force shall identify the public infrastructure and other community support necessary to improve mission effectiveness and for the development and expansion of military bases in Indiana. Just as my colleague Matt Craig testified before me, a lot of other states are actively investing,
in their infrastructure and bases, and we need to stay competitive. Unfortunately the enacted legislation in 2019 did not include any source of funding, for the task force to carry out its duties and responsibilities. Subsequently we're asking the committee to amend House Bill 1,001 to include a 50,000,000 line item to support an infrastructure grant
program for use by the task force as proposed in Representative Lindauer's House Bill sixteen fifteen. By doing so this funding will be a great start for the defense task force to carry out its duties and responsibilities under the Indiana code, to the benefit and growth of our military installations across the state. Subsequently, I ask your support of an appropriation of 50,000,000, to the proposed Indiana military base
infrastructure grant program by this committee. This investment will align Indiana with several other states who are also invested in their military bases, allowing ours to be more competitive and vying for new opportunities within the Department of Defense. Not only will this allow our bases to better contribute to our overall national security and defense, it also presents vast opportunities for economic development, job creation, and an overall positive
impact on our state economy. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions the committee might have, and I thank you for your time. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you sir for being here. Thank you. Next up we have Chris Fletcher on deck Kepri Hazel and the whole Emily Bryant. Thank you, mister chairman. Notably, I am
not Chris Weitzer. I am Ryan Ritchie with RGL Solutions. Chris had a personal emergency arise this morning, so he asked that I, share his testimony. And I do that. Happy to answer any questions. Chairman Thompson and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Chris Weitzer, and I serve as a county commissioner in Vigo County. Today, I am not only testifying on behalf of Vigo County, however, I am also testifying on behalf of the West Central Indiana Defense Network, an organization dedicated to creating and advancing opportunities in defense development for West Central Indiana. As a West
Central Defense Network representative, I speak today on behalf of Vigo County, the city of Terre Haute, the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce, the Terre Haute Regional Airport, and several other leaders in West Central Indiana committed to advancing the role that defense plays in our local and state economy. As a county commissioner, I have seen firsthand the significant economic impacts of the one hundred and eighty first intelligence swing on Terre Haute and the surrounding region. This space is more than just a military installation. It's a critical economic driver that supports hundreds of high-tech, high paying jobs and
strengthens our local economy. That's why I strongly support the $50,000,000 appropriation proposed in representative Lindauer's house bill sixteen fifteen for the Indiana military base infrastructure grant program and house bill 10 o one. The allocation of these funds are an investment in Indiana's future, not an expense, with a great potential for high returns from new economic opportunities created as a result. The one hundred and eighty first Intelligence Wing plays a vital role in national security, employing 500 personnel with top secret clearances
and working in cutting edge fields like cybersecurity, intelligence analysis, and geospatial technologies. These are exactly the kinds of jobs we need more of in Indiana, high scale, high wage positions that keep our best and brightest in the state. Particularly in West Central Indiana, higher education institutions like Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana State University, Saint Mary of the Woods College, and Ivy Tech each cultivate skilled workers to take on these types of jobs, but we struggle retaining them in our region due to lack of opportunities in these fields. For us to attract new defense missions, private investments, and new federal contracts that
create more of these opportunities, we must ensure the one hundred and eighty first Intelligence Wing has modern, reliable infrastructure capable of meeting the needs of current military strategies. Right now, aging infrastructure threatens to hold us back. Specific to the one hundred and eighty first intelligence wing, a lack of water and electrical redundancies serves as a barrier to growing their mission capabilities and therefore their contributions to the local and state economy. Through extensive conversations with leadership at the one hundred and eighty first, I know they have interest in bolstering partnerships with the DOD to further contribute to our national security and bring
additional jobs to our community. However, without financial support aside from DOD's investments, which are which other states currently provide to their bases, these opportunities continue to be out of reach. These are not specific to West Central Indiana but exist across all Indiana military bases and without action, we could lose out on this kind of economic opportunity that has transformed other states with similar military assets. I urge you to support this investment of $50,000,000 to the Indiana military base infrastructure grant program. It's not just about maintaining our current assets, it's about
growing Indiana's future. Thank you for your time, happy to answer any questions. Representative duty? Yep. Thank you, mister chairman. Just wanna clarify, when you talk about the 180, that is the air, Indiana Air National Guard Yes. Facility. Yep. Representative Porter. Thank you, mister chairman. Third time I've heard $50,000,000, today. Is are there any federal dollars that are attached to this? You get federal dollars for the hundred and 80 first? We would hope that with an additional investment, like some of these other states have done, they have been able to
grow their federal mission sets. So when the DOD looks at the national array of places they could potentially assign a new mission opportunity, which would bring new jobs, new economic incentives, We would hope that there would be an additional investment in buying from the federal government. Typically, I know we talked about this, just before coming here today. For Grissom, I think they've recently experienced about a 10% to 20% return on their investment with the federal dollars that come, with those investments. So so you're looking for 50,000,000 from the state and
you For a grant program. For a grant program, we're betting on a comp from federal government. Yes. We would hope that that would allow these, entities to essentially apply for be more competitive, in getting some of these additional mission sets that these other states have Okay. Thank you. Getting. Yep. Representative Lopez. Could you very quickly thank you, mister chairman. Could you very quickly just hit that point again? You know, at some point, we're we're gonna face brack. Yep. It's about partly that, but also how we double down. Right?
Correct. So, obviously, base realignment and closure, those conversations continue to heat up, on the the national level, and we wanna make sure that Indiana assets are are protected in those conversations. Representative Delaney? Yeah, I'd like to follow-up on Representative Porter's question. I'm a little confused here. Are these facilities owned by the federal government or owned by the state? Who owns them? Owned by the federal government. Okay. And what is the maintenance obligation or
upgrade obligation of the state on these federally owned properties? Right now, there's really not one. It's up to the DOD. Understanding that the DOD has a number of, you know, important concerns that they have to look at and and make tough financial decisions on. That's why these other states have started investing in their infrastructure to make sure that when those base realignment and closure conversations happen or when there's new opportunities that exist out there, they can position their bases in the best position possible to either not be closed or to, in fact, bring
more jobs, more opportunities to the state. Well, do we ask the feds first? For example, I've heard that electricity is interrupted at, Crane, I guess it was. The I mean, they are well aware. They're well aware. Well, isn't the federal government gonna fix that? I think, they would like to, but, obviously, they have funding constraints just like you all, and so they have to make tough decisions every day. I I believe it's probably on a list. It's just not one that they can fix right away. So the fear is that because the
feds don't maintain the feds own facility, that when it comes time to have a base reduction, they might close the base in Indiana because they didn't maintain it. They will look, likely. I mean, the the way this historically has happened is they look to see what bases they have, what the infrastructure looks like based on the age, and then where it makes the most sense to have those those conversations. So, yes, we wanna make sure that ours are not, at the lower end of that list. I think we need to talk to some of our federal friends, but thank you for making these conversations.
Certainly have happened, but yes, agree. Representative Cootie? Just want to clarify. These are not all federal facilities. As you look at the Fort Wayne Airport Authority owning the land up there with the one hundred and twenty second, but also looking into the future of the base realignment that they're looking at up there to maintain the next fifth generation warfighting plan. Correct. Yes. Not all not all of them are federal. To be clear, I'm all for these bases. Back when I was flying
when I was flying a plane, I landed at that one in airport scared those people. But it it seems it seems to me that our first step has to be to ask our Washington friends to to do their job, rather than this sort of following along behind them. It concerns me, and I hope we could talk to our federal delegation to make sure that that these assets are maintained. And, yeah, I would like to have these bases grow. Sure. Especially the naval facility at Crane. If I can make one comment on that question too.
I totally hear you. We and we've had those conversations. Part of the the problem that is presented is Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Texas are all already doing this. And so it's hard to compete against them when they've already made that commitment. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Next up, we have Capri Hazel. On deck, Emily Bryant. In the hole, Casey Chase.
Welcome. The floor is yours. Thank you. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Khepri Hazel, and I serve as the executive director of Greenways Foundation, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to advancing trails here in Indiana. I'm here today to strongly advocate for continued investment in the next level trails program through House Bill ten zero one. Trails are among the most impactful infrastructure investments our state can make. They're proven
economic engines, catalysts for job creation, and foundational to Indiana's booming $15,700,000,000 outdoor recreation industry. Communities across Indiana, from our largest cities to our smallest towns, are seeing firsthand the transformative power of trails. They attract visitors, support local businesses, and increase property values. Every dollar we invest in trails returns far more in economic benefits, strengthening our workforce and economy. Beyond
economic impact, trails are a cornerstone of public health. Studies show that for every $1 you invest in trails, we see a $3 savings in health care costs by reducing rates of disease, obesity, and mental health challenges. Trails provide free accessible space for exercise, stress relief, and community connection, essential factors in improving the well-being of Hoosiers. Moreover, trails serve as critical corridors for conservation and alternative transportation. They protect green spaces, preserve
wildlife habitats, and improve air and water quality. They also provide safe, non motorized transportation routes, reducing congestion and giving Hoosiers more options to commute, recreate, and connect with their communities. Next level trails has been a game changer for Indiana, helping communities bring long planned projects to life. Yet the demand far exceeds the available funding. Without continued investment, we risk we risk stalling momentum and leaving countless shovel ready projects unfunded. I urge you to prioritize funding for
the next level trails in House Bill ten zero one. This is not just an investment in trails. It's an investment in Indiana's economy, health, and future. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Next up, we have Emily Bryant. On deck, Casey Chase. And in the hall, we have Denny Costesran. Costesran, welcome.
Thank you, mister chairman, members of the committee, for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Emily Bryant. I'm the executive director of Feeding Indiana's Hungry, which is the state association of the 11 Feeding America affiliate food banks that collectively serve all 92 Indiana counties. In calendar year 2024, our members distributed, and this is breaking news, just under 140,000,000 pounds of food that was donated and purchased food as well as USDA commodities. And this is up about 8,000,000 pounds from
last year. Our member food banks continue to serve record numbers of Hoosiers through direct service programs and roughly 1,400 local charities who receive food for distribution through our network. Despite budgeting and saving to put food on the table, many of our neighbors need extra support to access food and essential resources. We released a first in a decade hunger study last month surveying neighbor households served by our network, which will be in your inbox by the end of the day if you've not already seen it. Of our neighbors facing hunger, more than half of them are working
and the majority of those who were not were disabled or ill and another third were retired. They're making a difficult choice daily. Seventy percent are skipping meals because they don't have enough food. They tell us that the cost of living, housing, health, and other factors make it difficult to afford and access nutritious food. To help fill in the food gap, Hoosiers turn to organizations within the charitable food system like food banks and pantries as they work hard to
provide for themselves and their families. They also tell us that about seventy six percent of them expect to need help from food banks and pantries just as much, if not more, this year than they did last year. As I mentioned, our food banks received donated food from retailers and manufacturers as well as hold contracts to distribute food from the USDA. In 2024, our members purchased nearly a quarter of the pounds that were distributed through our network to keep up with the demand and
and to serve the more than 950,000 Hoosiers who are at risk of hunger. A significant portion of whom have incomes too high for federal nutrition programs and rely only on the charitable sector to help them put food on the table. We're grateful at this time to be included in governor Braun's budget at the flat $2,000,000 per year appropriation for each year of the biennium. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for being here. Thank you. Next up, we have Casey Chase. On deck, Danny
Kesterason. And in the hole, Tim Black. Welcome. Thank you. My name is Casey Chase and I'm with Lifespring Health Systems. And I have, major Josh Lynch with me today. LifeSpring is a community mental
health center that serves approximately 18,000 patients a year in 11 counties in Southern Indiana. And I wanna thank the members of the ways and means for your support of the funding that you did last budget session with s b one that started the community mental health fund. With these dollars, we at Lifespring, were able to build out crisis services, including project care, which Major Lynch is gonna talk with you about, as well as a 247 and mobile crisis team that can assist
law enforcement on scene when they come into contact with someone in crisis. In 2024, Lifespring's crisis call center received more than 1,200 calls and the mobile crisis team was sent out more than a 75 times. Lifespring also operates a crisis stabilization unit where those in crisis can stay for up to twenty four hours and be connected to mental health treatment. We've had two forty admissions since we started in July of twenty twenty three. Over the
past eighteen months, around seventy percent of those admissions were connected to treatment in a residential setting. The rest of them were connected to either homeless shelters, missions, or other resources. Having a dedicated space to bring people in crisis often prevents arrests and reduces the need for incarceration. Our system is built so that anytime we're able to help those officers make a decision on a scene and get someone connected to care, it's a win not just for the patient, but for the community. It puts treatment in front of
a person when they need treatment. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year. So that there is always someone to talk to, someone to respond, and somewhere to go. The total projected annual cost savings to Indiana is a hundred and 25,000,000, including 45,000,000 related to jail diversions. Please support our ask of an additional 53,100,000.0 in our community mental health fund each
year to continue to support these much needed services. Additionally, we're also asking for a group home line item for individuals with serious mental illness. In Southern Indiana, Lifespring has 60 total beds between seven different group homes, which run at almost 100% capacity. The program is designed to provide chronically mentally ill adults a therapeutic environment in a home like setting. The group home program helps to create
an environment where each individual feels dignity, self direction, and feelings of personal worth while focusing on basic life skills. We are asking that you please support this ask of twenty one million each year so that we can have sustainable funding for operational costs and the beds can remain open for those patients that we serve. Thank you again for your commitment to mental health and substance use disorder.
Good afternoon. My name is Major Joshua Lynch, and I'm with the Jeffersonville Police Department. Project CARES, like Casey had mentioned, it's a program that we work with LifeSprings on, and it was implemented in August of twenty twenty two as a time in our community where we extreme experience extremely high drug addiction and drug overdose incidents. I'm happy to say that since the, implement implementation of project care, our staff has been able to make
contact with seven hundred fifty seven people suffering from substance abuse and addiction, and the personnel with project care has an eighty five percent success rate in getting those individuals connected to vital care and services, to help them with their addiction. Just in the last year, we've made contact with three hundred and twenty five people in Jeffersonville alone and with a ninety two percent success rate in that time frame.
Since the beginning of this program in 2022, we've seen significant reductions in calls for service involving overdoses, drug overdoses. To be exact, sixty six percent reduction in case reports, generated for overdose calls, which is significant since 2022. There are other areas where this program I believe does have an impact as well as we help people that
are suffering from drug addiction. Reported burglaries has gone down significantly. During the year prior to the program and until 2024, we've experienced a 45% reduction in reported burglaries in our area in Jeffersonville. Criminal mischief reports are down 37.5% since the program has been implemented. So in summary, since the implementation of
project care in Jeffersonville, there's been a profound impact on not only the number of calls for service from drug overdoses, but reported property crimes in and around Jeffersonville. And this represents a substantial positive impact to those suffering from addiction as well as our community and families as a whole. Thank you. Thank you. Questions from the committee? Representative Thank you, mister chairman. Are you finding that once you work
with these folks that they are working, so they are able to sustain themselves because they've gone through your programs? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Mhmm. Helpful saving your whole area money. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Next up we have Denny Kosterison on deck Tim Black in the whole Terry Spradlin.
Welcome. Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Danny Kosterason with the Association of School Business Officials. I'm also testifying for the Superintendents Association today. For the new members on the committee, I just want to let you know that Indiana AASBO is a statewide organization, that has 1,400 members. It's the chief financial officers, business managers, corporation treasures,
HR folks, transportation food service, anything that deals with fiscal side of Indiana's public schools. And so we've been doing this for a long time. Today, Mr. Chairman, I'm going to be very brief because I'm thinking I'll be back to talk about maybe another House Bill 1,001 soon. But, I've had the great opportunity to testify on the state budget since 1981. And regarding this next budget we've got coming up, I knew when I
saw in the Medicaid, issue that came up in April, knowing the December revenue forecast, that this is going to be a very challenging year for all of us as we move forward. So we're very much aware of that. Just want to add and I don't want to elaborate on this, but again, you add in the challenge of how we're gonna be dealing with proper tax relief, which does have also an impact on school corporations, especially in your operation funds. Well, but again, that issue is for another day. Again, today I'm gonna be
brief on this that as I testified over the years dealing with the state budget, my focus is on the school distribution formula. Again, this is the formula that again drives the dollars to public schools. This is where money follows the child. And so with that, this is the important part of the budget, the biggest part from the standpoint of schools is how they get their money. But it is interesting that when you take a look at the budget that we have in front of us, that universal vouchers
is in that bill. We knew that was going to be happening. But it is interesting that when you look at the LSA fiscal impact statement, that the elimination of the income eligibility for the Choice Scholarship Program would be an increase in state expenditures of 88,600,000.0 in fiscal year twenty six and 94,600,000.0 in fiscal year twenty seven. I think it's important to note that I think you all know this, that Choice Scholarship is a part of tuition support. So when the number of 2% has been said for each year, which we appreciate
it's for each year, that's been discussed a lot, in reality that is a much lower number for public schools, the K-twelve schools. It should probably be more closer to 1.3%. Again, that is this budget and we understand that. But I think it's important that we move forward with this and knowing that that's the case and not say that it's really a 2% unless you, oh, ready, okay, I'll wrap up real quick. I know we haven't seen
anything about the school formula, how it impacts all the issues in the formula. We will deal with that on another day. There are things in the budget that, in this budget that we support but I don't have time to say. So I'll have another, I'll Thank you. Representative Clinker? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dennis, thank you for everything that you've done for schools, superintendents, business managers, everyone. We appreciate how hard you've worked through the years, and we're hoping that we
can do something fair this year, and appropriate the amount of dollars that you feel are are needed, to really exist and treat people correctly in the public school arena. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Clinker. And we have confidence in this in in the process. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Next up, we have Tim Black. On deck, Terrace Bradlin. In the hole, Katrina
Hall. Welcome, sir. Floor is yours. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and the members of the Ways and Means Committee. I'm Tim Black, President and CEO of WNIN Television and Radio in Evansville. I'm here today representing not only my station but the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations, seventeen locally controlled and operated stations around the state of Indiana. Thanks for the opportunity to chat with you. First
of all, we're incredibly grateful to Governor Braun for including us in his proposed budget for the upcoming biennium. We also recognize that the state budget is tight and that any additional funding is going to depend on the information that you receive I think coming up in April and another revenue forecast. But if the financial outlook allows, we are asking you to consider an appropriation of $1 per Hoosier to fund the Indiana Public Broadcasting stations, which is about $7,000,000
Why? Educational impact. First of all, we take very seriously our role as the state's largest pre k classroom. We're a trusted partner of the Indiana Department of Education providing early learning resources that help children across the state build critical literacy, math and science skills. Local storytelling, probably one of the most important aspects of what we do. State funding helps us to produce content that reflects Indiana's communities.
Stories that quite honestly just wouldn't otherwise be told or be available. A recent WNIN documentary is an example, a monumental honor celebrating the honor flight of Southern Indiana. It was an hour long documentary that tells the story of the biannual journey by veterans in my region to travel to Washington DC. Some other local content that is very specific to this chamber, both Governor Braun and Lieutenant Governor Beckwith
have appeared on various programs across our statewide network very recently. Every one of our 17 stations carried the state of the state address and the state of the judiciary, programming that you simply are not going to find on most of the commercial broadcast stations or newspapers in the state of Indiana. And state house conversations. In fact, at last count, and I may be a little bit off, but I think about 10 of you in this room participated in those conversations that have been made available across all of our websites in the state of Indiana. That's another key point
about our local programming. Everything we produce at our local level, at our individual stations, is available across the state to all 17 stations. Public safety, we play a very critical role in Indiana's weather warnings and emergency alert systems. We do have the ability to data cast, which allows us to bolster local school security measures in partnership with local law enforcement if that's necessary. It's an investment that has measurable
returns and we will appreciate your consideration. For every $1 the state has historically invested, we've been able to recoup $11 through private donations, corporate underwriting, sponsorships and grants. It is not just a handout, we use the money. So we thank you very much. We appreciate the ongoing partnership and we certainly ask you to definitely consider $1 per Hoosier, dollars seven million to continue funding these
programs at the Indiana public broadcasting stations. Thank you very much. Questions if you have them. Not a question, just I'd like to thank you because WBAA and WFYI, many of us went to Purdue, participated in WBAA, and, it just, as you mentioned, it includes, areas that other stations do not include, and personal, information about the state and what's
going on at the state house. So I just wanna thank you for that because I listened to that all the way home. And, to Lafayette and backyard Indianapolis. And I appreciate w WBAWFYI and NPR wherever we are throughout the state. Thank you. Well, I appreciate the recognition. Thank you. Thank you for being here sir. Next up we have Terry Stradlin, on deck Katrina Hall and the whole Kelly Streeter.
Thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the committee Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association. Let me start with a word of gratitude. Thank you. ISBA has appreciated the priority investment in K-twelve public education in the state budget over the last four years. When examining the areas that consume the largest portion of state budget as you all know K-twelve education is number one at 47%. This number decreases when we remove the
teacher retirement fund obligation down to 42%. And when we remove the obligation to the choice scholarship voucher program, we stand at 39%. The annual appropriation of more than 9,000,000,000 for K-twelve education supports teaching and learning opportunities for more than 1,000,000 Hoosier children, and about 5,000,000,000 of this amount pays for salaries and benefits of our 63,000 teachers in our classrooms. The return on the investment is
strong as illustrated by several positive indicators. Most recently, Indiana's public high school graduation rates were announced at an all time high at 92.5. Doctor. Jenner Price shared with you in her presentation that Indiana students lead the nation in early earning college credit while in high school with sixty four percent of students earning college credits averaging thirteen point five hours. Other policy changes are helping drive improvements in reading proficiency, student attendance, and expanding work based learning opportunities for all, high school students
in our classrooms. You know, as Governor Braun spotlighted in his State of the State address, and I had the pleasure of being his guest in the gallery, Indiana consistently performs well on national rankings on the National Assessment for Educational Progress. Many of you stood in applause for the announcement spotlight of our fourth graders moving up from nineteenth in the nation to now sixth in the nation on fourth grade reading. We're also ranking sixth in eighth grade reading across the nation.
And in math, our fourth graders rank ninth in the nation. And in eighth grade math, we rank thirteenth in the nation. While these are positive indicators, we have more work to do, especially to encourage more students to pursue higher education. That number is not where it needs to be at about 53% of high school graduates pursuing post secondary education. Continued investment in K-twelve public education is essential. We support ISPO's request for
tuition support at or above inflation, which is hovering around 2.5% for the nine out of 10 kids who are in public school classrooms with the tuition support formula, ensuring that we earmark a number at 2.5% for those students. In addition, we have four funding priorities. We wanna increase On My Way pre k, eligibility so more families qualify. We wanna increase English language learner funding. That student population is greatly increasing in our classrooms. We wanna increase summer school funding now
that we're doing more for science of reading for grade two and three students that you're mandating. And then finally, we wanna increase the Indiana Secured School Safety Grant. The grant request to protect kids in our classroom is lagging behind. I mean, the requests are actually the appropriation. The requests were $33,000,000 this last time. The appropriation is $25,000,000 So those are our priorities, and thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to be here today. Thank you. Representative Smalls. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you, Mr. Fredlund. Why would you, in your initial statements, why
did you, excise out teachers' retirement from part of the cost of education? Yeah. It is an education expenditure, absolutely, Representative Smalls. But when we talk about what's going to the classroom, oftentimes, we have a target that you've set that 65 well, right now, 62% of expenditures have to go to our operational expenses in the classroom today. Retired teachers not in that classroom today, as the teachers that we're paying with salary and benefits that have to reach that target are
current teachers, and then all other expenses to provide that instruction day to day. So those teachers were fantastic when they served, and we're so thankful for the services, retired teachers. But when we're talking about driving dollars to the classroom, which is a real point of emphasis from you as policymakers, and we agree as what's happening in the classroom daily. That's why I hone in on that exact number. I didn't I didn't hear you say that that was about driving dollars to the classroom. I heard you say that was about education expenses, but you've now qualified that with it
is part of an education expenses It sure is. Retirement. And you you also excised out, charter? That choice vouchers. Why would you do that? Well, when we look I represent the 290 school districts in Indiana, the 1,000,000 students that we educate. So I'm articulating our needs for the children that we educate in our classrooms daily. I'm just articulating that of the budget, 39% of the budget are for those children. Sure. And that's Choice vouchers do educate children in the state. Absolutely. I think that's
a fair statement too. And I so that's 3% of the budget. And so as I talk about how we deliver educational services for the kids that we have the ability to influence in our classrooms, that's the percentage that I want to focus on. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that. Sure. Representative Delaney. This is Bradland just shared with us. I've lived on this committee for years
telling everybody 50% of our money went to public education. Then I had a study done by LSA last fall and and, Mr. Spradlin has it about right. If you're talking about what goes to the school corporations for which we have statutory responsibility in which we fund, it's down in the high thirties, 3839%. There is money for pensions for retired teachers hopefully that's going to go away in a few years because we're funding those things and that's valuable and we have the choice scholarships I just think the public
needs to understand we don't control the money that goes through the choice program and we don't bear responsibility for that we but we need not mislead the public into thinking we're spending 50% of the public dollars on the publicly run system we're not I just think that's why this is brought up and I think it's clear, what's happened in part which is life in Medicaid has sort of gotten us below the 50% that's a fact the teachers'
pensions that we are now finally catching up on the funding, that's gotten us below. So we just need to look at the numbers so that we're not talking, you know, as if we're putting 50% of our money into our school corporations because we're simply not. And I think it's important that we recognize the distinction. I have come to make peace with the choice program. There it is, Okay? And that is education funding. But it's not that we we don't have a budget for them. We don't tell them what to pay their teachers. We don't we
don't control them. We fund them. It's quite a different thing, and I think we need to make that distinction. They benefit from the fact that I've got kids, all kinds of kids in Catholic schools. They don't have that big thick book of regulations that the state sends out, whereas mister Spradlin's people, they have to put up with all that stuff, and they have to come in here and beg us for money. So just to clarify. Representative Delaney, just an interesting point. As you know, I think 90% of the students
go to public schools as about 91, 90 two percent of the total dollars that go to go to education. And we both know that, so Yeah. I think we're keeping an eye on the right thing and making these distinctions. I noticed, for example, that that there doesn't seem to be much growth in the charter area. That seems to be stagnant, okay? There has been some growth in the voucher area. I don't think, in terms of enrollment, I don't think that going to this 100% funding in the vouchers will do much about the enrollment
in those schools. It will do something about the the source of payment, not not the enrollment. I think they're that's not gonna change much. But, yeah, I'm I'm watching the 90%. Those are the ones I'm legally bound to take care of. I have no choice. The constitution says that I'm to take care of those people, and I'm gonna focus on them. Ruben Klinker. Thank you, mister chairman. Terry, you've been working at this for many years. With the scores increasing with our students, they're we're
doing better nationwide, in certain areas. Why are we, do you think, dropping to about 53% from 70% in our kids going on to higher education? Sure. Do you see as the reason? Is it dollars and cents? Is it, aptitude? Is it a a willing to go into the workforce? Mhmm. What do you see as, perpetuating this situation of our kids
not wanting to go on to college, which they always did before? What is it? Great question, representative Klinker. You know, prior to the pandemic, the the going rate of of our high school graduates on to post secondary for a two or four year degree was approximately sixty three percent. Our goal has been seventy percent. Our big goal, set out by prior administrations and the commission for prior education. But when the pandemic happened, that number dropped significantly. We have not rebounded, from that
admissions number, college going rate numbers since the pandemic. We're back going in the right direction with increases the last year or two, something to celebrate, but we're really lagging behind. Part of it, though, is our shift too on policy priority as we move from a shift from, you know, focus on college readiness and college enrollment to work based learning apprenticeship, modern youth apprenticeships, internships, those excellent opportunities. But really, we've always said that that opportunity is
best for about 30% of our children that would not go on to college and then those who have not enlisted in the military. We do need to do a better job preparing them for the workforce. We've not done an adequate job with that. So that focus is appropriate. But yet, we need that 65% to 70% still going to a two or four year degree. That's what's going to attract jobs here in Indiana, attract employers. Our level of educational attainment is what rises all boats. It's going to address many of the issues from the people you've heard today.
Quality of life issues really, are driven by educational attainment of our citizenry. So we need to do a better job with that. Again, I admit we're not where we need to be, and we're doing all that we can to set goals and encourage children and our young adults to consider post secondary education. Cost is another factor, and you've done a lot as a general assembly with scholarship programs to help with that. The twenty first century scholarship program is a very impactful, effective program that you deserve credit for. I think COVID nineteen and cost and
some of the things that are happening priority. But we do need to stay focused on higher ed. So We are improving, though, you say? We've gone back in the right direction, but incremental improvement compared to the significant dip prompted by the pandemic. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Next up, we have Katrina Hall. On deck, Kelly Streeter. In the hole, Jim Hunt. I'm loving that
baseball reference there. That's really good. Good afternoon, members of the committee. I'm, and thank you, mister chairman, for, the opportunity to talk on the budget as presented by the governor. I have several things, and so I'll just kind of clip through these that I wanted to support things that are in the budget, but I'll also talk about things that are not in there. So I'll draw that distinction in a second. The first thing that I want to comment on and
support is just $2,000,000 a year for the local childcare grants to counties to help them foster, expanding the network of childcare facilities across the state. We have a lot of examples of where that has occurred very soon. One of the folks that I've done a lot of networking with and has really guided our policy at Farm Bureau to include this. I'm proud that we were,
you know, it was brought out during the pandemic by a lot of people that, and a lot of groups are on board now. The state's made a lot of investment. But there are many examples in my own county for instance where the combination of foundation dollars, REDI grant and we opened a new 200 seat childcare facility with others on the way. So that investment especially we have
a very healthy community foundation fund, but not every county is in that situation. So whatever you can do to spur those, the creation of those opportunities will be great. The one thing that is in this fund, you can really see the Governor Braun's influence that he brought back from DC from serving on the Senate Ag Committee and so I'm going to talk about some of those opportunities. As far as investment in rural areas, the budget as presented includes a rural
fund capital investment credit and that is limited to $15,000,000 a year as far as the credit is concerned, it would be administered by IEDC. I have to tell you that what's in the bill, it I mean, I look at complicated stuff a lot, but it's kind of complicated, but I'm not a finance person. So we're looking at that as a big opportunity. Anything that could bring, capital investment to rural areas, you know, agriculture relies on off farm jobs just like every other person that lives in a rural
area. So we're very supportive of that. The bill includes a very really an idea that has been around for a long time at a federal level and it's a farm savings account. Actually Senator Lugar, brought this, to the forefront and so we support that. The last thing that I would mention, from what's in the budget is the it's in the budget, it will say retiring farmer credit, but we like to say it's a young
farmer, new farmer credit. And so well, I'm not gonna get to talk about the things that are not in, but I just would mention we'd like restoration to ISDA budget. There will be someone else to talk about BOA's budget and the animal disease diagnostic laboratory. And the last thing that I would mention because we supported it very heavily, last budget session was the Health First Indiana Fund in this budget. It's 100,000,000 a year.
Last time it was 75 and then 150 and we'd like that restored at least to what the 150 that you had in the final year. All the counties have come on board. I can see tremendous enthusiasm and a lot of programming and progress. So I hope that you will continue that and we'll come back and talk about the school funding formula and CTE when you do your budget, mister chairman. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Kelly Streeter. On
deck, Jim Hunt. In the hole, Jason Borm. Thank you, Chairman Thompson. Thank you, Vice Chair Snow. My name is Kelly Streeter. I'm the, commissioner in Knox County. I'm the administrator of a local health department. I'm on the board of governors at a county hospital. I serve as past president of the Indiana County Commissioners Association, and a lot of that experience has, is what got me appointed to the Indiana Behavioral Health Commission this last year. I took great pride in working with
the Behavioral Health Commission members as a representative of county governments. We crafted a report for the General Assembly that address the critical behavioral health needs of all Hoosiers. We examined in-depth the mental health needs of our children, older adults and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I thank you all for your support of funding in the last budget session for the Community Mental Health Fund. It's proving to be transformational statewide. So with the investment, we were able to build crisis services in my rural community health region that covers four counties, Knox,
Davies, Martin and Pike. To say it simply the community health plan provided someone to call, someone to respond and somewhere to go. We have a 20 as most of you know 988. We have mobile crisis deployment teams and a stabilization unit for those in crisis. Our local crisis services began in April of twenty twenty four and in the first four months in our small rural county region, we saw five nineteen patients. Twenty eight of those came in through our mobile crisis teams and we successfully resolved three quarters of
those in our community. Over 62% of the mobile deployments, let me be clear, were diversions from our jail and our emergency departments. We were able to save so many value resources in our ER and our jail. So with that unit we are currently building, it is well it's under renovation. We're able to serve 11 adults in our unit here recently and very soon this summer we're going to take children as well. It allows us to meet the people where they're at and provide the right care at the right time. They not only hold local great financial
return on investment but as we want better outcomes for individuals, our community in the state by allowing ease of access especially to avoid incarceration where they've traditionally went for some time and our hospital ER which is significantly overran especially with costs and we're a 70% Medicaid system community. So the total projected cost savings as I hope you all have seen in this report, to Indiana is roughly $125,000,000 including $45,000,000 in jail
diversions alone. So we do ask that as we seek an additional 53,000,000 in our community health fund each year to support these services. It was mentioned before me, we're also asking for additional funds for group homes. I think you all pretty much know that we need, additional revenue to support these group homes because we don't have places to send these people that have critical needs. So I will hurry up. I do want to thank you all for your commitment to mental health and substance use disorder. We have been good stewards of these
funds that we've allocated and shown success in two years that I never saw imaginable as a local official. We need your continued support to sustain these critical services and build out the future in mental health care. Thank you. Alright. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Next up, we have Jim Hunt on deck. Jason Borm in the whole, Krista Wink.
Welcome. Good afternoon and thank you to the members of the committee for allowing me to speak today. My name is James Hunt. I'm a parent whose children were kicked out of the voucher program because I sold an extra few head of cattle. As a family of four with two boys, one in high school and one in fifth grade, we made a decision to choose a private school because that was what was the best fit for our children and it was one of the best decisions we've ever made. Our journey at Heritage Christian School has been transformative. This is our second year at Heritage
and we couldn't be more grateful for the positive environment it fosters. We chose Heritage Christian Schools because of the commitment to cultivating leaders and surrounding students with the right values, all while providing a strong foundation of academic excellence. As a small farming family, the voucher program was instrumental to our ability to invest in both our children's education and our farm. It provides financial support along with us to re allowing us to reinvest in our business and continue to grow as a farm and a family. Last year, I sold a few cattle from my
farm and used those funds to continue the operations and improvements of our farm. Despite reinvesting the money into the business, the sale of the cattle had to be reported on my taxes as income, forcing my family to no longer qualify for the voucher program. While our priority is undoubtedly our children's education, it has come at risk of our family's livelihood. We firmly believe that parents should have the ability to choose what is best for their children and arbitrary income guidelines should have no barrier, there should not be barriers for families. I ask you wholeheartedly to support Governor
Braun's expansion of the universal school choice so that no other family can be denied the children's education dollars. Thank you. Representative Chriswell. Honored to represent you for one. Thanks for your testimony and thanks for your public service to our community. Thank you. For the questions. Thank you, sir, for being here. Next up, we have Jason Borm on deck, Krista Wink in the whole James Robertson.
Hello members of the House Ways and Means Committee. I'm Jason Borum from Brownsburg. I'm here to support universal choice universal school choice here in the state of Indiana. As parents, we hope to be the main influence in our children's lives, but the truth is when they become school age, they spend seven of their waking hours with other people. We made this choice to have our
children spend those hours receiving the education aligned with our family values at Saint Malachy Catholic School of Brownsburg. By doing this, even though we had student loans, their education was our priority. As a nurse and an occupational therapist, my wife and I have worked extra hours, shifts away from our children in order to pay for their tuition. We miss
morning cartoons. We miss sports, we miss tucking in men. We didn't take pricey vacations, but at the end it would be worth it. When the choice scholarship or voucher became available, we were able to breathe. There's no longer stress around time of tuition was due. We're able to cut back at work. We're able to be home more. Our family unit was getting stronger. Accessing Choice Scholarship for the first time
made me realize every family should have access to the program. We didn't know a family's financial situation or the struggles they deal with on a daily basis. These dollars should be available to every Hoosier and families should not have to jump through hoops to access it. I urge you to support Universal's school choice in the budget and makes choice scholarship available to all
regardless of the income. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Next up we have Chris DeWink, on deck James Robertson, in the hole Drew Mays. Welcome. Thank you. Good afternoon, committee members. My name is Krista Wink, and I'm here to ask you to support Universal School Choice and expand the Choice Scholarship Program, also known as the voucher program.
Each year, our family income is just over the income requirements for the Choice Scholarship, often by a small amount due to a bonus my husband is eligible for at work. Since this income is not guaranteed year over year, we never know if we will qualify. Paying for three kids in Catholic schools, two in high school, and one in elementary can be very daunting. Universal choice would allow us to save for post secondary education and free our family from the financial
burden a little. In addition, as a staff member at Bishop Chatard High School, I hear so many stories of families that do not qualify for choice or the voucher for various reasons. This current year, we had a dad who received a small inheritance when his sister passed away suddenly that just barely pushed them over that AGI limit. So in addition to settling his sister's estate, grieving that loss, he found out his two children no
longer received the voucher and would cost them more than what the inheritance was itself. I have so many stories like this that I hear, and I unfortunately get to be the one to tell them, sorry, you don't qualify for Choice this year. We also have several families that only get half of that voucher amount because they're at the mercy of their company waiting to file their corporate taxes, so they get their K1 late and they don't file their own taxes till after the September 1 deadline in order to qualify for the full year of the voucher.
Again, there are so many reasons that are out of the control of their family for why they lose that Choice scholarship. Families should not be denied for any reason. Those dollars are designed to educate their children. So I continue to ask you to support the expanding of this program to allow all families access to the Choice or voucher program. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thanks. Next up, we have James Robertson on deck, Drew Mays and
the whole Rachel Clift. We will go to Drew Mays
let's go to Rachel Clift on deck Nicole Leach and the whole Matt Bush Welcome Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Rachel Clift. My husband and I are raising four sons. Our youngest, Teddy, is autistic and receiving funding through the
education scholarship account to support his education. Before receiving funding, Teddy attended a developmental preschool at our local public school system in Fort Wayne. There were over 20 children in the class. Half of them had special needs. Within two months, his teacher, fresh out of college, left the classroom and left it in control of a revolving
door of unqualified subs who failed to meet IEP requirements. This instability hindered Teddy's progress, causing distress, meltdowns, and school refusal as his necessary accommodations were not provided. Thankfully, I found out about the ESA program and in the fall of twenty twenty four started educating him at home. I get to choose his curriculum that meets his needs and nurture his strengths while working to remove the challenges that are barriers to learning.
Support is funded and addressed through weekly sessions of speech, occupational, and music therapy. He is supported by a tutor funded through the ESA, who is experienced and familiar with teaching kids on the spectrum. I have been able, as a parent of a child with autism, to reclaim the time and energy spent battling for services in the school system, which is exhausting, and extend it directly to meet the needs of my son.
He is now thriving. His language, once was based solely in echolalia or just repeating phrases, has expanded. He is able to ask and answer questions and communicate his needs. I get to deliver lessons in an environment that does not overstimulate him, get to remove the sounds and the distractions that cause him so much distress. The combination of therapies, curriculum, and support made possible by the
ESA has led to major progress. Again, we have hope and are no longer stuck in the gaps and holes so many parents find themselves without finding our resources. I am asking you to consider these families, the ones who are burdened with endless challenges, who are trying desperately to simplify and accommodate, and I ask you to support expanding the funding so more children like mine have the opportunity to receive the best education possible. Thank you for your time. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you. Next up, we have Nicole Leach. On deck, Matt Bush and the whole Jenny Crane. Welcome. Chairman Thompson and members of the House Ways and Means Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Doctor. Nicole Leach, and I'm a resident
of a Shelby County, and I'm also working in Bartholomew County. I understand that this is the initial step in the process, and you're listening to everyone's request so that you can make a decision on what goes back into the budget. I'm here to respectfully request the reinstatement of funding for the dual language pilot program grant in House Bill ten-zero-one for this biennium. This initiative was originally introduced in 2015 by Senator Cruz and co authored by Representative Benning and has had continual funding
since the implementation of the program. This grant provides initial funding for planning and implementation of programs in public schools, including both traditional and charter. I have witnessed firsthand the profound impact of this grant. Since its inception, funding has been utilized to provide professional development to teachers and for the curriculum and resources that are needed as the programs matriculate up year by year. The number of dual language programs in
Indiana has grown from only three in twenty fifteen to 59 today, spanning all corners of our state. This progress has allowed Indiana to keep pace with the rapid expansion of dual language programs across the country, which have grown from 1,000 in 2010 to 3,600 as of 2021. So why does this matter? Dual language programs provide English speaking students with greater educational choice, and they equip students with skills essential for competitive global economy. Research consistently demonstrates the
benefits of dual language education, including cognitive advantages and enhanced problem solving and critical thinking, higher academic achievement, advanced language proficiency leading to greater economic opportunities and improved classroom focus and engagement. And even more personally in my own district, last year's I read test scores showed that the students in our Title I school who were enrolled in our dual language program outperformed their peers in the same school who were not enrolled in the program. This is clear evidence of
the academic power of multilingualism. This is not unique just to our setting. These types of results have been published in multiple nationwide longitudinal studies, including research here in Indiana. I urge you to restore the dual language pilot grant funding at HB 1,001 at 425,000. This investment will ensure that our students are better equipped with more tools as they enter the work first. So thank you for your time and consideration, and I'd be happy to answer any questions anybody might have. Representative
Delaney? Yes. Could you clarify because it's the the language or the phrases are a little confusing. This is for English speaking, native English speaking students, is it? It depends. We are in, like, 30 districts, I believe, around the state right now. So if we move down to, for example, Logansport, Indiana, in or not Logansport, Lawrenceburg down south. They are what we call one way program, and all those students are English speaking. In other programs, if we have students who
may be native Spanish speakers, we'll have what we call a two way program, and you'll have Spanish speakers and English speakers within the same program. So it depends on the school population. What's interesting in some of those places, you're taking people who are native English speakers. You're teaching them a second language. Yes. Starting in Indiana. Languages are you teaching them? Mhmm. What what are those languages? Right now, Spanish majority in Indiana. Okay. Around the nation, there are a lot more. There's Japanese. There's Korean. I love to see it continue to grow here in our state and have more languages. Thank you. Representative
Judy? Yeah. Thank you, mister chairman. What was the state funding level in the previous budget? The previous budget was $425,000 The original when it started in 2015 was $500,000 And there's no line item in the budget currently, correct? Okay. Thank you. Representative Njoty? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you.
Mike. Hello. My name is Mike. It's a pleasure to meet you. I just literally spoke in three different languages. Uh-huh. Impressive. Mandarin, Spanish, and English. So I think it's important for us to continue to ensure that our students are excelling. Mhmm. Especially in The States, we continue to grow and innovate, ensuring that, we continue to be in the front of excelling as other countries around the world are doing the same thing. I've had the pleasure of being in Taiwan, in
India, Mexico, and Canada just in the last several years. A lot of other countries speak multi languages. Mhmm. English is actually one of the prominent languages that other countries speak besides their own native language. So I think it's important for us here as well to continue to do that to ensure that our students are having the best education and excelling, as you said, globally. Mhmm. Not only here locally, statewide, nationally, but also globally as well as the
market becomes more competitive on a global level. So thank you for advocating for this. Thank you. And as I said before too, the academic benefits show that it definitely helps our students. Thank you. Thank you for testifying. Alright. Thank you. Next up, we have Matt Bush. On deck, Jenny Crane. In the hole, Graham Lyon. Welcome. Yes. Good afternoon,
members of the committee. My name is Matt Bushey. I'm here to talk about why I believe universal choice in education is so important. My wife, Laura, and I, we are a blended family with seven children. She's in health care. I'm a school administrator. On paper, most would look and say we're financially well off, but that's not our reality. We're part of the sandwich generation, caring for both teenage children and aging parents. We've always prioritized education in our household, both for ourselves and for our children. We have always chosen what educational
environment will be best for each child. Four of them attended parochial school, one in public school, one still in Catholic school, and one currently in our one of our local public schools. We recently finished paying off our own college educations, only to be replaced with more college expenses for our kids. We're also supporting our aging parents, one of whom relies solely on social security. Despite our efforts to live modestly, we're on pace to accumulate several hundred
thousand dollars in student debt over the next seven years. This in addition to increased financial support to provide for aging parents whose social security income is also included when we apply for the, for the voucher program. Universal choice would mean so much to our family. It would alleviate some of the financial hardships we're facing, and we're not alone. More than 25,000,000 Americans or one in three employees are sandwiched between caring for children still at home and older parents or grandparents. As a parent of children
in both public and private schools, I believe all students should benefit from this year's education budget. Without including all students, it is difficult for families like ours to make the best educational decisions for their children due to personal finances. I thank you for your time and happy to answer any questions. Questions? Thank you for testifying. Next up, we have Jenny Crane. On deck, Graham Lyon. In the hole, Kevin Johnson.
Hi. My name is Jenny Crane. I am the principal at South Bend, in South Bend, Indiana at Santa Delbert Catholic School. I represent today 230 kiddos, mostly racial minorities who can't live below the poverty line. I also represent five generations of a family, oh my goodness, five generations of a family, who've been a part of a high quality non public institution in our state and I can tell you firsthand how those
schools can flip the narrative for our families living on the margins. Students from my little under resourced school, recently this year graduated two of them from Notre Dame and have four in the National Honor Society to Blue Ribbon High School. I'm inviting you today to consider their perspective of the non public schools who serve families and students with limited resources. Please vote to support universal choice for all Hoosier students, in part because of the burden of income verification process. I imagine most Hoosiers don't understand what
all goes into income verification so a quick synopsis. It's the process that is supposed to ensure that the resources, financial resources are kept for those most in need. But it's not easily accessed by families who lack educational resources or, are burdened by factors living under poverty. Ideally, the school would verify their income via collected tax documents, review it, file it, print it, help the parents sign them and upload it. But all of the factors
that my kiddos live with, complicate this. When you see families living, in poverty, all these things become more complicated. For example, just one factor, parent education. If you have parents that haven't graduated from high school or in many cases even grade school, they lack the, written language, the understanding of the forms and members of my staff have to sit down and help them. Now, we are a non public school. We don't have a
giant school system behind us, and that means that the members of my office team are pulled from other tasks in the building. For other factors that complicate filing for income verification and create more work for my amazing team, language, work hours, if your parents work until eight, nine o'clock at night, ten o'clock at night, how do you catch them and sit down? Domestic violence, if one parent holds a restraining order, is unsafe around another, how do you fill those paperwork out with them? Lack of formal custody arrangements, housing insecurity, if you move, that's extra papers. If you move multiple times, that's
even more. If you live in a situation where a multi generational family is required for you to survive, then you have to get paperwork filed for every single one of these people. Death, births, unextended illnesses, on and on and on. It is a substantial burden on under resourced schools like mine who choose with intention to serve children and families on the margin. I have an entire staff member devoted almost half of the year taking away from a very small team, taking away from the things that I need to be doing, being
in classrooms, building relationships, advocating for students, helping to design curriculum and align things. I also represent today a large group of Indiana educators who are doing our best and we're asking you to consider alleviating the burden of income verification and making universal choice for all available for all Hoosiers. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Alright, thank you very much. Okay, next up we have Graham Lyon. On deck, Kevin Johnson. In
the whole, John Gingrich. Welcome. Welcome. Good afternoon. Everybody ready? Sorry. Good afternoon. My name is Doctor. Graham Pierce Lyon. I am a father, educator, and school administrator from Tippecanoe County, Indiana. I came here today to strongly support the expansion of educational funding through programs like the ESA. I have witnessed firsthand the life changing
impact that it has had on students and families, including my own. My daughter is receiving ESA funding, and without it, we would have struggled financially to provide her with the education that she needs and deserves. ESA funding has given us the freedom to choose the best environment for her growth and I believe more families should have this same opportunity. At School Alive, a micro school I founded, multiple students benefit from the ESA. However, I've also seen
the other side, families who have been denied funding and are suffering greatly. One family is working seven days a week, balancing multiple jobs just to afford their child's education. Another family was forced to give up entirely, unable to secure the schools funding that they desperately needed. These stories are heartbreaking and avoidable especially since the families qualified for the program but the funding was unavailable. There are over 600 students on the
waiting list for the ESA and it's clear that we need to expand the funding of this program and give all students the opportunity to succeed. I would urge you to support expanding the funding of the ESA in HB 1,001, and give more families the power to access an education that works for their children, just as the ESA funding has done for mine. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Regent Delana. If I might just, I didn't quite understand because it came kind of fast.
Are you the parent of an ESA child? Yes. I'm I'm representing a couple different perspectives. I'm the parent of an ESA child, but I'm also the founder and president of School Alive, a micro school that serves families who also have ESA children. You created a school for kids who receive ESA support? We are an approved ESA provider. Yes. And we received some fundings from other families that have approved been approved for that program. Yes. So your child attends the
school that you created Correct. Along with other children who get ESA funding who are not your children. Correct. Yes. And we have a smaller environment, 10 students per grade, and so we can really provide the individual support that they need. How many how many grades do you have? We serve pre k all the way through twelfth grade. K. How many students do you have? As a micro school, it's approximately 20 right now. It's we're in our actually, in our first year. And you're in Tippecanoe County today? Tippecanoe County. Right. About ten minutes from Purdue.
Cielo is at our grand opening, so thank you for coming. Thank you. We're gonna click her. Where is your school located again? It's in the the Church of Life facility. That's it. Yep. July. Thank you. Thank you. Bring it here. You're welcome. Next up, we have Kevin Johnson. On deck, John Gingrich. And the whole Tiffany suits. Welcome.
He left it on. Okay. Good afternoon, members of the House Ways and Means Committee. My name is Kevin Johnson, and I'm a married father of six children from Fishers. My family has been fortunate to be part of the Indiana ESA. Please, sir. Thank thank you. My family's been fortunate to be part
of the Indiana ESA program for the last two years, and I'm here to share our experiences and urge you to support expanding the funding for this program. Our journey started when my ninth grade son, Caleb, was diagnosed with dyslexia. Last year, thanks to the ESA scholarship, Caleb had the chance to attend Fortune Academy in Lawrence Township for his eighth grade year. Fortune Academy is a truly amazing school that specializes in helping students with learning challenges, and I can honestly say that it transformed Caleb's life. After just one year, he came out a more confident reader and learner,
and it was clear that his future was brighter because of it. This year, Caleb has transferred to Mission Christian Academy in Fishers for high school. We are so thankful to have been able to continue using the ESA for his education there. Additionally, the ESA helped cover private tutoring for Caleb's dyslexia, further supporting his progress. The benefits didn't stop with Caleb. Thanks to the new sibling ESA pathway, we were able to send Caleb's siblings to Mission Christian Academy as well, ensuring that all of our children could
be together and have access to this education they need. My family's incredibly grateful for the Indiana ESA program, and we hope it continues to grow and flourish so that other families can experience the same positive impact. Thank you for this opportunity, and thank you to everyone involved in making the ESA program possible. Any questions? Alright. Representative Mayfield. Thank
you, mister chairman. So thank you for your testimony and advocating on behalf of your children. About six years ago, roughly, we passed a bill regarding dyslexia and training and identifying. So that in itself was not sufficient, and you still needed the ESA program to find the correct resources to, to provide to your son? I'm not familiar with that program, ma'am. Okay. Yep. Thank you for being here.
Yeah. Thank you. Next up, we have John Gingrich. On deck, Tiffany Suits. In the hole, Rebecca Jonathan. Good afternoon. My name is John Ginnerich, if you don't mind. This is my colleague, Tammy Thelma. We're both listed to speak at some point today. We'd like to speak together. That's okay. That'd be fine. Thank you, Chairman Thompson and
members of the committee. My name is Tammy Themel, and I'm the CEO of Accessibility, which is one of 10 centers of independent living in the state. Our mission is to empower our peers with disabilities to lead and control independent lives fully included in their community. My name is John Ginrich. I'm the President and CEO of The League. We are the center for independent living based in Fort Wayne, Indiana serving 11 counties of Northeast Indiana. Centers For Independent Living, commonly referred to as CILs, provide support services, training and referrals to Hoosiers of
all disabilities and of all ages. A core service of ours is to help transition Hoosiers out of nursing homes and other institutional living settings and back into their communities. We also help Hoosiers in their homes, facilitate access to affordable housing and health care, work skills and employment, home modifications, mental health and wellness programs and transportation services. We're happy to report to you today that because of the state's investment in independent living in the last budget,
more Hoosiers with disabilities were able to access our services, transition back into their communities, stay in their homes, and lead a more independent life. From 2021 to 2023, we served 33% more Hoosiers, more than 26,000 Hoosiers in 2023 compared to 19,500 in 2021. We also transitioned 50 more Hoosiers back into their communities, more than two sixty in
2023 compared to 173 in 2021. The return on investment to the state for this is considerable. It is estimated that for every person transitioned out of a nursing home or other institution, institutional living setting, the state saves an estimated $100,000 per person per year and compounds annually. By transitioning six thirty four Hoosiers back into their communities over a three year period, SILS have saved the
state an estimated $64,000,000 These Hoosiers now rely less on public assistance, can get a job, pay for their own healthcare, pay taxes, remain in their homes and invest in their neighborhoods and communities. We respectively request an increase to our line item appropriation of $1,000,000 per year, bringing the state's total investment to $3,000,000 per year. With additional funding, CILs can transition more Hoosiers out of nursing homes and other institutional living settings, help keep more
Hoosiers in their homes, expand services and promote them to help more Hoosiers lead independent lives. While the return on investment to the state is considerable, this is about more than just numbers. It's about improving the lives of Hoosiers. Thank you. Questions over to Judy? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. John, I just want to thank you for the impact positive impact the league and you have in our community in Fort Wayne and concern North Houstonian. So thank you. Appreciate that. For the
for the questions? Thank you for your testimony. Thanks, Simone. Thank you. Next up, we have Tiffany Suits. On deck, Rebecca Joneskin. And in the whole, Allie, cast Greg. Tiffany Suits. Alright. Rebecca, you're
up. Hello, my name is Becky Yonaschkan. I'm the President of the Indiana State Poultry Association. We represent, commercial poultry operation here in the State of Indiana. I'm led by a a Board of Directors of 17 representing our duck, turkey, broiler chicken
and egg producers. Appreciate the opportunity to come and speak with you today. Before I get to some of my other asks, you've certainly seen us unfortunately in the news as a result of our highly pathogenic avian influenza issues and I want to take the opportunity to express our appreciation for some very significant state agencies that have been key in supporting us through that. Our Indiana State Board of Animal Health
and the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory that is located at Purdue University. Would like to encourage you. Their response and constant assistance to us through this, they get very focused on the infected farm, but they work very hard to keep the rest of our farmers in business. And that business continuity is just absolutely essential and those two agencies are just very key to
our continued success. We lead the nation nationally with 60% of the nation's duck production were first in duck, we're third in egg production, third in turkey production, so lots of birds. So both the Board of Animal Health's budget was reduced as many of the department's budgets were by 5.55%, a little more than that. Really 90 we understand that about
90% of their budget goes towards salary. We have a lot of veterinarians on staff there. And it's really the people at the Board of Animal Health more than the equipment and different things that are really essential there. So I encourage you to take a look at that budget and give some thought to the importance of those veterinarians being in place and the significance of animal agriculture in the state of Indiana and what they protect. Also the Purdue Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory was
created by, funded by the Indiana General Assembly. It's part of the National Animal Health Laboratory System. It is the key place that we send our samples to for them to be analyzed and reported up to USDA and to track all of our disease issues. They too have a budget asked there that wasn't fully funded. I have some details here about that, but I encourage you
to look at that. And again, it's minor, I realize it's still in the millions, but the investment there and the safety and security and continuity of our food supply, I just think it's money well spent and it's absolutely valued by our producers. So Thank you. I'd also like to there are a few other things in the budget I would like to point out that we
do support in Really, path? Please, yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can we drill down on the numbers for the animal diagnostic? How much did you have? How much has it been cut? And how much do you need to keep us safe? So it had $5,000,000 in 2025 and what it's been assigned for 'twenty six and 'twenty seven I believe is that just staying
still at that $5,000,000 What we are asking for is in 2026 '8 point '2 million dollars which includes maybe the biggest parts of that are renovation and refurbishment. These are not real glamorous refurbishments. This is like hoist and rail to get animals into the lab and a protection for an incinerator to manage the waste at the end of the process. And then
in 2027, there are no other improvements. So, anyway, we're happy to share that. Also just there's a few other things. You're a little bit sure to be mad. President Klinker has a question yet. Oh, sorry. I'm gonna let you I I just wanna thank you for everything you're doing because in the long run, what we're doing is saving a lot of money. The bird flu, is prominent right now, and we just appreciate the fact that, Purdue is doing all this research and
saving animals and lives while we're doing it. So thank you. Yes, animal disease response is not cheap and they're an essential part. Just more generally in the bill. Very, very brief please. Go ahead. Yes, I will. There are a number of things that are really support rural development and we think would be very helpful for our poultry companies and our contract grower producers, the farmer savings account that could really
help people invest there and be ready to make improvements. The retiring farmer look trying to get some of our younger folks in there and what's the last oh, the childcare. We primarily operate our facilities in very rural areas where there's not a lot of childcare and there's a childcare program that is proposed based on Appleseed up in Jasper County in Rensselaer and I think just
a really good model there where there's stakeholder cooperation and I think that just could go a really long way for good rural economic development and support of our operations. Thank you. Next up, we have Ali Castgregg. On deck, John Ketsenberger and the whole Heather Shurells. Welcome. Could you please shut the door, please? Thank you.
Thank you, mister chairman and members of the committee. My name is Allie Cast Gregg on behalf of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and I'm also here speaking on behalf of American Lung Association, American Heart Association, and Tobacco Free Indiana today. Indiana's adult smoking rate is thirteenth highest in the nation, and over ten percent of high school students report using tobacco products, including nine point two percent who use e cigarettes. These alarming rates are a big reason that tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death
in Indiana, resulting in more than eleven thousand deaths each year, including one third of cancer deaths and costing Indiana's Medicaid program more than six hundred and thirty million annually. The good news is that there are proven policy tools to reduce the tobacco burden. This session, we are thankful to have thoughtful and positive conversations with the senate around the cigarette tax increase and have gathered increased support. We continue to advocate for a $2
per pack increase with the cigarette tax, which will bring in that 318,420,000.00 in new annual revenue, keep 7,000 Hoosier youth from becoming adults who smoke and lead to over thirty two thousand adults who smoke currently to quit. It is important when considering an excise tax increase on any tobacco product that the tax should be increased on all other tobacco products at an equivalent rate to encourage people to quit rather than switch to a cheaper product and to prevent youth from starting any tobacco product. Increasing the tax on other tobacco products
to 44% of the wholesale price would parallel the new $2.99 cigarette tax and would generate more revenue, prevent initiation of these products, and ensure that more people who use tobacco quit instead of switching to a cheaper product. Aside from a significant increase in tobacco taxes, another proven strategy is to invest in fact based tobacco control programs or TPC programs for short. Shortly after the master settlement agreement, Indiana invested $35,000,000 annually into
TPC programs. Today, the annual investment stands at just $9,100,000 a 74% decline. Meanwhile, Big Tobacco spends over $293,000,000 annually in Indiana to market their deadly and addictive products. As a result, the reduction in Indiana smoking rates is not keeping pace with the national declines. With this in mind, we respectfully request that house bill ten zero one reflect a renewed investment of 15,000,000 annually in tobacco control funding. Overall, for every $1 spent
on comprehensive tobacco control programs, the state receives up to $55 in savings from averted tobacco related health care costs. Plus, it would help the program reach many more Hoosier adults who want to quit smoking. For these reasons, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, we ask that the budget reflect a $2 per pack increase in the cigarette tax with the parallel oh, parallel tax on other tobacco products and increased tobacco control program funding to 15,000,000 annually. Thank you and happy
to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Next up, we have John Kessenberger. On deck, Heather Farell is in the hole, Tammy Thamel. Welcome. Thank you. I try to make this a once a year thing. Mister chairman, members of the committee, I'm pleased to be here. My name is John Ketsenberger. I represent The Nature Conservancy in
Indiana and pleased to do so today. A couple of things that I'd like to talk about, you've heard a long line of people talk about, investments in in the state and in our people. I wanna remind you of a couple that you've made in the last couple of years. The Clean Water Indiana program, which you increased funding for in the last budget, does work in all 92 counties and ensures that we have clean water for our citizens in the state of Indiana through conservation. I would urge you to continue that
funding at the levels that it's been at and, and would hope that that would be something that would be, continuing in the budget. The other program is the, President Benjamin Harrison Trust. It is a trust that is used by land trusts including the Nature Conservancy, which is the state's largest land trust and largest conservation organization in the state. The Nature Conservancy and Department of Natural Resources and others, use that fund as a matching
fund to acquire land for preservation, conservation and for Hoosiers to enjoy. There presently is no additional appropriation in the budget as presented. Last year, you saw, or last time, you saw fit to add $10,000,000 to that fund. In these times of austerity, we understand that that's probably not likely, but we would encourage you
and I certainly encourage you to, do whatever you can to ensure that we maintain the momentum in the Harrison Trust and that we are able to continue to do the good work that is done by The Nature Conservancy and all of our partners, including the Department of Natural Resources, well into the future. With that, I'll I'll stop. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Representative Delaney? John, if I understand this, that money that goes into Harrison Trust can be used to leverage expenditures by other trusts
that are exactly right. And give me an example of other entities that would take some money from Benjamin Harrison and add to it. Yeah. The the it is a matching trust. It varies some depending on on the way it works. But in most cases, it's at least a 50% trust, 50% match. And, it does leverage more than it is appropriated by the state. And again, these lands are then
used for the public, either through the land trusts or through the Department of Natural Resources. We've heard talk about the military bases and we have a program in Indiana that was endorsed by The US Defense Department called the Sentinel Landscape. As part of that, we use conservation to protect and buffer areas of military use. One of those is Lake Glendora, which the Naval Safe Surface Warfare Center uses at Crane. We were
recently able to, with many partners and some outside help, acquire 4,000 acres that allow that to happen, and the trust had a role in that. So the answer is yes. I take it that these other trusts use the fact that they can get help from the Benjamin Harrison Trust to encourage their donors. It's absolutely critical. Yeah. That Yeah. This this is a fund that, while very small, has large return. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, mister chairman. The special use license plate and the environmental license plate, that funds your trust. Right? Yes. The ongoing dedicated funding for it, a portion of that plate goes into the Harrison Trust. Yes, sir. How much? It's about $800,000 a year now. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Further questions? Thank you for being here. Thank you. Next up, we have Heather Schurels.
On deck, Tammy Thamel. In the hole, Mike Guston. Welcome. Thank you, chairman Thompson and members of the committee for the opportunity to provide feedback on the introduced version of the budget bill. I'm Heather Sorrells. I am the director of care and case management with IPMG, and I will keep my comments brief. IPMG provides support to over 15,000 users with disabilities across all 92 counties of the state.
Our over 400 employee owners live and work in the same communities as the individuals we support, and currently, 93% of our total company revenue is utilized for wages, benefits, and taxes. Case and care management are the only federally required home and community based waiver service. The case and care management reimbursement rate for the family supports waiver, community integration and habilitation waiver, health and wellness waiver, and traumatic brain injury waiver are funded through one third state funds and two thirds federal
funds. Our experience in the field shows that case management is a vital, complex, and comprehensive service that extends beyond the day to day activities of the individual case managers. IPMG is committed to the full support of the efforts of the state to enhance the quality of lives of individuals served while understanding and supporting the necessity of implementing cost effective measures. Over the past thirty years, the rates for case and care management have been reduced or remained stagnant, while at the same time, the cost
of providing services, the needs of individuals served, and the requirements and expectations of these supports have grown. In the 2018 legislative session, HB thirteen seventeen was passed to create a legislatively mandated rate study to determine what the appropriate case management rate should be. The rate study included recommendations to increase the increase the case management rate, and then that rate was subsequently not increased. In 2022, rate studies were completed
for all Medicaid services. As part of this effort to align rates with the current cost of doing business, a 2% annual rate adjustment and completion of rate studies every four years was included in the biennium budget in 2023. Upon submission of the related waiver amendments, FSSSA modified language to the state to state that the annual 2% rate increase would be optional. Without ongoing and predictable rate adjustments, case and care management will continue to
face the dire situation it is facing today. IPMG is unable to match the compensation offered by other comparable industries. Attracting and retaining employees is nearly impossible. Those committed to this career will continue to be attracted to employment in other sectors. IPMG requests that the case management and care management rate be increased in the budget for the biennium to include critical funding to meet rising inflation. This request includes the addition of the
2% rate increase that was not implemented in July of twenty twenty four, along with the 2% rate increase in the following years. Thank you, for your time. Thank you. Thanks for testifying. Next up, we have Tammy Thamil, Mike Guston, and in the whole Sarah Harrison thank you thank you appreciate
it so Sarah Harrison On deck Eric Snow. I've got an uncle. And in the whole James Wallace. Afternoon. The floor is yours. Good afternoon. Pardon, I've had this in my hand all afternoon, and now I put it down.
So good afternoon. Thank you for allowing me to come to the committee today. My name is Sarah Harrison. I'm the CEO of InVets, and I'm here to express some concerns that the proposed budget has been reduced from what we have received for the last little while. Just to share what we do, INVEZ plays a critical role nationally in attracting, recruiting and retaining transitioning military service members
and their family to the Hoosier state. We partner with over 600 Indiana corporations to find fulfilling careers and identify communities that these veterans and their families can call home. There is no other organization in the country quite like ours. We are at the forefront of innovation, but we have a handful of organizations attempting to replicate our success and actively seeking our guidance
to do so. InVETZ provides significant economic and community benefits to our state, and here's how. In 2024 alone, InVETZ team visited three eighty five military installations across the country, be it from Florida to Hawaii, also, Japan and Europe. We located since 2020, we've relocated 2,500 veterans and their
families to Indiana. And when we look at our data, 55% of those veterans, were not considering Indiana until they started to work with InVets. So we sell the state to them. We were originally funded €1,000,000 in 2020. And then in 2023, we were awarded $2,000,000 In 2020, we had four people. We now have about 16 people.
So in a nutshell, for an investment of €7,000,000 between 2020 and 2024, Invets have added approximately €22,361,000 to the overall state's economy through those families moving here. So Invess creates a true win win situation. Indiana proudly honors those who've served. And while InVets brings highly skilled, mission driven professionals and
their families into our communities. Veterans themselves bring unparalleled values, a strong work effort, collaboration, teamwork and a commitment to positive outcomes. What community or corporation wouldn't like that? So this isn't about maintaining funding, it's about making a strategic investment. So can we please not underfund the Golden Goose? Thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you for
the funding this far. Thank you for what you're doing. Where are you located? We're in the 777 Building just on Meridian, south of the library, north of Scottish Rite. So you have an office here locally? We do. Mhmm. And you work throughout the state? We do. We have five veteran engagement managers who are, situated in Northwest, North Central, Northeast Central, and Southern Indiana, and one, veteran engagement manager who covers the state
for in state veterans who live here already. What is the name of your group again? InVETS, as in Indiana veterans. Oh, very good. Thank you. Representative Judy? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your testimony. I just wanted to clarify. You've said you've helped relocate over 2,500 veterans since 2020 to Indiana? Since 2020, we've brought in 2,500 veterans and family. And families. And 55% of those were not even
considering Indiana until they met with your organization? Yes. Okay. And then your item in the previous budget was $2,000,000 and it's currently sitting at 1,000,000 today? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for testifying. Thank you. Next up, we have Eric Snow. On deck, James Wallace and the whole Mike Morris.
Welcome. Good afternoon, chairman, members of the committee. It's my pleasure to speak today on the appropriation for the Indiana Department, Indiana Destination Development Corporation. My name's Eric Snow, I'm the vice president and chief marketing officer for Holiday World in Santa Claus. Our park first opened in 1946. Today we're a
125 acre developed park, fourth generation family ownership. We have over 100 full time year round team members, and during our operating season, over 2,200 seasonal team members. We attract about 1,000,000 guests to the park each summer. Half of those are coming from outside of the state. Our economic impact is large, and, that's not confined just to our operation.
Our guests visit hotels, restaurants, other attractions, small businesses, throughout Southern Indiana. At Holiday World, we're big fans of marketing. I apologize, I may have annoyed you with some of my marketing over the years. But after nearly eighty years of operation, we see that marketing works. So marketing
is successful, when you have a good product. Indiana has a great tourism product. It's successful too when you tell compelling stories. Indiana has a lot of untold stories, waited to be celebrated. And it's successful, three, when you have repetition. Repetition takes time. Repetition takes money. Historically, the state has not been
competitive in the tourism marketing space. The General Assembly made great strides in the most recent biennial budget by appropriating about $20,000,000 to IDDC. We moved in the right direction to become more competitive with surrounding states. Now is not the time to pump the brakes. Branding and marketing campaigns target at shifting public opinion and motivating trip planning decisions can't be successful
with one off campaigns. Now's the time to continue to accelerate our efforts. So I ask for you to restore funding for IDDC, so we can see the tourism industry rise right alongside the Indiana economy. Thanks for your time. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Real quick. I'm sorry. Do the snows have any
ownership in the holiday world? I started working at Holiday World when I was sixteen in nineteen ninety eight. I am not a family member, but I work very closely day day in and day out with the Cook family. Representative Snow, I should say that my favorite uncle is Craig Snow. There you have it folks. Wilmington, North Carolina. For the rest of the room, for the rest of the room, we do have no relation. Well, thank
you. Thank you. Okay, next up. We have Jordan? Sorry. Are you sure? Okay. Alright. Next up, we have James Wallace. On deck, Mike Morris. In the hole, Stephanie Anderson. Good afternoon, Chairman Thompson, members of the committee. I am James Wallace. I'm the chief operating officer of Visit Indy. Also here representing the Indiana Tourism Association. By the way, thank you to several of you who
attended our state of tourism meeting yesterday afternoon. Thank you. The 2023 investment in the Indiana Destination Development Corporation was a strategic decision. It's already showing some really great returns. Every dollar spent by visitors returned $0.65 to our economy here in Indiana. In 2023, tourism generated $16,200,000,000 in visitor spending, contributed $10,400,000,000 to the state's GDP and generated $1,100,000,000 in state
tax revenue. Without tourism, each Indiana household would pay an additional $583 in taxes to maintain current public services. The sector supports over 208,000 jobs from entry level to executive positions making tourism Indiana's thirteenth largest employer. Importantly tourism serves as our state's front door attracting business investment and talent. We strongly advocate for restoring IDC's funding
to the 2023 budget levels and increasing the sports and tourism bid fund to its previous allocation as these proven investments are critical for our future. Thank you. Thank you. And then Johnny? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You just say you were here from a visit, Indy? Yes, sir. Can you elaborate on the, historical WWE Royal Rumble event that just
happened this past weekend with over 72,000 people in attendance at Lucas Oil Stadium? Yes. Thank you. We were we were so fortunate to be able to host WWE's, Royal Rumble. Over 70,000 people in Lucas Oil Stadium. The stadium was rocking. We had a lot of happy attendees, who we believe spent a lot of money. So we're so glad that they're there, and we're looking forward to their other events as well. And it was record breaking numbers for the WWE Sports Entertainment? Yes. It was the largest world rum I
think it was the largest event period for, WWE. So And over 300,000,000 in economic impact dollars? It's significant. I have not run the numbers on that, but that, that's probably in the ballpark. So thank you for My son and I were one of the 72,000 people in attendance. And I I And it was electrified. Great time. It was great. And I love how we continue to work on bringing tourism here. Met people from UK, from Saint Louis, from Oklahoma, from all over the world that came
to Indianapolis to our Hoosier State to have a great time and a great experience with their family. That's incredible and we hope that they saw our state and either wanna move here or put their business here. So thank you. Thank you. Representative Jordan. Yeah thank you very much Mr. Chairman. Going back to the previous testimony, Holiday World is one of our best kept secrets in Indiana. If you've not gone, I mean, you just have to go. Here's the issue with the line item
on this budget that we have is what's less than obvious to me, and I guess I'm not really asking a question, but just an observation is we have pockets of money throughout, the state government, and it's trying to get our hands around, you know, all these various funds, and then what are we really spending on tourism and, promoting our state. So, you know, as we talk about the 5 20 million to 5,000,000, I I I I'm not sure that, there's not
money elsewhere that, is being spent and invested. So it's we've got some work to do, I think, to, be more rational on that. But I my wife and I did not go. I found tickets right at 05:30 for $108 right by the ring, and my wife said no. Because they're going for, like, $5,600, and my wife said no. We're we're we're putting your potter. Thank you very much. Thank
you. I just can't say enough from living in Indianapolis how important visit India is to us in investment that we do as a state on and our our return on investment. 72,000 people, Sports Corp, all the other activities we do. I know we have a couple more wrestling events coming in next two or three years. We we had a trifecta. I do understand, and represent Lopez knows
all about that also. And I I just want us to as we continue this discussion about that because, this is economic development, because it brings in more people to our state, and it's not just everyone stays, but it's just Marion County. Well, no. You know? Yes. We're building another hotel, but the surrounding counties benefit tremendously, particularly Johnson County, Hamilton County, also, benefit from from from
from from the school from, visit visit Indy, you know, visit Indy regionally as I call it. And I I just hope that as we go through this, we will make sure we get those secure those dollars back because the economic impact is is is tremendous and probably don't count all the dollars that it it really does. It goes all the way down to people parking to to those mom and pop individuals around Lucas Oil that charges and and, you know, is able to make their payments
on their homes and things like that. Thank you very much. That's I just a comment, not not a question. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Next, we have Mike Morris. On deck, Stephanie Anderson, and the whole Lisa Hutchison. Welcome sir. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Thompson, committee. Yeah, I'm here to
talk about the reallocation of $30,000,000 to the, for the Next Level Trails grant. My name is Mike Morris. I've been I'm currently a Beagle County Commissioner and served ten years on the council, familiar with trying to figure out how to stretch your dollars as far as you can in a budget. And, I'm really here to, promote, I mean, I think you've heard the benefits of
the trails across the state by a couple of people that have been here. On people that I, friends of mine, what have you, have, they they put me out front on these things, I guess volunteered me to come over here, and, they they've, picked up on this item that it's not, in the budget, and they're very concerned about it. This constituency covers a
broad range of people, all types of people, and so they wanted me to express that concern. I would say this, that of things that you guys deal with that service 92 counties in the state of Indiana, I think that this initiative by governor Holcomb to, promote this, it networks the
different counties together, moves these processes ahead, and it has been a very I I think it serves Indiana and all 92 counties, so I'm not just here speaking for Vigo County. Although we were a participant in it, Park was a participant per million, several counties around the state, so, I really think that it, and I think time is of the essence, some of these trails start and
railroads start to disappear into the dust, the quicker we can move on it the better. So, I think that's it. Representative Heaton. Thank you, Chairman Thompson. Mike thanks for coming over. Appreciate, all you do for, Beagle County in West Central Indiana. And so, hopefully, we can consider this and see what happens in the next few weeks. Well, maybe you can if the governor wants 10%, maybe instead
of $30,000,000, you can make it 27. How's that? Thank you. Other questions? Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Stephanie Anderson. On deck, Lisa Hutchison. In the hole, Lisa Wilkin. Good afternoon, chairman Thompson and members of the ways and means committee. My name is Stephanie Anderson, and I'm the chief operating officer of Mental Health America of Indiana. I'm here today to speak specifically about
Indiana's commitment to funding for mental health and addiction services. Mental Health America of Indiana has long advocated for the Mental Health and Addiction Forensic Treatment Fund, also known as Recovery Works, which was a key part of the 1,006 line of bills authored by Representative Sewerwald. We appreciate your continued support at the same level as last year to be able to provide treatment in lieu of incarceration when appropriate. Similarly, MHAI supports the
community mental health allocation, which came from recommendations of the Behavioral Health Commission and Senate Enrolled Act one of 2023. As you recall, in 2022, the statutorily created Behavioral Health Commission produced a comprehensive study of Indiana's behavioral health crisis, highlighting the astronomical cost to the state of ignoring this crisis and providing a blueprint for comprehensive systemic changes needed to truly address the problem. Indiana had been ranked forty second in
a National Mental Health America Review and has since improved to twenty second, twenty sixth, sorry, because of the support from this body. You demonstrated your commitment to Hoosiers mental health by adopting the recommendations of the Behavioral Health Commission through the passage of Senate Enrolled Act one of 2023 and appropriating additional funding in the amount of $50,000,000 per year, which remains in the version of House Bill 1,001 before you today. House
Bill 1,001 flatlines the Community Mental Health Fund for the continuation of this important work, which, on the surface, appears adequate. However, the Indiana Behavioral Health Commission found that the funding required for certified community behavioral health clinics, crisis response services, and nine eighty eight require an additional $53,100,000 per year, in addition to the $50,000,000 per year included in the introduced version of House Bill 1,001. The reality is that the most
critical access point of the continuum, the nine eighty eight crisis line, has been funded over the last biennium utilizing temporary federal ARPA funds given to the state. Of the additional $53,100,000 per year required, dollars 13,200,000.0 of that is needed to fund the 988 call centers. The 988 is a federally required resource under the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020. By utilizing ARPA funds to implement part of the crisis continuum,
Indiana has led the nation in successful creation of a state run mental health crisis hotline where Hoosiers speak to Hoosiers during their greatest time of need. Indiana currently contracts with four call centers and one tech center to meet this need. Since implementation, the state reports a substantial increase of 115% in call volumes, which is similarly reflected nationally. I'm gonna skip ahead, and let you know that while the
data demonstrates the success of this program and this state and puts us in the top 10 of all nine eight hotlines, it's the people and their stories that are most important and I'm going to share one with you. The call came through and a male identified himself. Before I can even ask the mandatory prompt questions, they said, I wanna kill myself. I'm going to kill myself. I asked the caller if they had a plan on how they were gonna end their life, and they responded with a very tearful voice, yes. I'm gonna shoot myself, and I have a gun right
here to my head right now. I asked the caller if they would be willing to put down the gun and walk out of the room, and they said yes. We talked for quite some time afterwards, and I supported him through his safety planning. Afterwards, he thanked me and he cried, and he said, you've literally saved my life. Thank you so much. My colleague will speak more to funding resources for this. We do support, the Indiana Behavioral Health Commission's recommendations for how to find, the financial support for these additional allocations. Thank you so much. Happy to
answer any questions. Thank you. Do you have a question? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Lisa Hutchison. On deck, Lisa Wilkin. And in the whole Courtney Curtis. Good afternoon Chairman
Thompson and committee members. I'm Lisa Hutchison, the Vice President of Prevention and Policy at Mental Health America of Indiana and I have come here to advocate for a way that you might be able to fund all the programs and services that you're hearing about today. I'm here to advocate for an increase in Indiana's alcohol tax, which is an untapped, underutilized, and evergreen source of funding. A brief background on the alcohol tax in Indiana. The last time the tax was raised, Ronald Reagan was president, prince Charles and
lady Diana got married, and Margaret Thatcher was elected the first female prime minister. That was forty four years ago in 1981. Yet Indiana still remains in the lowest third of the nation in alcohol taxes due to lack of indexing, a shift in alcohol consumption, and inflation. We are 36 in the nation for our wine tax, forty third in the nation for our beer tax, and forty fourth in the nation for our spirits tax. The lack of an increase in the
state tax for over four decades has resulted in stagnant revenue growth, but what hasn't been stagnant is the cost of alcohol misuse. And I would like to focus briefly on the alcohol related Medicaid cost, which you have in one of your handouts there. Medicaid accounts for about 24% of all spending on substance abuse treatment in The United States. Twenty Twenty One Medicaid claims show, data shows that seven point two percent of people enrolled in Medicaid have a diagnosed substance
use disorder. Indiana's rate is nine point two, so we are higher than the national average. Just looking at alcohol use disorder, two point six or over twenty five thousand Hoosiers on Medicaid have an alcohol use disorder. The estimated cost to provide care to those persons is over $431,000,000. Increasing Indiana's alcohol tax is not just an opportunity to raise much needed revenue, it's a chance to invest in health, safety and
well-being of Hoosiers. For over forty years Indiana's alcohol taxes remain unchanged while the cost of excessive alcohol use have continued to rise, in fact alcohol related harm cost Hoosiers more than $4,000,000,000 every year, a staggering burden that affects our health care system, law enforcement, and communities. By raising the alcohol tax, we can take a significant step towards reducing excessive drinking, underage drinking, and alcohol related fatalities. Studies consistently show that higher
alcohol prices lead to lower consumption, particularly among the most vulnerable, which are youth and heavy drinkers. This is a proven evidence based solution to a persistent problem that our communities face. I would like to take a moment to thank, Representative Smaltz and Representative Harris for, authoring House Bill fourteen thirty four, which, if you increase the tax, would add much needed revenue to your communities to address, prevention, intervention, and treatment. So by
increasing the tax, you'll be supporting your people in your district to do that. For every dollar spent on prevention, dollars 10 is saved. This is a win win, it provides funding, but it also reduces the burden of alcohol misuse and improves public health. Thank you. Thank you, miss Hutchinson, for your testimony. I just wanna make sure I understand this. If Indiana added a 10 per 10¢ 10¢ per drink, the revenue generated is
almost half a billion dollars, 4 hundred and 80 4 million dollars. Is that right? Correct. That was the recommendation by the Behavioral Health Commission. How do you what is per drink? So if you bought a a case of beer, 24, is it $2.40 on a case, or is it just when you're buying a single drink at a at the Luke's Oil? It's a standard drink and that, I guess, would be up to you to decide how you would like to do that, but it is just a standard drink. So 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, one ounce of And all these increases
you're talking about raise a total of $1,300,000,000 a year, is that just the $10 per gallon raising a large percentage of nine? Right. I've broken them out by the Behavioral Health Commission recommendation, dollars 2 a gallon, dollars 8 a gallon, dollars 10 a gallon, so you can see the difference. Just giving you options. In total it's several billion dollars. It could be depending on how much you increase if you do that. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thank you.
Next up we have Lisa Wilkin On deck, Courtney Curtis. In the hole, David Over. Welcome. Thank you. My name is Lisa Wilkin. I am a United States Air Force veteran. I've been advocating here at the Indiana State House since 02/2009. You have seen me represent several organizations here. I have
testified before Congress. My advocacy work and my story was featured on the front page of the USA Today, and I am a proud inductee into the Indiana Military Veterans Hall of Fame for my advocacy work here in the state of Indiana for Hoosier veterans. And I come before you today to talk to you about something on page 50 of the house budget bill. It pertains to our Veterans Affairs Trust Fund. We missed this
in the 2023 budget. It's been going on for two years now where a state agency, the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs, created a program called grants for veteran services. It's a good program. The organizations that participate in that program are good nonprofits that serve our Hoosier veterans. But instead of coming to this body and asking for a state appropriation for that state program, they came to this body and asked
you to take that money from our Veterans Affairs Trust Fund. Our Veterans Affairs Trust Fund is the savings account for our military family relief fund. In 2016, senate bill two ninety five created the veterans trust. The reason that was done was senator Luke Kinley came to us, my senator at the time, and said, we need to protect that military family relief fund. It had a large balance in it because the eligibility for the relief fund was only one
year from deployment. Then we worked and we had that changed to three years from deployment. And with some more work, now all veterans that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible for that assistance fund. And so when that fund had a large balance in it, Senator Kenley said we need to protect this so that, no one sees that large fund and says, hey, I can take a half a million dollars out of it for this project or 250,000 out for another project. And so that's how the
Veterans Trust Fund was created. It is a true trust, and what was explained to us was then the only way to take money out of that trust is through the legislative process. And as I I mentioned, it was done in the 2023 budget, and we missed it. They took out $1,000,000 in 2023. They took out 1,250,000.00 in 2024. For the new budget, they're asking to take out 1,250,000.00 each year out
of that fund. The money that is in that fund is donated money from the good citizens of Indiana who buy those branch of service plates or support our troop plates and our POW MIA plates to help veterans in need. The initial thought of the veterans, military family relief fund was to make it a self sustaining fund. And so I wanted to bring this to your attention because if a state agency wants to create
a state program, they should be asking for state appropriations and at this rate the veterans affairs trust fund only has $11,400,000 in it. Our military family relief fund only has $2,200,000 in it and the transfer is not triggered until there's $4,000,000 in that relief fund. And so by the time that trigger happens we are going to almost deplete our veterans affairs trust fund and that's something
that we shouldn't be doing we should be using state appropriated funds especially within the last four years this state agency has been exposed for abusing this fund previously so I wanted to bring that to your attention I look forward to working with you in the future on possibly getting that switch to a regular appropriation not being taken from our trust fund. Thank you. Representative Judy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you
for your testimony. So I was just clarifying those line items in the last budget, we were allowing one could you repeat that one point In the 2023 budget, it was $1,000,000 the first year and $1,250,000 the second year. And this was to go for grants for veteran services. So that's for job training, job assistance, looks like public housing, veteran suicide. You would prefer that we do that through a separate line item and not use it through the transfer
of the trust fund, correct? Yes, sir. The trust fund, the military family relief fund, the Indiana code specifically states what the funds from the military family, relief fund can be used on. And that's where I think there's a very serious concern that, nowhere in the Indiana code does it say that those funds can be given to organizations. Those funds initially are all dedicated to go to veterans individual veterans in need and so I asked this body to take
a look at that to make sure in 2023 we had an appropriate appropriation from that fund and hopefully we can get it stopped in the future. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks for testifying. Thank you. Next up, we have Courtney Curtis on deck David Ober and the whole Steve Howell. Good afternoon. Thank you Chair Thompson, members of the committee. My name is Courtney Curtis. I'm the assistant executive director
for the Indiana Prosecuting Attorney's Council. I'm not here to talk about my agency though. I'm here to talk about a public prosecution fund which is on page 119 of, House Bill 1,001, the governor's budget. We are really appreciative of this fund appearing in the governor's budget. You may not be aware of it, but we have an attorney shortage in Indiana. And that attorney shortage is being, the brunt of it is being borne by deputy prosecutors and also public defenders. Part of our problem, in Indiana, and it makes sense why those
government attorneys would be bearing the brunt of the, attorney shortage, is that we're not paying our deputy public defenders and our deputy prosecutors enough money. Deputy prosecutors make about $30,000 less than DCS attorneys, if that is a comparison for you. Nobody goes into government work to be rich. Nobody assumes that they're gonna become, you know, a millionaire being a government attorney. But in an apples to apples comparison, a government attorney making $30,000 less is just simply not enough for them, to support
a family. Statewide, we're operating about 67% of the prosecutors that we would need when we borrow the caseload standards for the commission on court appointed attorneys. Some counties are operating as low as 35%. Frankly, public safety is at risk when we look at those numbers. This fund, what it does is it sets up a system by which if the county increases the salaries of the deputy prosecutors to 55% of the elected prosecutor's salary,
then the state would kick back a reimbursement to the county that's equal to 50% of that number. The county would have to have continued skin in the game, in fact, additional skin in the game. We would not be removing that. They would also still have to pay for, of course, the salaries of the remaining, workers, the support staff of the office and the operating fees and things like that. But the state would kick back 50% of that salary. If the county wants to
pay more than that 55%, it doesn't change what the state's reimbursement would be. The nice thing about this fund is that then we don't have to continue to come back and change the numbers. Every July, the Chief Justice sets what the salary is for an elected prosecutor, his or her chief deputy, and the judges. And so, that would move up then incrementally each year so we wouldn't have to keep coming back. And also, we wouldn't have to keep coming back and negotiating what's the percentage of the state's reimbursement. The final thing that I'll mention is
that this helps deputy public defenders as well. In commission counties, there is pay parity. So, if a deputy prosecutor is making a certain amount, then a deputy public defender who is doing similar work, who is similarly situated, cannot be paid less than that deputy prosecutor. So, when this fund, with your support, is enacted, then not only would you be supporting public safety for deputy, prosecutors, but also for public defenders as well. Happy to answer any questions.
Thank you. What was it, Delaney? Ma'am, you used an adjective in counties. Certain kind of counties have this link with the public defenders. Is it all 92 counties that this link is between the prosecutors paying that public defenders pay? It is the commission counties. So those counties that have opted into the commission. Yes. I don't understand the commission counties help. I wish that I knew more about that. I believe that there are 62 counties but I may be wrong about that. The commission on
court appointed attorneys is the system by which if the county opts into that, then the state is supplementing. Right now it's 40% of their, felony work goes back to the county in a supplement. So if the county chooses to be in the public defender's commission, then then this would apply to them. Correct. If they don't, sir, then what happens is the individual judges are entering into a contract basis with attorneys who are providing those public defender services. Thank
you. Further questions? Thank you for taking your time. Thank you. Next up, David Ober. On deck, Steve Howell. In the whole, Laura Barry. Welcome. Thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I have four items for your consideration in this bill. First, we greatly support the language at the end of the bill that sets up the Hoosier workforce upscaling program. I think that that is a positive
step forward and it asks for a lot of collaboration from employers and we are happy to be at the table to help work through any detail. Other items I will not repeat what Miss Cast Gregg spoke about earlier in this hearing, but would echo support for an increase in the cigarette tax. We have advocated for that for a long time. And this chamber has not been the impediment on that issue, so I won't belabor the point. Two other
points of note, this budget does not have dollars appropriated for the direct flights program that has been in previous budgets. We just secured a non stop flight to Dublin Last October, wanna continue to see that. They're one of our largest trade partners as a representative of O'Brien could tell you all in the room. The last item is just, this budget has decreased by about 50% the appropriation for the manufacturing readiness grant program,
which has been hugely successful. It's oversubscribed. It allows manufacturers in the state that qualify to automate and innovate within their production and would support returning that back to the appropriation that was in the last budget which was 20,000,000 per year. With that happy to take any questions. Thank you. Representative Schlager? Any questions? Thanks for being here. Okay,
Jordan? I'm sorry, I have a guiding principle. Whenever you're here, I'm gonna ask a question. I just do, so thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is Jeff Brantley gonna come and testify on the educational, on education funding from the Chamber's perspective? My understanding is that he's not gonna testify in any committee that you sit on, but In jest, in jest. Thank
you. Thank you. Okay. Up next, Steve Howell. On deck is Laura Berry and in the hole is Rachel Scott. Welcome. Thank you, members of the committee. Steve Howell, Senior Director of Industry Affairs with the Indiana Corn Growers Association and the Indiana Soybean Alliance, representing our new Spain Farmer members across Indiana. Just a few items
that I want to mention, we support the retiring farmer tax credit. We see that as a big benefit to our farmers as they begin to transition out of the business. How can we set up a program to encourage beginning farmers to step in and take over and moving those assets that will help move those assets to that next generation to continue farming. Other item, the farmers savings accounts,
you heard earlier a call out to Senator Lugar, the concept that he developed, we believe that this would be a big benefit to our members. We have very, volatile income, across agriculture, some years better than others if we could bank some of that those dollars in the good years and then pull pull from that fund during the the leaner years would be a big benefit to our farmers. Also, I want to call out funding needs for the grain,
grain buyers warehouse licensing agency. I don't know if there's an oversight, but those dollars need to be replenished there. Very important program to ensure, that the elevators we deliver our products to are financially sound. And again, mentioned earlier was the animal disease diagnostic laboratory. Livestock and poultry is our number one customer for corn and soybeans and we need to support that work that that laboratory does for our industry.
With that, happy to take any questions. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Next up, we've got Laura Berry on deck, Rachel Scott and the whole Betsy Delgado. Welcome. Mister chairman, members of the committee, I'm Laura Berry. I'm the executive director of the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. I actually have Rachel
Scott here with me. I am representing the 40 domestic violence programs in the state of Indiana and the hundred agencies that work with survivors and individuals who cause harm. I just wanna thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about the domestic violence prevention and treatment fund that's outlined in the governor's budget on page 22. We are here just to encourage stable funding. Currently, the budget allocates $8,000,000 in appropriation and $1,260,000 in user
fee funds. These funds are awarded out to 44 domestic violence programs across the state of Indiana through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute to provide emergency shelter, hotel based housing, transitional housing, food security, transportation, meal assistance, supportive services, and educational based programs. With these 44 programs, we were able to serve over 20,000 women, children, and men last year, and provide over a
hundred thousand shelter bed nights. We were unfortunately not able to serve over 1,100 women and children in our programs last year just due to capacity. To really tell you more about what the Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Fund does within the state of Indiana, I invited my colleague Rachel Scott, who is the CEO of Coburn Place, the largest transitional housing unit here in Indianapolis, who does amazing work on the ground with women, children,
and men. So, thank you for your consideration and for stable funding for us. Thank you. Again, I'm Rachel Scott. Safe housing is the top need for domestic violence survivors. Last year, Coburn Place provided safe housing and services for a 16 households who were fleeing domestic violence, and DVPT helped make that happen. Let me tell you about Donna to illustrate why DVPT is so necessary. Donna left her abuser and
was homeless during last month's blizzard. She traveled around the city trying to stay moving and find temporary safety. Each night, she was sleeping in hospital lobbies or apartment building hallways. She was trying to stay strong and not go back to her abuser, but it was hard. DVPT funds allowed a trained advocate to connect with Donna, create a safety plan with her, and get her to a motel where she could stay until she was able to move in. When she recently walked into her new home at Coburn Place, she began
to cry, not out of sadness, but from relief. She no longer had to worry about where she would stay tonight. She now feels safe knowing her home is secure twenty four seven. She has a team of caring individuals who are helping her figure out her next steps. With continued support, Donna will be one of the 90% of survivors who complete our program and moves to housing she can sustain on her own. Right now, for every Donna that Coburn Place helps get safe and stable housing, there are nine
we cannot serve. Funding for domestic violence services is unstable, and it appears it will get worse. Across Indiana, DVPT gives your local shelters and other programs like ours the ability to help survivors like Donna. Without this support, Hoosier women will have nowhere to turn at their most difficult moment. Thank you. Thank you. Representative Clinker? Thank you. Do you work throughout the state? Are you located in Indianapolis, but work throughout Indiana?
She works statewide, and I work just in Indianapolis. Thank you. But you're effective throughout the state. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for testifying. Thank you. Next up, we have Betsy Delgado. On deck, John Metzinger. And the whole, David Schuyler.
Welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Thompson and members of the committee. My name is Betsy Delgado, and I serve as the Chief Mission Education Officer for Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana.
Our Goodwill is one of several Goodwills serving the state of Indiana and is proud to be the creator of the ExCeL Center adult high schools, which have been now have now been implemented by Goodwill organizations across the entire state and much of the country, largely thanks to the impactful investments made by this governing body. On behalf of nearly 10,000 Hoosiers, who now have a full high school diploma, plus industry recognized credits
and industry recognized certifications, enjoying fulfilling careers and lives as a result of your strategic investments in the Excel Center, we thank you so very much. By way of brief background, the Excel Center adult high schools offer Hoosier adults who did not complete high school an opportunity to obtain a full high school diploma. Not a GED or not an equivalency, a full diploma,
which meets and aligns with all of our state's diploma standards. The ability for working aged adults to attain a full high school diploma is proven by the data to help them obtain meaningful employment and go on to higher education, all of which allows them to support themselves and their families without government assistance and to become significant members of Indiana's workforce pipeline. When I say proven by the data, I mean that in the fullest sense.
The Excel Centers are the only schools to have outcomes proven by a quasi experimental study, conducted by economists at the University of Notre Dame. The outcomes of this research show a 20 to one return on investment on every dollar invested by the state into Excel centers. I believe many of you have had the opportunity to attend sessions where our economists at Notre Dame presented our research. The research demonstrates the profound impact of our model. I come to you today as the
operator of 19 of the 24 Excel centers across the state that together are now graduating more than 1,000 students with full diplomas every school year. And having done so on a per seat allotment that has been flat for the last eight fiscal years. For this reason, we hope the legislature will consider making a strategic investment fully supported by the data to yield substantial quantitative and qualitative results
for the betterment of the state and the lives of thousands of Hoosiers. To increase the per seat amount of its investment in the Excel centers. In making this request, we remind you that per seat funding is a measure different from per student. This amount can serve to fund more than one student per year. Overall, an increase to the per seat funding amount for the Excel Centers will allow us to continue to serve students at the highest levels in line with our state diploma
standards. I'm going to stop here because Dylan is one of our past graduates from the Anderson Excel Center, and I hope you will let him. He's got a very brief statement. Thank you, Dylan. Hi, guys. I'm Dylan Snell. I'm a graduate of the 2013 class at the Anderson Excel Center. I found the Excel Center after spending a little bit of time in jail due to a felony theft charge of, oops, sorry, sorry, a felony theft charge of giving gas to friends. That was in the summer of twenty twelve. On the walk home from jail I found the Excel Center, in
an essence, through a friend that was attending. Met with some teachers and staff there. The rest is history. I sit here today as a success story of the Excel Center, as someone who has turned their life around and am forever thankful and in debt to the Excel Center for helping me grow in education, as I'm about to wrap up a bachelor's and, in my career as I, just purchased a house, married, and we're doing very successful at the moment. All that credited to the Excel Center, the connections, the friendships, and
the, the funding from you guys that's helped get us there. So I appreciate it. Chris Will. Yeah, I was wondering your return on investment, could you share that with the Chairman Thompson, that way he can share with all of us? Absolutely. And appreciate your stories. Yeah, absolutely. And if anybody's interested in the presentation that Notre Dame does, just contact us and we're happy to have them come down and do that or they'll do it over soon if you want to. You're welcome. Representative Harris. Thank Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for
sharing your story. That's a great story. If you said this, I missed it. How is your reach out to find people that could come and benefit from your services? Sure. I think there's a variety of ways. We've discovered actually probably 70% is word-of-mouth. So once we enter a community and people start coming and it's really what they expect, there's free childcare, there's industry recognized certifications, all those things, they go back into the community and then it starts to perpetuate more. We use social media. We have, we work with judges. We
work with, you know, schools who have students that are under credited and overaged that say, hey, you should head out there within multiple communities across the state and go check out the Excel center. So there's lots of avenues to our door, including our stores. We you know, the people that we employ get referred to us as well. And you sorry. You answered my other question, which was about additional supports like childcare. Thank you. You're welcome. Representative Andrei? We have, 24
Excel centers. Oh, so do you wanna ask the question again? How many Excel centers do you have, throughout the state? We have 24 throughout the state, serving over 6,000 students. Do you have anything in the pipeline to continue to expand in areas that maybe is needed that you you are looking at to possibly, put one there? Yeah. We've grown to multiple, communities within this body, because we've been asked. Our process is a little different. We have to come to the state and come to, the general assembly every time we want
to grow to ask for more seats in order to be able to expand and enter into new communities. So that's why our research is so important to demonstrate a return investment. So if a community says and we kind of do a census, process where we can see, dropout density and we can identify a community that has a high need for us to come in. Thank you. What's the capital cost to expand a new center? I know it might vary
from county based on the area, but, you know, if you have a approximate number. It costs probably about $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 a year for each school serving about 300 to 400 students. And we are actually capped at a per seat funding from the state. And that's why we're asking to be able to expand that funding. Thank you. Representative Mayfield? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a question because there's a
small unique group of potential students that I don't know if you can serve because is your facility considered a school in the way that some felons are barred from setting foot on school property? Are they potential clients of yours? It depends. There is very limited, like we can serve almost everybody that's experiencing reentry. There are a small number of offenses
that we can't allow in because we have childcare on-site. And so we have to make sure that we're protecting our little ones. Alright. Thanks. Lopez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. How many, how many of your graduates ultimately, while getting the diploma, are also attaining a high value certificate? Ninety nine percent. Thank you. Porter? How many of your graduates potentially go on to higher
38%. And they Out of how many? Every year, how many do you graduate? So we graduate about 1,000 students a year, actually over 1,000 students a year out of our schools. They go to college, mostly community college, Ivy Tech, at a rate of about thirty eight percent. And their retention is at a rate of seventy six percent of retention and graduation from community college. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you.
If anybody's having trouble leaving the door, there's a button on the wall you can hit. After 05:00, bars come down, and we have a whole another issue. Next up, we've got John Metzinger. On deck, David Schuyler. In the hole, Julie Gasper. Welcome, sir. Let's see. Hello, good afternoon. I'm
John Metzinger. I serve, the Fort Wayne community as general manager of Fort Wayne Public Transportation Corporation, and I also serve as the president of the state, Public Transportation Council of Indiana, which is an association of urban and rural public transit agencies around the state. On behalf of CityLink and the 66 rural and urban agencies across Indiana, who are recipients of state PMTF
funding or the public mass transit fund, I'm here to advocate for sustaining and increasing public transportation funding in Indiana. About 90 Indiana companies support the public transit industry, both in Indiana and nationally and globally. The PMTF in last budget session was added as a line item in NDOT's budget. And so that's where it resides in Governor Brown's budget. Grateful to see that
it was not reduced, it was held flat. However, this is a challenge I'd like to discuss with you today. The PMTF fund has been held flat for, this will be the third and fourth consecutive year, and that's after eight years where funding grew only by 9% in total. And so during the last twelve years, we understand that transportation infrastructure costs have escalated,
due to inflation. This is something we know the legislature is looking at in terms of roads, bridges, and highways, And it's important to realize that for the non driving public, public transportation is transportation infrastructure that's important to Indiana. And so please, we ask that you can consider how we address inflationary cost growth. In Fort Wayne, our costs grew 60% over the same
period that revenue grew only 9% in twelve years. It's the cost of buses that have gone up, replacement parts, fuel, labor, casualty insurance, and other areas have resulted in increased costs, just due to the nature of our business. Nationwide, about half of public transit agencies are facing a fiscal cliff, and this has to do as a post COVID effect of, flat, state funding,
and cost inflation. In Fort Wayne, unfortunately, we are the first in Indiana to go over the fiscal cliff. In 2025, our budget was, we were facing a $2,500,000 deficit, out of our $19,000,000 budget. Ultimately, the city of Fort Wayne provided a safety net of funding to help us avoid a direct service cut of 14%, which would have reduced our ridership by 300,000 rides
annually. 300,000 fewer trips to jobs, education, and healthcare with a total economic impact to the city of Fort Wayne of $12,000,000 in economic returns, from riders using public transit. So the city of Fort Wayne has provided letters as well for you. We'll be handing these out to you, calling upon the state to review the PMTF and consider an increase. And so we'll be passing those along. And I'll just close by saying both
Lafayette and South Bend are facing a fiscal cliff in 2026, and so let's work together to realize that how public transportation really is the missing piece in all the social programs that have been discussed today in terms of addiction, recovery, job access, healthcare, education, investing in public transportation is vital. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Representative Klinker? Thank you, mister
chairman. John, I'm sorry we lost you in Lafayette. Fort Wayne. Yes. Thank you. We're so busy. We're happy. We're happy for you that you're in Fort Wayne, but we miss you in Lafayette. Thank you, representative clinker and former neighbor. Nice to see you. Representative Prior. Thank you, mister chairman, and thank you for, for coming to testify. And I think it's the number that
you gave because I was gonna ask how much had your expenses increased, and you said 60%. So, can you talk about how you all have have managed to at some point, it seems like piecemeal to keep everything together, in Fort Wayne without jeopardizing, the services that you provide, to people. And then also,
with COVID, I know that Fort Wayne got some COVID money, the impact that that has because you're losing that as well. So it's kind of a double double whammy for you. Thank thank you. Those are good questions. During the COVID pandemic, ridership and operating revenue declined, which was one of the reasons why, increased federal, investment was necessary. And
so, across the industry and in our community, we became more dependent upon federal funding during the pandemic. And then, of course, as we're exiting the pandemic, those COVID relief dollars expiring, we have to find other sources of revenue now to meet those higher costs. In Fort Wayne, our ridership is fully restored to the pre pandemic level. And so our riders are back. They're back on transit. And so, and that we're seeing that across the state. So transit
riders are back. We just need to be able to sustain the services. K. Well, thank you. I I've continued to want to provide more money for public mass transit, and I think, we need to do a lot more investing because everybody cannot afford a car. Some people may be able to afford a car, but they may just want to drive or be fearful. And we have to make sure that we're providing all forms of transportation to people. And public mass transit, we have not funded it
at the level that it should. So thank you for being here. Thank you very much. Representative Mayfield? Thank you, mister chairman. I'm not sure I might have missed it, but you talked about state funding is flat, costs are going up and, inflation. You've responded by cutting services or whatever you have to do to manage that increase. Have you increased the ridership share of fares? Yes. In Fort Wayne, we proposed a 20% fare increase, which goes into
effect April 1. And is that the first right increase for the rider that you've had? Yeah. So I've been the CEO of the agency for four years. Raising public transit fares is a challenging, is a challenge, and and what you'll see across Indiana is that it's a long time between fare increases, a decade or more. It had been seventeen years in Fort Wayne, and it and the that increase was made after sixteen years.
The reason is that there's not a direct correlation between the price of the fare and revenue because of the elasticity of demand. Our riders are very, elastic so that they're very sensitive to the fare. So raising fares 20% can actually result in a loss of revenue by losing ridership. So we found that 20% was the sweet spot where we still raised revenue and maintained riders.
Yeah. Representative Judy. Yeah. Thank you, mister chairman. It's $45,000,000 in year one and year two. How much federal money does that leverage in the match? I'm I'm sorry. What's the question? How much how much federal money does that leverage with the match? Yes. Thank you for that. Since 2016, dollars 1,100,000,000.0 in federal transit funding has come to in Indiana. And so the federal government is making
a much greater investment in public transit than the state is. For Fort Wayne, out of the $45,000,000,000 in PMTF, we receive, $2,100,000 and approximately, dollars 6,000,000 annually in federal funds. $6,000,000 annually in federal funds. Regretien Porter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. John, with the climate of Washington, DC, how much are you
concerned about that $1,400,000,000 coming over and over? Yeah. We, will be working with our federal representatives to hopefully fulfill the promise of the bipartisan infrastructure law, which brought record levels of investment to non driving modes of public transit in our nation. And so we know that that bill is up for reauthorization in 2026. And, of course, we're concerned, as we all should be, that federal funding may not flow to
the level that it has for vital infrastructure. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you very much. Next up, we've got David Schuyler. On deck, Julie Gasper. And in the hole, Christy Howell. Welcome. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, my name
is David Sclar. I'm the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council. We are the community relations and public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community. Here today to support our request for $2,500,000 per year to create and fund a nonprofit security grant program. A state nonprofit security grant program. This request is in association with House Bill fourteen ninety one. We are rip, appreciate represent Delaney co authoring
that bill with representative Baird. The funding would create a state program to support the the nonprofit organizations and their who are at a higher risk of security issues. The fund would be administered by the Department of Homeland Security, and it would be consistent with, 19 other states who have created similar funds. The, this program would be modeled after a federal nonprofit security grant program,
that, provides for the needs of, community organizations all across the country, to do this. Unfortunately, that program has far higher demand than it is able, to meet. And, here locally in the greater Indianapolis community, we have had, over $600,000 of request to that federal program that have not been we have not been able to, receive and be funded
by by that program. And, there are a number of smaller communities around the state with, with less resources that are just simply frozen out of that federal program because we are competing with the New York's and LA's and Chicago's, of the world. The, Collectively, our community spends, just here in the Greater Indianapolis, area, our community, which is our Jewish
community center and community synagogues, spend, nearly $2,000,000 every year to meet our security needs now, which includes, armed security while the premises are open and occupied, again, increased, physical plant changes, door locks, security cameras, public address systems, bulletproof glass if necessary, car ramming, cement blocks in the parking lot to make sure that that folks can't, can't ram our facilities. So, these
are just, you know, some of the considerations that that our community has to deal with on a daily basis now. And, you know, we would we would appreciate the support. Just want to recognize that, while we are here advocating for the program, it is not simply for the Jewish community. It would be open to all, but obviously, our community, would be would be a benefit. So happy to answer any pro questions about the program itself or is the security needs of our community. Representative Lopez. Thank you, mister chairman. So thank you for your testimony. So is the is the idea that
that more centers and more locations would receive funding or is there additional I mean, I I could see ongoing investments for, say, armed security, but once the infrastructure investments have been made, then it's maintenance. Right. Well, so there there are always, so it's a couple of different things. There are there are always, new, security measures that can be taken. But really, I think, initially, the program would would honestly provide the most support to, again, some of those smaller communities and smaller
facilities that haven't had the the chance to do this. They they've been frozen out of the the federal program. That the federal program is also extremely time intensive and resource intensive from from an application and administrative perspective. So, what a lot of states who have created these these state level funds have done is, again, make them a little bit more accessible to to the smaller organizations and communities in particular. And if
you're not already, I just and it's not a funding thing, but I'd encourage you to if you all could be working together to share best practices, because that's I I mean, probably for the smaller organizations, that's a that's an issue too, is just to know how to do that. Absolutely. So it's a it's a great question. We actually have a, a regional security adviser that is, that is employed by our Jewish federation here in Greater Indianapolis, and he he's a representative of a larger organization called the Secure Community Network. It's almost a Jewish community FBI, and it is it is
built to to address security needs. And, even though he is employed by the Greater Indianapolis community, he supports smaller communities, with some of that information sharing all across the state. Representative Delaney. Yeah. David, I've been very impressed with the security efforts at the Jewish community facilities in my district. But I wanna congratulate you on trying to spread it to some of these smaller places. And I hope they'll model after what I've seen you doing in terms of physical
security, caution, and so forth. And the upshot is people feel more comfortable, which when you're going to your synagogue or your gymnasium or something, that's kind of important. So I hope we can continue these efforts. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Lillian. And I'll just mention to that, again, to Representative Lopez's point about our security director. So he has he has certainly assisted our, smaller Jewish communities around the state, but he is also working with our interfaith partners, to make sure to do that resource
and information sharing with them as well. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Next up, we've got Julie Gasper. On deck, Christy Howe. In the whole, Susan Bair. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to speak
today about the critical need to restore the gifted and talented line item to $15,000,000 My name is Julie Klusas Gasper, and I am the executive director of the Indiana Association for the Gifted. I'm here on behalf of Indiana's one hundred and thirty thousand high ability students. I know in the grand scheme of things, the budget, dollars 2,000,000 doesn't seem very significant, but to these
students to these students, this funding, which is the only funding for high ability education, is critical to make sure that they're able to get the educational experiences that they need to thrive. In 02/2007, the Indiana legislature unanimously passed a bill that required that schools identify and provide services to high ability students. At that time, funding for high ability was set at $12,800,000 This budget sets
funding at $13,000,000 Over the past eighteen years, there have been an additional 35,000 students identified as high ability students and the cost for testing materials, for professional development, for differentiated curriculum and instruction has gone up significantly and these aren't things that are just nice to have. These are things that the schools are required to provide by law to these students. But investing in
high ability education, it's it's not just about complying with the law. It's also about ensuring that Indiana remains a state that invests in our students, that invests in our future leaders and invests in talent development. Reducing funding now would be a step backwards. In the last budget, funding for the gifted and talented line item was set at $15,000,000 I urge you to restore it to $15,000,000 in this current budget. Thank you. Thank
you. Representative Paff. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Real big mister chair. Sorry. I I gave him a promotion because it's been a long day. So high ability students, what a what a amazing need. I I can't go on more and more about this. So I teach a couple advanced classes and that's your future. Those are the people that are creating the next jobs in Indiana. So I highly support what you're trying
to do and I agree we need full funding on this. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Representative Porter. Thank you. Thank you very much, and thank you for being here. You know, with this current budget that we're looking at, they were asked to cut 5% off their department. And and so probably what occurred is that the price part of that 5% was cut from gifted and talented. We were actually
cut by 14%. Fourteen %? Mhmm. So okay. Duly noted, and I I want and I you you more than qualified for that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Excellent. Thank you. Next up, we've got Christie Howell. On deck, Susan Baer and the whole Josh Trenary. Welcome. Hello. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's so nice
to be here. Nice to see all of you, especially my representatives, representative Heaton and representative Path. Always good to see you guys. But thank you, mister chairman, members of the committee. My name is Christy Howe. I am a library director in Terre Haute, Indiana, and I'm here today to urge you to consider restoring by 25% the appropriation to the state library for their operations budget. So the Indiana State Library provides
services that you're probably aware of, things like access to research on local history or genealogy, information about your own government here, right? They're preserving all of those records for us. They also provide specialized services like the talking book and braille collection to serve Hoosiers throughout the state. What you may not know though is that the state library also provides incredible cost savings to local communities by harnessing the power of statewide contracting for a shared electronic resources
and technology. They also manage delivery services statewide which maximizes efficiency and affordability. So these are really efficient ways to deliver high quality services throughout the state at minimal cost. Of critical importance though is an entirely different line of work and that's the development work and the accountability work that the state library provides to library boards, to elected officials, to library directors, and to library staff. They provide annual training
on public library standards, data collection methods, annual reports, they host workshops and trainings with agencies like the Department of Local Government Finance and State Board of Accounts and they do this to ensure that the management of taxpayer resources is compliant with the extensive restrictions that are placed upon local libraries. The state library also hosts training for library boards to ensure that they are well informed and fulfilling their statutory duties and
they issue legal memos to ensure that boards are updating policies to be compliant with legislative changes. Now mine is a larger library, and I find these resources and tools incredibly value. They save a tremendous amount of money, time, and energy for the taxpayers of Vigo County but I'm a larger library in our state so if these are helpful to me, you can only imagine that in the rural communities throughout our state, the coordination, guidance, and accountability provided by the state library is invaluable.
So therefore I urge you to reconsider the funding as proposed for the state library to restore 25% of the cut that was suggested and to recognize the tremendous value that's being provided to you by your state library. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Okay. Terrific. Thank you. Next up, we've got Susan Bair. On deck, Josh Trenary. And in the hall, Andrew Alvarez.
Welcome. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Susan Byer and I'm the executive director of the Allen County Public Library. I also serve as the main coordinator for Dolly Parton's imagination library for Allen County. I'm here today to urge you to please continue the 50% state matching dollars to support the Imagination Library throughout California. These matching dollars were first appropriated by the state in 2023 in this proposed budget that item has been eliminated. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library mails an age
appropriate book each month to children birth through their fifth birthday. I have 30 experience as a librarian many of those years as a children's librarian and I can tell you that access to books in the early years is a key indicator to a child's future educational success. Access to books and building a home library prepare Hoosier children to enter kindergarten ready to learn to read. Indiana has seen improvements in reading scores. We don't want to lose that momentum
and Dolly Parton's imagination library is a key factor in building strong reading habits in children at an early age. The Imagination Library is an ideal example of the best of public private partnerships. Local program partners fundraise for the program and the impact of those local dollars is increased by the support of the state of Indiana. In my community, our Allen County Public Library Foundation is the local program partner. They have had great success
fundraising for the Imagination Library. Dolly Parton, kids and books, that is a winning combination. In Allen County, we launched our imagination library program in October of twenty twenty four. In December of twenty twenty four, the Allen County program was the fastest growing imagination library program in the entire country. We have 6,000 children signed up in Allen County in about a three month period. More than 123,000 Hoosier children will receive an Imagination Library
book mailed to their home this month. Hoosiers have demonstrated their generosity in communities all over Indiana by donating to their local programs but many of these programs would no longer be financially sustainable if the state matching funds were eliminated. If the matching funds were no longer available, our program in Allen County would not be able to grow and may have to end entirely. We receive new registrations to the program in Allen County every day. This Tuesday I saw a registration
for a baby girl in New Haven, Indiana. The baby was born on 02/04/2025 and her parents signed her up for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library on 02/04/2025. This baby girl in New Haven will receive a home library of 60 books just like this one before she enters kindergarten. What a wonderful way to start a lifetime of reading and learning for this little girl. I ask you to continue this critical investment and the success of Who's Your Children by continuing to fund a 50% match
for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Indiana. Thank you. Thank you. Representative. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the state funds the 50% match that we do, my nephew and niece get these books and it's a fantastic program. But the state fund, does that go to postage? It doesn't go to books. Right? It doesn't help. What do we what is the
state money that we're contributing do? Very good question. So the program costs an average of $31 per year per child. So that $31 pays for the books plus the mailing. So the money from the state and the local program partners, that's going to pay for the actual book and the postage. And you would agree that early childhood learning helps kids get ready for pre K and then kindergarten. So the more we invest in early
childhood learning the better we are off with kids down the road in their educational progress. Absolutely. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Further questions? Thank you for being here. Thank you. Next up, we got Josh Turner. On deck, Andrew Alvarez. In the whole, David Westenberger. Go ahead, please, sir. Good afternoon, mister chairman, members of the committee. My name is Josh Trenary with, Indiana Pork Producers. Thanks for some time today.
Line three on page 33 is Grain Buyers Warehouse Licensing Agency. Indiana Pork represents sellers of grain that are licensees as well as sellers of grain and grain purchasers that are licensees. We have an interest in making sure that the agency is functioning all the way around. In 2023, there was a legislative mandate that the agency be audited. So Crow did that audit, part of that audit report indicated the agency didn't
have adequate staffing. And so at that time, there was an appropriation made for an initial $600,000 and went towards staffing. That's not showing up in this version of the budget. It's also at a time where there's a coalition of ag groups and groups representing the licensees that are working on a bill to move through the legislature. So we're really doing a big overhaul of the agency if that bill moves this year and doing it predicated on the
assumption that we'd have some staff there to do it based on the staffing changes after that Crow audit. So we'd love to see that $600,000 back. Next, direct you back to the animal disease diagnostic lab and the handout you received earlier. Poultry and the soy and corn folks did a good job of calling this out earlier. This is on line eight on page 26. I want to get into it in a little more detail. Statutory charge for ADDL is that for
animals, domestic animals, prevention, eradication and control of diseases. Obviously, that includes food animals. So by extension, we're protecting food security interests with the ADDL and obviously the farmers financial health. So in order for it to be possible to do this, and this is the nuance of this, I think it's really important to convey, is to do the type of disease eradication and prevention work that we need to do this day and age through that lab. The lab has to be a certain type of certified lab, otherwise the diagnostic testing it needs is
not going to be available to it and the state's not going to have it. So it has to be it has to be registered as a national animal health laboratory network lab. And in order to do that, it has to have sufficient staffing to meet the needs of the workflows and the processes they have to do to that for that diagnostic testing. But they also have to have a facility accreditation in order to be a member of the lab. And so that's why it's so important to keep the facilities upgraded. And so there's
a governing body, an association of veterinary lab diagnosticians that has to accredit it. You turn that accreditation in. And so the money, the asks on the back side of the handout show the additional staffing needs to catch us up for the mandatory, salary increases that Purdue mandates for those employees. We're trying to get that back steady after years of the state funding being stagnant and also the facilities changes we need to make sure they can still get that accreditation so they can still do
the testing they need to do. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Next up, we've got Andrew Alvarez. On deck, David Westenberger. I'm really sorry. And the whole Hadley Moore blah, Jorge. Go ahead, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Andrew Alvarez, and I am the vice president of
legislative affairs for the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, also known as INARF. Today we rise in support of the introduced version of House Bill 1,001, and we are very pleased to see the governor's desire to fully fund the Medicaid forecast as seen in the Medicaid assistance line item on page 40 of the bill. We also wanted to take a moment to thank you again for all of your wonderful support that you have given us from the 2023 budget, all from the disability provider community back from the 2023 budget. Among many
other accomplishments, your investment resulted in a significant wage increase for our state's hardworking direct support professionals. This workforce supports individuals with disabilities every day, and we are proud to be on the right track toward them receiving a competitive wage in the marketplace. The funding from the 2023 budget has been crucial for NR providers and for our goal of expanding access to high quality services to Hoosiers with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And just to be clear, too, some of the services
that our members provide include, transportation services, pre vocational, ABA, adult day services, and group home services as well that, we are in support of as well. We would also like to keep this positive momentum going for us in 2025. We look forward to continually being a resource to the committee, members, and, any of the staff as well on any of our services that we, our members provide. And with that I am happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Questions? Perfect.
Claire. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Alvarez for your testimony. I think you used the term on the right track with respect to DSP wages. Would you please unpack that a little bit more for the committee in terms of brief history of where we've been, where we are, and where you think we need to be? And then second question, with the 14 c transition, underway,
2027, I believe, is the target. Would you please talk about that for the committee? Provide us with a little background. For sure. Yeah. Thank you, Representative Clay, for the question. So, I'll take the first one first. So, competitive wages in the marketplace for our direct support professionals. A lot of that has been the result of numerous, you know, either inflationary rate increases or certainly from the 2023 appropriation that we got in the budget for our Medicaid rates, was very, very helpful and impactful for our providers
and then in turn for their workforce. So, just to give a little bit of context here too, just this past year we were happy to say that the average wage among in our providers for direct support professionals is now at $17 an hour. And years before that it was, you know, certainly a few dollars underneath that, so even from last year we saw a significant increase just mainly thanks to the, the work that this committee put into, the rate increases that came in 2023.
And in terms of the, 14 c phase out that's happening too, we, we are definitely still, you know, keeping track of everything that's there as well. Most of our our members are non 14 c's, but, we are still making sure that we have, are complying with the government and then absolutely acting as a resource for anything that we can do for, the agencies as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Quick
follow-up, Mr. Alvarez. Back to thanks for the 14 c information, but back to the DSP wages. You talked at the beginning of your testimony about, being appreciative that the proposed budget, fully funds the the Medicaid forecast. That directly relates to the ability to sustain the DSP wages that you just talked about. Right? That's correct. That's our, that's absolutely something that we have in mind as well is that with what we have with fully funding the Medicaid forecast and the budget currently,
that would allow us to maintain the rates and hopefully make some more headway with ESP wages. Right. And your members are competing in the marketplace for workforce so that the ability to maintain that wage is critical. Talk about the kinds of competition they typically face. Yeah. So, a perfect example of just some competition that they would face is, and again, these folks are providing necessary daily services to individuals with disabilities for, you know, a lot of them are, would not be able to live the
same way without these types of services. And, a lot of times their direct competition is not necessarily with other direct support professionals, it's with the folks who happen to work at McDonald's or other, you know, fast food chains or retail stores as well. So, the more that we can, allow our wage to be more competitive for our direct support professionals, we feel confident that we can have even more access to quality care in the future too. Representative Klinker? Chairman, how many facilities do
you have throughout the state? I'm sorry? How many facilities do you have throughout the state? We have so we're going through membership renewal. I believe at this point we have 72 NRF members at this point throughout the state all across different corners of of the state of Indiana. And they're all surviving, I hope? Yes. Yeah. Hopefully, you know, thriving here too. So, yes. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thanks, sir. Next up, we've got
David Westenberger. On deck, Hadley, and the whole Carlin Yoder. Welcome. Thank you. Good to be here. My name is David Westenberger. I'm the president and CEO of Indiana Youth Services Association, more commonly known as IYSA. IYSA leads a comprehensive approach to supporting Indiana's youth programs, strengthening systems, and supporting the people that do this important work. Fifty
years ago, Indiana incarcerated more young people than any state in this country. In response to this, the general assembly established youth service bureaus in Indiana with code 31Dash26Dash 1, creating community organizations focused on delinquency prevention, community education, information and referral, and advocacy. As a result, Indiana is viewed as a leader now, having a strong network of youth serving organizations,
all working toward a common goal to improve the quality of life of young Hoosiers. Some of you may be familiar with the 25 youth service bureaus that reach almost 60 counties in our state. Bauer Family Resources in Lafayette, Open Door Youth Services in New Albany, Chances and services for youth in Terre Haute, Adult and child, firefly, and reach for youth in Marion and Johnson Counties, and the youth service bureau
of Allen County in Fort Wayne. Based on adverse childhood experiences study conducted by the CDC, the largest study of its kind, we know that adversity in young people's lives can negatively affect brain development and lead to social and health issues for children later in life. Things like depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, substance abuse, and most concerning, a shorter life expectancy. However,
the science of ACEs and epigenetics and the concept of resilience has taught us that providing a positive caring adult, a positive caring adult can change this trajectory. Along with supporting educational attainment, we believe the programs and supports that youth service bureaus provide offer a simple solution to complex issues facing Hoosier youth today. As you can see, I've had information
that was handed out. I've also sent that to you electronically. Youth service bureaus in total reach over 600,000 youth and that's in person programming and outreach. You can see there's a couple million more impressions and social media campaigns that we run across state. Programs to grow and develop young people, a trusted source for information for families seeking help seeking help and a place for young people to turn in crisis, but we need to do more. Since 02/2002 in
our safe place program since 02/2002 in our safe place program, we saw about one percent of kids reporting the suicide ideation and and a year after that, sixty percent I'll be quick. I'm almost finished. Sorry. But not every young person has access to these supports. Those that do express an improvement in life circumstances, increasing protective factors, and almost stay all stay out of the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, and they stay in school. The reason I'm here today is I
ask you to consider a modest investment that could expand these services to almost all Hoosier youth. In line forty five and forty seven on page 45 is the current DCS through DCS line item for youth service bureaus and safe place. It's time we work upstream and put into place primary supports that'll improve the quality of life and circumstances for who's your youth as they become adults. I implore you to consider that
our young people aren't our tomorrow, they are our today. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Next up, we've got Hadley On deck, Carlin Yoder in the whole Bill Owensby. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you Chairman Thompson and the ways and means committee for your time today. I'm Hadley Moore Vlaho George, the Executive Director of Communities and Schools of Indiana. As your committee works to ensure a
significant return on investment on their public education funding, you are focused on chronic absenteeism and its many causes that are currently being studied and documented. What might be less obvious is the range of solutions that are available to reverse the trend and the financial investment it will take to address it. Ultimately, a key way that our schools and communities can reverse the tide of chronic absenteeism is by providing expansive wraparound services in
school buildings that meet the individual needs of students known as integrated student supports. By providing school based resources as the Indiana State Office of the National Communities in Schools Organization, we make a noticeable impact on chronic absenteeism rates in the districts that we support. CIS is currently operating in your K-twelve schools across your state in Marion, Monroe, Johnson, Montgomery, Tippecanoe, Wayne, and Lake Counties in addition to 27 states and Washington DC.
CIS has dedicated locally employed site coordinators inside each of these schools working with educators, fellow community members and students to encourage and track progress. We conduct needs assessments and create support plan processes individualized for students and their unique circumstances. We schedule home visits to families, conduct door knocking campaigns and encourage them to attend school events. We ensure that all of our communication is respectful and accessible. CIS nationally compared pre and post pandemic
attendance rates and in a study conducted with the American Institute of Research which measured the impact of our work in CIS schools against non CIS affiliated schools, we found that students were 13% less likely to be chronically absent where our organization implemented wraparound services and additional supports. At the end of the day, there is no one magic answer or easy fix, but CIS has a tried and tested approach that we've seen move the needle through its five decades since
being founded in New York. We invite Indiana to explore a public funding investment in this program, like states including Virginia, Texas, and West Virginia have done to combat chronic absenteeism and improve educational attainment rates. It will take time and investment. It will take pulling back the curtain and surveying needs. And it will take commitment to ensure high expectations for success and achievement to build a twenty first century workforce. Tailored support leads to greater opportunity. Students want to
show up and learn. It's on us to eliminate the barriers to do it. Happy to take questions or follow-up with individual committee members and we are always happy to host site visits for interested legislators. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Up next is Colin Yoder on deck Bill Owenby in the hole Matt Bell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I'm here, representing the Indiana
State Police Alliance. We rise in support of, House Bill 1,001 and we, we support that for one very distinct reason and that is a provision that Governor Braun, put in this bill that, will finally allow for the Indiana State Police to have consistent and fair pay increases that are tied to the Indiana State, employee pay increases. We have had to, come back to the legislature time and time again,
to try and keep the pay of our troopers, consistent with everyone else as their pay increased. And, this has been a solution thirty years probably in the making that we've been asking for. Representative Judy has worked hard on our behalf and, I know many of you have pledged support for this concept over the last few years as we've, hit the road and talked to many of you. And we're very appreciative to see this in the budget. We're very appreciative of the governor to
follow-up on his promise to us to try and find a solution and his willingness to do so. This will be huge for the 1,200 plus members of the Indiana State Police Alliance, and their families. They can, if this passes, they can, know that, pay increases are coming in a more consistent manner rather than having to wait years and then getting a huge increase in a burst effort. So with that, we would strongly urge you to support
this and thank you for your time. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Representative Heiney? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does this include DNR officers too? Yes, it does. They are part of our pain matrix, yes. Further questions? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here. Next up, we've got Bill Owensby on deck, Matt Bell and the whole Joel Hand.
Welcome, gentlemen. I'd like to say good afternoon but it's really good evening, isn't it? We've got a script timed out about thirty one minutes. How long do we have? Okay, sorry. So I'm Bill Owensby, the Indiana State Fraternal Order Police President representing 13,000 members joined by my peer, with the fire service, Tony Murray
with professional firefighters. That's a joke. We work very well together. I'm here to support a line item in your the IDOA budget on page 15, specifically money set aside for the Indiana law enforcement and firefighters memorial across the street. We noticed a couple of years ago that it was in dire need of repair. We ended up getting hold of the original architect and the original landscape designer did a walk through, myself and Tony
and some other folks and received a budget, an estimate that was as you can imagine pretty steep. We began working with the previous administration in, hopes to get that, to reach an agreement to get it fixed. And as time went on, obviously with the election and the new administration coming in, there was a conscious decision to make the way to talk to this administration, which
we did. They discovered that the memorial was still titled to the State of Indiana. It was still a memorial in that group. So that's why that explains the $1,000,000 that's in that budget line for the memorial and it will replace some a lot of limestone that's cracked and causing a danger a lot of the pavers that have been uprooted by the trees. There's a tremendous amount of landscaping has to be done. In fact, the day that we were there, a tree had blown over right by
this original sign and they were cutting the tree down while we were there. So without belaboring the point, obviously we speak for that because it memorializes, geez, five eighty names for me and Tony can talk about firefighters, but it's very important to memorialize those officers and those firefighters that have died in line of duty and especially for their families. So without belaboring the point, I'm going to turn it over to Tony's for the remainder amount of time. Thank
you, Bill. And thanks, Chairman and members of the committee for the consideration here. This was dedicated through the support of the General Assembly and the administration at the time. Twenty four years ago, the, the ribbon was cut on this memorial. And annually, both the FOP and the professional firefighters, hold a member remembrance ceremony and add names to that in the ceremony fashion that we do, in the culture of the law enforcement and fire service each year. So,
and it is a place where families reflect. It is a place where, it is proper to maintain, and and we ask you for your consideration of keeping that in the budget. Thank you. Any questions? Thanks for being here. Thank you very much. Next up, we got Matt Bell. On deck, we've got Joel Hand. In the hall we got Doctor. Elizabeth Fligger.
Good evening. Good evening Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Matt Bell on behalf of Hoosiers affordable healthcare. Certainly, thankful for the opportunity to be here to discuss a couple of the wonderful provisions that are found in, House Bill 1,001. Thank you to all the committee members, for your patience today, for your endurance today, for the thoughtful questions that have emanated. It's a great testament to how much you love the state and how much you love your constituents. So thank you for the thoughtfulness
that you've put into this hearing. Hoosiers Affordable Healthcare appreciates in particular, two provisions that I want to speak about very briefly in the bill. The first is a provision that expands, the ICRA tax credit. You all may remember that two years ago, 2023, this body enacted a new, a credit for employers to offer a new health option, an ICRA, individual healthcare
reimbursement arrangement. I think I did that right. The language in the budget is very simple. We made eligible, we capped businesses who are eligible as those businesses with 50 employees. This budget expands that to businesses of 75 employees. It's a way to open the door and give more Hoosier employers an affordable way to offer care to their employees. And so we ask for your positive consideration of that element. Secondly, Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare was thrilled to
see the establishment of the primary care access revolving fund. Again, two years ago, the general assembly moved to create a tax credit, to support independent primary care physicians recognizing that those are disappearing from our communities at such an alarming rate, that they're being purchased by hospital systems, that we have problems with access. Governor Braun's proposal takes a different approach to addressing the same issue. Rather than a tax credit, the budget proposes to establish a loan
fund that will allow physicians to offset some of the incredibly expensive back office provisions, from buying electronic medical record systems, all the compliance that has to be done. Promoting independent physicians and and primary care physicians in particular, promotes healthy Hoosier families and healthy Hoosier children. So we would ask for your support of that provision as well. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the time today. We appreciate the work of this committee and look forward to the great budget product that will emanate from
this committee next week. Thank you. I agree with testimony. Up next, we have Joel Hand. On deck, doctor Elizabeth Sipplinger. In the hole, we have Cindy Kirchhofer. Oh, okay. We'll go with doctor Sigler or Flicker. Sorry.
Doctor, welcome. Hello. Thank you for having me, Mr. Chairman. Any members? My name is Elizabeth Sliger and I'm the executive director of Indiana Digital Learning School. I'm here in support of full equitable funding for virtual students and school choice in Indiana. When we talk about education, we very often talk about educating every child, that every child has the right to an education. Well, every child only actually has the right
to the education if somebody is serving those two or 3% of students that just aren't going to succeed in a particular environment. And that is what we do. Those students include athletes, scientists, scholars. They include students with special needs. They include a lot of students with social emotional needs that simply aren't served in a different environment. But every single one of them deserves to dream big and that's what I do at my school. At Indiana Digital, our valedictorian last year was a young
man who dreams of being an astronomer. He's a scientist. He earned years of college credit while in high school, but he didn't succeed until he went virtual. He's also autistic. But I can tell you what about this young man, he is not 85 of anything. I'm very proud that that young man was our valedictorian because I believe that we give some students who are square pegs, who are a little bit different, a place that we can mold around them and they can still succeed and they can be our top student.
I understand that when I say virtual education many of you the first word you think of is accountability and that's okay. I've been leading this school for eight years. Every count day I have has been audited and investigated. I have, I believe, shown that we can run virtual, accountable schools. And I want to partner with you on that, and I'm not kidding about it. We can be accountable, and I'm willing to put my
job and my professional life where, you know, my money where my mouth is. Our mission at Indiana Digital is to connect Indiana teachers with Indiana students in a place where they can succeed. And for some students, that means they're at home or they're in a less crowded place or they're in an environment that lets them do the things and chase the dreams that they have. But it is still about connecting those Indiana teachers with the Indiana students. Technology has evolved in a way that
we can do this like we never have before but it still does require the ability to support, invest in, and develop those teachers. This is why we are here asking for 100 funding for our virtual students and asking that 100% of the funding for that student follows the child. I want to thank you for your time today and your consideration and I would like to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you. Representative Mayfield. Thank
you, mister chairman. So in your school I'm sorry. I'm sorry. In your school system, is it 100% virtual or do you have any on-site face to face at any time? Yes, ma'am. So we are affiliated with Union School Corporation in Randolph County, And it is a small rural district that developed a virtual, building as part of keeping their community's identity and school in their district. So we do have five schools. Three are virtual. Two are are brick and mortar. But the students either go to the
brick and mortar school or to the virtual school 99% of the time. So my schools are a % virtual, but there are two schools in our district that are a % in person. We don't have a hybrid model if that's what you're asking. Representative Chriswell. You mentioned, Union Modoc School Corporation. I'll give you a fun fact. That's where I did my student teaching. That's why you're here. But would my question I don't know if you'll like very much, so I just wanna start with that.
Uh-oh. Would Union School Corporation still be alive if your company, school came about? If it weren't for their spunky innovation, no, they probably wouldn't. But they are a small town who intends to keep their identity, keep their school, keep their largest employer, keep their community location and events and they did it. I'll agree with that answer.
Representative Porter. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. How many students do you have? Close to 9,000. You have 9,000 students and you're asking for how much money? 100% of the education fund. So what are you paying now for your virtual? 85%. Eighty five % Per student Because of the education fund. Because when you when you when you first came in as virtual, you said you could do a lot cheaper and you didn't need bricks and mortar type situation. I Is that correct? Is that correct? I think
there's two no. Okay. I think there are two other parts to that, question. I am not asking you for the property tax dollars that go in an operations fund. I am not here asking you for the transportation dollars. I do not receive the title one funds. What I am asking for is a % of the education dollars to be used to educate the child. So no, we don't need buses, but we also don't get the funding. Representative Prescott. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank
you, Elizabeth, for, for being here today. Before I get into my question, I wanna preface this. You know, the first time I actually went to the microphone on the floor of the general assembly was defending a, an amendment from a, from a, I guess, a senior legislator, Whitehead senior legislator by by the name of Delaney, on I knew that guy. And at that time, you know, I was defending it from the standpoint of, I think, virtual education is a necessary tool to
have in our toolbox for those students that truly need it. And I still believe that way. But that being said, looking at your, I guess, testing scores, right now, the graduation pathway completion, the state average is 89%. You're at seventy three percent. The third grade literacy rate, the state average is 82.5%. You're at 42%. Sixth grade
math growth, the state average is not good either. 33%, you're at 1.4%. Quite frankly, I don't know how you get much worse than that. Could I address it? Yes. You that's what I'm getting ready to ask. Could could you Sure. Explain how you're going to approve those? First of all, especially in the graduation, you are combining your averaging an alternative school and a typical high school in that rate. We do have an alternative school specifically serving students from 16 to 22 years old who dropped
out previously. As you can imagine, their pathway rate is a little less. But actually, I think at 78, combining those two schools, it is an example of how well we are doing both serving the traditional, the traditional student and serving, through graduation pathways, which is career pathway completion, the vast majority of the time. And serving an alternative population preventing them from being a further dropout and preventing them from the things the Excel Center
was here earlier talking to you about. That's one. Number two, of those test scores, more than eighty percent of the students who enroll in my school failed the test at the traditional public school they were enrolled in before. They often come to me and nobody is more of a supporter of public education. But once in a while it doesn't work for a kid. And when it doesn't work for that kid, they make a different choice. So generally, I am serving a student who has experienced, educational
failure previously. So my focus is to invest in growth. They also come to me sometimes for a temporary amount of time while they recover or deal with a crisis in their life and that type of thing. And when you, roll that in, I am improving their growth scores and I am taking them from where they am and serving them in order to prevent further issues. Yes, test scores are rough. They're tough. I almost never have the Piled from kindergarten till
sixth grade in math, generally serving them for between one and three years. And they have all failed in the previous system, and I'm trying to recover that. So it's it's not the same ballgame. Thank you. And a follow-up, if I may, mister chairman. So right now, you're currently getting 85% funding per student following following the school to virtual. What percentage of that is actually going towards the student's education, and what percentage of that is going to basically subsidize keeping the in person school
open? Our oversight fee is 5 percent. Okay. Representative and Johnny? So only 5% goes to the local school. 95% of it goes to us. However, that also includes our offices are paid for out of that 5%, the oversight, the board activities, some of our training, the PD is done at the end, so forth. Okay. Thank you. Mhmm. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You
mentioned 9,000 students that you have active in the August, yes. It's 8,800 if we want to be. 8,800. All these 8,800 students are from our they're here from the state? Absolutely. You have to live in the state of Indiana and be between seven and 22 years old, which is the definition of school age child. How many teachers do you have on payroll? I have 380 staff. Most of those are certified. 24 of them are counselors. Two hundred and seventy, so are certified teachers. I have also some lead teachers
and trainers and and so forth. What's the average salary of those teachers? Fifty. Fifty k. What's the operational cost to run the school? The operational cost? I mean, it depends on how you define that. We have a high technology cost compared to a brick and mortar because we run so, I mean, our funding, is 85%, so $6,700 per child
in that range. Okay. Thank you. Representative Lopez? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So you referenced that the growth is the better way to look at it. So for the students, you said on average, you have them one to three years. Is that what you said? So for so what data do you have to indicate the growth? I mean, how do you compare over three years, those students that are there for two or three years against the rest of the state? Well, it has gotten more difficult
because with the test score change, we don't have the same growth metrics, but I think we are returning to growth metric. We're almost getting back COVID through a wrench and everything, right? But we look strongly at graduation rate, which is around ninety percent for our typical high school and around sixty percent for our alternative school. We look at graduation pathway completion. I would say that I'm very proud of the seventy eight percent. We also look at early advanced coursework. We're an Indiana
College Core School. We have disproportionately more students taking the first college class in their family. And we're paying for that. We have on staff enough teachers to teach the Indiana College Core. And then we look at traditional growth metrics through benchmarking with the formative assessment. Does the graduation rate include waivers? Does it include waivers? It's a small percentage. I my waiver percentage is very healthy. It's five percent. And then for
grad pathways Mhmm. Completions, what what is checking the box for the majority of the students? The majority of the students are finishing a career pathway. We offer IT, business, healthcare that includes individualized in person learning, depending on the student. Education careers, marketing, I'm leaving some out. But those are the majority. We also have, in a virtual school, it's kind of
a dichotomy of diversity. We have maybe 20% of our students that are there to go faster and fly higher and take more college. We have a large percentage that are there because they failed previously. What we don't have is a lot in the middle. Right? So I do have a portion of students, between 15% that are completing AP coursework, Indiana College Corps, test scores, those kind of things are are a chunk. But the majority is a career pathway, and certifications. We,
we had almost 500 kids earn a certification last year. And then last last question. Sorry. Are the are the majority of the kids doing ASFAB? Or No. I have very small percentage of ASFAB. We do, facilitate it. We provide transportation to the child to take it. We facilitate enrollment, but it is for students who are going to actually enlist. It's not, we don't use that for the test score thing. Okay. Thank you. Representative Harris? Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the question has been asked
about how much are you requesting. I don't know if you've actually given a concrete number. You keep making I'm requesting a % of the education fund, which is about $7,000 a student. Which is I'm I'm 15% more than I'm receiving. I'm sorry. Okay. Sir, I Concrete number. Avoid it. A concrete number. What do you have? It adds up to? Yes. What's 300 times 9,000? What's the total
amount you're asking for? I don't think we've received that answer. How about without making it into a math I'm honestly not trying to avoid it. I'm I believe the child deserves a %, which would be 15% more funding, which would probably be 2,700,000.0. 2 point 7 million. Okay. And then sorry. Follow-up, please. Thank you for finally giving that answer. You mentioned the board. Mhmm. A couple of few quest questions on that. How many board members? So our board is the Union School Corporation board. It has
five board members. They are locally it's a local board for that district. Okay. That answers my next question. Thank you. It's it's not national or anything like that. It's the local school board. Thank you. Representative Quenker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. From what area do your teachers teach? Do they teach from home? The library. Where do teachers go to teach this type of Thank you for asking about the teachers because they're the
heart of what they do. They teach from their home. They do live in Indiana. They are spread out through Indiana. This is important because we do our testing in person. So when I learn and SAT comes around, I need my teachers to be at locations that we provide them for those weeks only to provide the in person testing by a certified teacher. So they live in Indiana, they teach from home. When they give the test, is it on-site with the student? It's on-site with the student. It's at places
I have rented, places I have rented, community centers and, conference centers and things that we rent all over the state to give it in person. Okay. Which is a huge expense, by the way. Representative Delaney. Yeah. How much do you transfer to the school corporation? You 5%. How much money is that? I think it's about 2,000,000. 2 million dollars to them. And how many students do they have in the actual physical classes in the two schools that
they have? About 300. Three hundred kids all in. Okay. Are are you a charter school under them and they're an authorizer? No. What is your arrangement? So, I am just three public schools. I have three public school numbers. There is a law passed that if you have more than a hundred students, you have to open your own, school. Correct? Right? So my three schools fall under that. We are not a charter. We were and that's why we don't receive title one funding and some of the other federal funding.
We are three schools within the district that just don't have any walls. And what alright. And you you mentioned you want, 15% more. My math is and I think you indicated that the foundation amount is 7,000. It's in that range. So 15% is about a thousand dollars. Are you asking for a thousand dollars more per kid or $300? I don't know where the 300 came from. 7,000 includes the complexity grant, sir, which is my fault
for quoting it that way. The 85% is only from the basic grant, which is in the $5,000 rate. That's about $900. 15 percent of 6,000 is about $900, roughly. So it's 5,200, the basic. So you're getting $800 less than the foundation. So I'm thinking you're asking for a lot more than 2,700,000.0. Who got me in trouble? Well, you did. You did. You said 300. I did because we
come in at about 6,700, and I believe it's a little over 700 or 7,000. But that does, sir, include the complexity grant, which you are right, is not part of the We're talking We're talking or $6,000,000 here, maybe more. Okay. But we receive 85%, vouchers are at 90, and every other student receives a hundred. You're obviously functioning at the current level. I'm gonna interpret that question as what would I do with this money? Yeah. Hire teachers.
Okay. It is we need more teachers, especially teaching reading, especially interventionists. Because I don't receive title one, it is very hard for me to staff intervention with students who aren't reading yet or who are behind in high school to earn credits. So the money would go to teachers. And and my last question, and maybe it's the most important, you you indicated that your typical student is with you one to three years. And they are. Where do they go when they leave you after that period? And I'm talking about the high school graduates. I'm
talking about, let's say, the ones between first grade and tenth grade. What what when they leave you in great numbers, obviously, because you're getting you tell me that percentage It's an average. We have, students who stay with us the whole time, but we have students that stay with us for a very short time. They may be, dealing with a health condition. They may need to gain social emotional confidence and then their choice, they want to return to a brick and mortar, but they needed to get through something in order to do it. We equip them
to do it. We have students, we have a lot of students that come through middle school but go to a traditional either middle school or high school and we have a lot of the opposite. We have students who, go to a traditional middle school, have some trouble, and then come to us for high school. So those logical breaks in education are a time where students often return or make a change. They, sometimes they come back to us. We have some extreme, you know, a certain portion of our students are dealing with some pretty, extreme
physical, situations. So they may be with us while they're receiving treatment or something like that. And that really drastically changes the, average Thank you. When you average it altogether. Representative Porter. Thank you. Thank you, mister chairman. There's a piece of legislation that's filed, November, and they're talking about some potential school takeovers because of, quote, unquote, charters. Mostly, and Union, a lot of Indianapolis
Public Schools in Gary. So what's gonna happen, to Union School Corporation if it's taken over by a outside school board? And and then that means you wouldn't not have to pay that 5% to those corporations. Right? I think are you referring to the bill that would require schools to become a charter Yes. If they have yeah. Right. And that's that's union. If we became a charter, we would have
a different authorizer. I think the contract would would change but I would work my best to serve students. Yeah. That that that'd be five schools from from from It would be. Union Corp and IPS and Tri township consolidated schools as well as Camilton City Schools. Yes. I think it would have a significant effect on our small rural community. I think it would have a disastrous effect. I would work as hard as I
could to not let it affect our students and make sure they were served if we became a charter. But I I would like the community to have retain autonomy. Okay. Basically, you just say we we we you're gonna work your hardest, but you but but you don't know what will really happen. I mean, are you familiar with the bill that's coming through? I think what would happen is a charter authorizer would be interested in our 9,000 students. Frankly sir, I think that's what would happen. I don't want it to happen because Union School Corporation
has a small community to protect and this is who we are and who we serve. Just like I wouldn't want it to happen to Tri Township or Gary. Right, so that so so that two that $2,000,000 that that school corporation would would have gotten, they won't get that anymore. It would end up at a charter authorized Yeah. Such as Ball State or or I don't think Ball State's doing a whole lot anymore with that. Okay. All right. Thank you. Judy. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. I just wanted to clarify the foundation for 2025, '1 hundred percent is $6,681 You're receiving $5,678 now. You're asking to be made whole on the foundation, not including complexity, correct? Correct. Okay. Thank you. Representative Prior? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I I guess I wanna get your thoughts and opinions about the graduation rates. When you mentioned, your one graduation
rate was ninety percent, the other graduation rate was sixty eight percent. With traditional schools, they don't have that choice. They have to take in every child. Every child. Yeah. And and you do, as well, but the traditional schools are under much more scrutiny. They're graded differently. I would say for
the a through f, when you're looking at, like, the a through f. They have the same the same. Exactly the same. You have the you have the same. We are for under the eyes of accountability metrics in a through f, we are exactly the same as any other public school. Okay. So then you would then also be concerned that, for the traditional schools that are having a difficult time with their funding, as well and
needing more money Mhmm. Because they can't turn they those kids don't have a choice in where they go. And those families, are also wanting the best for for their kids, as well. And so are you concerned about those grading matrices that we put in place that I guess are affecting
your your kids, but they're also affecting the traditional schools as well. So are you concerned about about that? Are you asking me for my opinion on our accountability framework and if it's fair to schools? Accountability framework, the a through f and how that you the traditional schools, you know, the kid shows up as old schools. Do we they can't turn they can't turn those kids away. We are obligated to teach kids, so we can't say you have to
be clear that I am exactly the same in that framework. Yeah. I heard you. I heard you saying that. What I think about our accountability framework is that, for example, my school serves about 78%, free and reduced, economically disadvantaged. I think that other districts who similar who who, serve a similar population see similar, challenges in the test scores. I think that the best indicator of our standardized test scores is the socioeconomic status of the community, and I think that
that is a problem. I think that our accountability needs to, incorporate aspects of what that school is doing in their community. We don't take into effect, special education. We don't take into effect compliance in how we're serving. We don't take into effect the community that they're being asked to serve. And if you ask me about our accountability metrics, I think that test scores are one lens, but they are uncharacteristically kind to my socioeconomic communities. And I don't think that they show
what a teacher in Indianapolis Public is doing. They're not fair to the Lord. They're not fair to the Lord. Economic schools, districts. But sometimes, especially in more rural areas, so in rural areas with low socioeconomic, they often don't have a charter school, and I might be their only school of choice. And it might be a difference of being healthy in that environment, either emotionally, socially, disabilities, or physically. They could have, need a kidney transplant. But they don't have any other school
choice in most geographic area of Indiana except a virtual school. So we are there to serve that school choice when the student needs it. It. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. I'm gonna call it an audible here. I wish I'd known this earlier. We have a young lady in our presence, a girl scout, who's been here since 12:30. She has homework
to get to, so, Vera McConnell. And we have Cindy Kirktoffer on deck and John McGough in the hole. Welcome. Good evening, representatives. My name is Vera McConnell. I live in Indianapolis, and I am a junior at Riverside High School. On average, the typical menstruating
person spends $18,000 on periods in their lifetime. I support that you should include, Bill HB ten forty two into HB 1,001. Indiana is only one of 21 states that still tax period products at a 7% sales tax because these products
are still classified as luxury items. Hoosiers pay about 5,600,000.0 in taxes on these products out of a budget this year of $51,300,000,000 This is not just about practicality, but the basic human dignity to be clean and be able to go and do what you want. Financial welfare programs do
not cover these items, and they only serve to subjugate lower class people. Nobody deserves to be profited off of for their bodily dignity. These people who are missing out on things could be my classmates or your colleagues or somebody you see on the street. Thank you for the opportunity to talk today and I, again, urge you to include HB one
ten forty two to exempt exempt, the menstrual products and adult diapers tax, for this policy. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Over to your path. Thank you, mister chairman. Thank you. I have three daughters. I completely I completely support this. You're awesome. So you're a Girl Scout. Correct? Mhmm. Yes. I am lobbying for this bill to be introduced for my girl, gold award project.
Okay. That's what I figured. And also, where did you go to high school? Riverside High School. Okay. It's a so at my high school where I teach, we we provide in the nurse's office pads for anyone. Do you have that same opportunity in your school? Yeah. Kind of. The pads in the restrooms are usually not there. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Thank you so much for coming. Representative Campbell. Thank you,
Mr. Chair. Thank you so much for your testimony today. As a fellow woman and mother of daughters, we really appreciate your advocating for women. It's definitely not a luxury item. And as somebody who's now buying, diapers for elderly adults, that we're also caring for, you know, I hear from, you know, those those adults that this is not a luxury for them either. So we appreciate your
testimony in being here. Absolutely. Roseanna Mayfield? Thank you, mister chairman. Vera, I got your letter and thank you for that, and it explained how you were working on your gold award. You asked about this was an amendment that I had introduced last year or the last time, and did not make it across the finish line. I did not refile it because I knew another legislator was going to, so there was no point in both of us working toward the same thing. But my position on it, was basically, it wasn't, it's not just the fact
that it's a tax exempt item. There is no substitute for this product and it is considered a Class II medical device. And so those were the two aspects of it that encouraged me to pursue it and that's why I thought that it's worth representative Genda's, bill to support again this year. But thank you for your advocacy. Absolutely. And thank you so much for drafting the bill. Thank you. If I was your teacher, you got
an a. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time and for moving me up. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for moving her up, sir. Yes. Thank you so much. Have a good evening. You too. Nice job. Okay. Next, Cindy Kirchhoffer. On deck, John McGough. In the whole, Thomas Holman. Thank you, mister chair, committee members. Cindy Kirchhoffer, CLK Solutions. I am here today advocating for
the blind and the visually impaired. There are approximately forty eight thousand children K through 12 who are dealing with vision loss in Indiana. As you may recall, the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a separate entity and has its own budget allocation in the state's budget. On page 49 of House Bill ten-one, there's an allocation of 12,000,199 per year. In 2023, House Enrolled Act 1,001 was passed
providing $14,841,000 per year and that appropriation included $2,000,000 each fiscal year to purchase refreshable braille and tactile graphic tablets. That specific appropriation is not included in this budget version of House Bill ten zero one. On behalf of visually impaired students living at the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, I am requesting that this committee consider and resume the additional funding so that the refreshable braille and tactile graphic tablets
continue to be available to those students. Most mainstream students are provided with notebooks and tablets in their schools. Blind and visually impaired should be able to have the same opportunity to learn from modern and advancing technology. Refreshable braille and tactile graphic tablets meet this need. My client was selected as the vendor to provide these devices two years ago. They are a small Indiana
manufacturing business located in Lafayette, Indiana. They have about 25 employees and use approximately 95% of their materials and components from Indiana. In the interest of time, I will share the metrics and how the funds were allocated and spent over the past two years in an email to your offices and your LAs. And we wish to help grow the program at the school for the blind and visually impaired. Regardless of the vendor, we feel strongly that Indiana's visually impaired
students deserve basic access to modern technology, remote learning, STEM content and higher education. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So you're here, representing a vendor. Is that what you said? Tactile graphics, yes. What's the name of the vendor again? Tactile. Thank you. You're welcome. Other questions? Thank you. And I'm doctor McGough also, he had to leave and I
represent the same client as doctor McGough. Okay. Thank you again, Cindy Kirkhoff for CLK Solutions. I'm speaking today on behalf of the Indiana Physicians Health Alliance. That is an association of 36 private practice independent physician offices. We have about 700 to 800 physicians in membership now and it's growing. We stand in support of chapter 45 page 74, the primary care
Access Revolving Fund. We do request that you consider prioritizing independent physicians over some of the other stakeholders that are listed there. I think there's hospitals there, private equity and other corporations and we really do request that you look at prioritizing private practice and independent physicians. They often don't have access to capital when they first start and the credit history isn't there to, to get loans from banks and other lending institutions. And then as
we grow the program, we'd like for you to consider adding other specialties outside of primary care, but we understand we need to start with primary care. And that's it. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Next we have Thomas Homan on deck Ryan Myers in the hole Karen Young. Welcome sir.
I have a handout if I could worship. Yes. You may. Thank you. Mister chairman and members of the committee, my name is Tom Holman. I'm a professional engineer and retired director of the division of engineering of the Department of Natural Resources. I'm also president of Indiana Parks Alliance whose mission is to advocate for Indiana state parks and nature preserves. Hoosiers love our state parks. Indiana has historically had some of the
best state parks and nature preserves in the country. We still do. Hoosiers recognize this and have been visiting in record numbers. Division of state parks is unusual, maybe unique among state facilities, and that revenue from user fees, mainly interest in campground fees, go into a dedicated fund, which pays for a large percentage of their operating budgets. In 2015, this dedicated fund paid 70% of the division operating budget. In 2020, this increased
to 81%. Finally, due to shortages in their general fund appropriation for '23 2023, '20 '5, they've been funding 91% of their operating budget from these user generated fees. Unfortunately, this higher percentage of funding was not sustainable. The state Park's dedicated fund is broke. As of the end of calendar year 2024, the Dedicated Fund had a negative balance. While there continues to be
revenue coming into the Fund, obviously, it can no longer support the operating budget at the level it has in recent years. This will lead an estimated shortfall of $10,000,000 per year at funding levels currently included in the proposed twenty five-twenty seven budget. We are requesting that the appropriation from the General Fund for operations be increased to make up that shortfall, approximately $10,000,000 per year and reliance on their dedicated fund return to sustainable levels.
While Division of Nature Preserves does not have a funding situation as dire as that of State Parks, they too are in need of increases in their proposed operations fund. We are requesting an increase of $200,000 per year in their operations fund budget. On the construction and maintenance side of the proposed budget, the situation is more encouraging. In recent years, we have warned of the tremendous backlog of deferred maintenance on facilities, which was fast approaching a crisis situation, and I saw this firsthand before
I retired as director of engineering division. Thanks to initiatives from governor Holcomb and his legislature and significant funds appropriate, the situation is much improved. However, much remains to be done. Without going into details, we are supportive of all the line items in the proposed construction budget for state parks. There's some good starts there. The one thing is missing from the pro proposed budget is anything for trails. The in recent survey, 70% of state park users indicate that
hiking trails was their number one activity while visiting the parks. This takes a heavy toll on the trails causing erosion and damage to often sensitive natural areas they traverse. Many trails use timbers for stairs and steep areas, to cross boardwalks and bridges. This leads to the lack of replacements, to lumber and staff to repair these trails leads to potential danger situations. That's why we're back to recommending $3,000,000 in the proposed budget for repairs
and maintenance of state park trails. I passed out a collage of recent photos showing trail conditions in our state parks. This I'll just let you look at those photos to see what these are common situations you see. Finally, I'll just briefly wrap up, say that we're also encouraging inclusion of $15,000,000 in the budget for president Benjamin Harrison conservation trust as some previous speakers have talked about. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Any questions? Thank you. Thanks. Representative Delaney?
Did did I run into you when you were met Yes. It's Shea State Park. Pine Hills Nature Preserve. Pine Hills Nature Preserve. Yeah. I thought you actually did this work. Well, thank you for coming. I think you've got a good point. These trails need to be maintained. And at some point, they can get to be dangerous, and they certainly are often inconvenient. So thank you. And if you have one lawsuit from somebody falling through some rotted timber off, this would help prevent that cost. Thanks for
your citizen effort. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, sir. Bring it here. Thank you. Next, we have Ryan Myers. On deck, Karen Young. In the hole, Christopher Reynolds. Thank you, chairman Thompson and members of the committee. My name is Ryan Myers, and I represent the United Way of Central Indiana. Today I want to speak specifically in support for funding for early care and learning in the budget. Childcare is a critical family and workforce issue in our state and many families who need care in Indiana cannot access it
and even when they can the cost can be prohibitive. Earlier this year, the Family and Social Services Administration announced that both the Child Care Development Fund program and our state's On My Way pre k program were returning to a wait list for the first time since 2018. CCDF and On My Way pre k serve kids and families, who are low income and need access to care including children in the state's foster care system. So a return of wait list for these programs meant that for many working families they've been unable to access the care
they need to attend work or school and also ensure that their children have high quality early education opportunities. Access to childcare and early education is a workforce and infrastructure issue. So according to a report completed this year by Early Learning Indiana and the Indiana Chamber, Indiana businesses lose an estimated $3,050,000,000 in childcare related employee turnover and absenteeism. And the state misses out on $1,170,000,000 in
tax revenue. 40% of employees report leaving the workforce entirely due to a disruption in care and 57% of employees reported missing work or school in the last quarter from when they were surveyed because of childcare challenges. Families are already facing incredibly high costs and so the compounding impact of missing employment because of lack of childcare makes this situation even worse for them. Supporting our state's early care and learning system is good for the economy, good for working families, and good for children as well. In the last
two legislative sessions, you and your colleagues have made a lot of progress on supporting the early care and learning system and we are incredibly grateful for that work. So as you work through our next biennial budget, we are just asking you to consider children and families and build on the progress that we've already made supporting the governor's recommendations for the early child care funding levels. And I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for being here. Thank you. Next up, we have Karen
Young on debt, Christopher Reynolds. In the whole, Beth White. Welcome. Thank you. I guess we're up to good evening now. Chairman Thompson and members of the House Ways and Means Committee, my name is Karen Jeong and I am President of Next Tech. We are a nonprofit based here in Indianapolis focused on creating equal access to computer science education and experiences for all Indiana K-twelve students. I'm here to testify on
House Bill ten zero one, the state budget. A particular interest is the reduction in appropriations to the next level computer science fund and the defunding of the STEM Teacher Recruitment Fund. I want to start by acknowledging and thanking this committee for past appropriations to these funds. Over the last several budgeting cycles, NxTek has used these dollars to facilitate tens of thousands of hours professional development for Indian educators to teach computer science and provide work based learning experiences for thousands of Hoosier students and we're just one of
dozens of organizations that have benefited from these appropriations. I also want to acknowledge having just completed it for ourselves that creating a balanced budget is challenging at best and tough decisions have to be made. I believe though that we are doing a disservice to teachers and students alike in the future of Indiana as a whole should we reduce our investments in computer science and STEM education. These reductions undermine the very foundation necessary for Indiana to be a continued hub of entrepreneurship and innovation as innovation
does not happen in a vacuum. It requires a skilled workforce equipped with the technical knowledge and problem solving abilities that STEM education provides. Many of today's most successful startups and high growth companies have been founded by individuals with backgrounds in computer science, engineering and other STEM fields. By reducing investments in K-twelve computer science and STEM education, Indiana is effectively limiting the number of future innovators who can drive the state's economy forward.
As we all know, Indiana does face a significant talent gap in technology related fields. Without a strong K-twelve pipeline, these positions will either go unfilled or be outsourced to other states with stronger STEM education systems. Finally, many states are expanding their investments in K-twelve computer science and STEM education because they recognize the direct link between education, workforce development and economic competitiveness. Indiana has been a leader in computer
science education thanks in large part to funding and policies that have increased access to computing courses over the past decade. Rolling back that progress would put Indiana at a competitive disadvantage compared to states that continue to prioritize STEM learning. For Indiana to be a hub of innovation it must take a long term approach one that ensure students are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in the technology driven world rather than cutting investments in K-twelve CS and STEM education, Indiana should be doubling down in these
areas ensuring that today's students can become the entrepreneurs, engineers and problem solvers of tomorrow. Thank you. I'll take any questions if there are any. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Mayfield. Thank you. So, if I'm reading this right, you had $3,000,000 per year in the last budget and it's down to $2,500,000 per year in this budget. In the next level computer science fund and then the STEM teacher recruitment grant was separately of $5,000,000 separately. How much did you actually
spend out of that $6,000,000 over the biennium less? Our organization spent I can't speak to the full, but our organization spent $1,500,000 out of that $3,000,000 and then we spent $700 3 hundred and 60 thousand dollars annually out of the STEM teacher recruitment grant. But you're saying that might not be all the expenditures out of that fund? Correct. Because it is funding other organizations like Project Lead the Way, University of Notre Dame, IU, there are other institutions that receive funding out of it. Okay. Thank
you. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Up next, we have Christopher Reynolds on deck, Beth White and the whole Carrie Ketman.
Christopher Reynolds? Nope. Beth? Yep. That's me. No. You're up. That's me. Thank you. Thank you, mister chair, members of the committee. My name is Beth White. I am the president and CEO of the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault. We are here today to talk about a difficult topic and that is people who are the victims
of violence in Indiana. There is a stream of federal funding called the Victim of Crime Act or VOCA that is being cut year over year. I've been I'm meeting with most of you and I have, I'm looking around the room, I think I've met with just about everybody. We are talking about this VOCA line of funding because as I said, it is being cut. I've provided a document to all of you that looks like this and to those who haven't gotten it yet, I'll make sure that it is, given to you as well. We have also done, memos for every member of the legislature
about which victim servicing organizations are being cut in their districts. Every community, every county, every rural area and city, every single district in this house of representatives has VOCA money flowing to it. And 40% cuts will be devastating. These are people who are vulnerable already and who are experiencing the worst possible thing that should be the victim victim of violent crime. Think of children
who are molested. Think of women who are raped. People who are the victims of domestic violence and who are seeking shelter. Children who are going to, the child advocacy center to seek help and to make sure their perpetrators are held accountable. We are asking you include an amount in the budget to make up for the federal shortfall. $15,000,000 a year is in 11/23. We wanna thank representative Althoff for authoring this bill. It has not yet gotten a hearing in this committee, but we are asking you to consider
putting this amount into the state's budget so we can make sure that victims of crime get the help that they need. I have brought with me a colleague today, Carrie Kettman, who is one of our service providers in Batesville. She runs a seven county organization which serves victims. And we're gonna hear from her about the actual impact of these cuts to vulnerable people in her area. Thank you, Beth. Thanks for having me today. My name
is Carrie Kettman, I'm the Executive Director for Safe Passage. We actually serve six counties in Southeast Indiana, but the more important thing here is that our structure is similar to the program structure across the state of Indiana. What this looks like is assisting law enforcement through mobile advocacy, meeting them to pick up victims, and getting them to safety so officers can get back on their details. It's responding 20365 to hospitals when a
rape has occurred so that our Hoosier neighbors are not alone in their most vulnerable time. Providing emergency shelter for those actively fleeing their abusers who, by the way, are craftier more now than ever with tracking locations. And then as Beth mentioned, the need is great. So I'm just here to confirm that the risk of lethality is extremely high. The magnitude of a funding shortfall will
mean a loss of jobs for staff who already dedicate their professional work in a nonprofit atmosphere where benefits are limited. But the most jarring consequence will be programs like ours being faced with reducing or closing emergency shelters and decreasing or ending emergency responses. And decreasing or ending emergency responses. These services save lives and chip away at the generational trauma that is the catalyst for so many of our social ills. So the cost of not funding Hoosier
programs like ours exacerbates all the things associated with trauma. What you are seeing with the mental health crisis with our youth, increasing thoughts and completions of suicide and rampant substance use disorder has a direct correlation to unprocessed trauma resulting from family violence, domestic violence, and sexual violence. So I do know this because my leadership team and I sit on several state and county
fatality review teams, including domestic violence, child and suicide overdose. When we map the lives of these deceased individuals, an all too common denominator is what our agency mission intervenes and works to prevent. On behalf of the programs, please carefully consider these funding decisions. Thank you Carrie, sorry we went over time. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. Questions? Representative Porter. Thank
you, Mr. Chairman, thank you Beth. Since 2019 you had 40% cut. Yes. And now we have a new administration in. Are you worried about that means does that you think it'd be totally flat lined or what? We really have no way of knowing, representative Porter. And as you know, we don't even have a a budget judge a budget at the federal level. We're in the middle of the funding cycle, so we're gonna be okay for about a year and then we don't know. Is it possible to zero out the funds? Is that, October 30? Yes. So of
of 2025? Of 2026. Twenty '6. Are you good? You potentially to 2026. Okay. But 40% this, decrease in funding. Yes. Since 2019, and you're middle of budget cycle. You don't know what that really means in the future. Correct. Okay. Thank you very It's a very scary possibility. Thank you. It was in quarter? Prior. We're ready prior. So Prior. Been called worse, haven't you? I have. This this late
in the day. Beth, what percentage of women, because you mentioned children and what percentage of the women actually have children that you are you have been able to to help? Because it's it's bad either way, but It is. I don't have the statistics. Children
as well. I'm sorry, representative. I don't have the statistics, but what I can tell you is this money goes to our child advocacy centers, and one hundred percent of the people served by them are children who have experienced a violent crime. Okay. And so that that that those that kind of trauma is is lifelong, of course. Carrie, do you have any thoughts about how many of the people in shelter that you're serving are, people with children? I would say a majority. I don't have the exact statistic, but it's around sixty to seventy percent are coming in with,
children, that we are serving through our children's programming. So it, again, the generational trauma and our ability to have that touch point to kind of turn the page for our youth when they are already dealing with substantial mental health issues is critical. Okay, thank you. Ms. Jenny Clinker? Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Beth? Yes. Of course.
Tell me, why do you think these huge cuts are coming from the federal government? This this particular fund, the VOCA or the victim of crime act, is funded with white collar crime settlements. It was established in the early nineties as an effort to say that we weren't spending federal tax dollars on this function. It's a terrible way to fund essential government services. There is a dramatic, wave up and down based on what kind of settlements are are available, what kind of polluters are
being stopped by the federal government, decisions made in Washington that none of us can control. And so that's why the fund has been so up and down. And what we're asking is for some stability so that we can provide stability for these families and children who are suffering. Thank you for your work. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, mister Jones. Thank you. Next up, we've got Alex Stefanik. On deck, Andrew Bradley. And the whole, Michael
Clark. Welcome. Thank you, mister chairman, members of the committee. My name is Alex Stefanik, and I work for a company called Advantage Capital. I'm here today in support of the Hoosier Rural Business Growth Program portion of the budget. Advantage Capital's participated in six other state programs similar to the one that's in front of you today. I'd like to take just a few minutes to tell you very quickly how this program works and then the
two things that this program does. So, here's how it works. This program is six years and, it engages the private sector, experienced investors to that are accredited by the USDA or the SBA to apply to the state and then raise $100,000,000 of their own private capital on day one of the program. They invest that money over three years and they keep it invested, for six years. All of those dollars go to
small businesses exclusively in rural Indiana. Let me tell you what happens in those six years. I'm a back up. All 100,000,000 gets invested. To get that 100,000,000, there is the cost of the state is $15,000,000 in year three, year four, year five, and year six, at which time the program sunsets. So very quick on how it works. Here are the two things it does. First and most important, it puts money into the coffers of small businesses that started in rural Indiana and want to grow
in rural Indiana. And second, it brings in the private sector to work with the local community to identify the businesses that need financing, get them the funding that makes sense for them, and then support those businesses as they grow. As businesses grow, they sometimes deal with growing pains. And so this program doesn't just bring dollars. It also brings partners that can help those businesses grow in a sustainable way so they can be successful long term in rural Indiana. This program's been done
in six other states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Oklahoma, Utah, and most recently, Missouri. And those states have seen their rural businesses grow and succeed in the time that they've had these programs. And with your support of the Hoosier rural business growth program, Indiana could see the same. So I appreciate your time and would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Mayfield? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to clarify, these are not start up dollars, these are
expansion dollars? That's correct, Representative. Further questions? Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Next, Andrew Bradley on deck Michael Clark and the whole Jim Bauerly. Welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee for taking this long day of testimony. I'm Andrew Bradley with Prosperity Indiana. We're the statewide association for community economic development.
I'm here, to briefly have two areas of support, within this budget and then one general and one specific recommendation. So our members provide, housing and economic opportunity throughout the state. There are affordable housing developers, landlords, homelessness services, community development services throughout the state. And so I specifically wanna call out, two areas of support, under the Housing and Community Development Authority on page 34,
the including proven services for homelessness services as well as the individual development accounts. Our members have found that across the state over the past decade, there's a declining rate of homeownership. There is an increasing rate of seniors especially who are severely housing cost burdened, who find a a lack of affordable and available rental housing, and then that pushes into an increasing rate of homelessness throughout the state. So we need to make sure that we're, while we appreciate that
it's a tight budget, we appreciate that there's level funding for those extremely important services. So those two we really appreciate. And in general I would say that whenever there's an opportunity as the budget process moves along to be able to strengthen investments for low and moderate income Hoosiers for housing and economic opportunity, that's very important. 14 of Indiana's top 20 largest occupations no longer pays enough to be able to afford a modest
two bedroom rental. That's up from nine occupations just two years ago. The individual development accounts program allows Hoosiers to be able to earn max savings, for uses such as a primary residence or for small business ownership or for education and job training or a vehicle for business or job purposes. Those are very important. So the specific area that I want to recommend and I will follow-up with this is Senate Bill four ninety seven
would create Indiana's first newborn tax credit. So transforming our existing dependent child exemption deduction for newborns and and turning it into a refundable $500 tax credit for newborns. So both as a first time expecting father, my wife and I have a child, a daughter due April 30, so right after sign you die, if that works out. I understand increasingly the cost
of having a newborn child. We also wanna make sure that we're providing that economic opportunity pro economic growth, pro family growth for the state. So thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Thanks for presenting. Next, we have Michael Clark. On deck, Jim Bauerly and the old Cheryl Clements. Evening. I'm Mike Clark, the president of Rolling
Thunder Indiana chapter one. I am here this afternoon or this evening to testify against the, use of the funds for the Veterans Affairs Trust Fund to support the grants for veteran services program under section c of h b one zero zero one Veterans Affairs. Rolling Thunder Indiana chapters are nonprofit organizations that helps spring awareness to the public, and we still have over 80,000 warfighters unaccounted for nationwide
since World War II. Rolling Thunder Indiana also sponsors the prison of war missing in action specialty license plate offered through the Bureau of More Vehicles. The POWMIA specialty license plate serves two purposes. First, the license plate helps bring awareness to the public about our POWs and MIAs. Secondly, the funds generated from the license plate
helps our Indiana veterans in need through the Indiana Military Family Relief Fund, MFRF. Since the POWMIA special specialty plate was first introduced in 2010 until 01/31/2025. The plate has generated $1,427,450 to help our Indiana veterans in need through the Indiana Military Family Relief Fund. One hundred percent of the proceeds generated
from the sale of the POWMI license plate is being deposited into the Indiana Military Family Relief Fund by BMV. In our advertising of the POWMI license plate, we explained to the public two things. Why buy a POWM license plate and how how the money is used? Why buy a POWM license plate? First, the POWM, the plates Serves as a constant reminder of those
that are in our military personnel left behind from all previous wars and that they should not be forgotten. Secondly, the funds provided financial support to all military veterans and their families that are experiencing financial hardships. How is the money used? The funds the funds provided financial assistance for items like utilities, rent,
mortgage, medical type expenses. We do not mention that the money is used to help grant programs like the grants for veterans service program. Rolling Thunder Indiana has an invested interest in the veterans affair fund and believes that the fund should only be used to help veterans and their families in financial need and not to be used
to support other nonprofit organizations. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Questions? Mhmm. Thank you, sir, for being here. Up next, Jim Bauerly on deck Cheryl Clemens and the whole, Latricia Weber. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name is Jim Bauerly. I'm with the Military Veterans Coalition of Indiana. As was mentioned earlier by Mr. Clark and earlier by Lisa Wilkin, we oppose the use of
the Veterans Affairs Trust Fund, very specifically in Indiana Code. It indicates, and I quote, in Section three, the Veterans Affairs Trust Fund is established as a trust fund to provide a self sustaining funding source for the military family relief fund established by Indiana code 2,712,008. That that fund is explicitly
identified to serve veterans. It has specific requirements identified for that with Mr. Clark mentioned. Additionally, in this year's proposed budget, 1.2, 1 and $1,250,000 per year is to be moved from the trust fund to the family relief fund. We urge you to change this requirement to zero it out as the military
affairs family relief and currently has $2,800,000 on hand, kind of in a checkbook and annually over the last few years, nine hundred thousand dollars or less have been granted out of that fund. So if even if there was a run on the fund, there's a million dollar buffer roughly in that fund to handle any run on the fund, which was a major concern early on
in the second half of the teens. It's clearly using $75,000 for two years for the semi sequential commission is not appropriate use of money from this trust fund for that purpose. And I urge you to strike that from the current budget. With that, I'll be happy to answer any specific questions. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for presenting. Okay. Next
up, we have Cheryl Clemens on deck, Latricia Weber, betting cleanup. Rick Wadia. I was gonna say good afternoon, but I guess it's good evening. My name is Cheryl Clemens, and I'm one of the leaders of Decoding Dyslexia Indiana. Well, we were thrilled to see that according to our NAEP scores, Indiana's improved our reading scores.
However, it's important to remember that as a state, we continue to face a literacy crisis. The data show that sixty six percent of our fourth graders and sixty nine percent of our eighth graders are not proficient in reading. As we look to the budget, it's critical that Indiana continues to fund and prioritize the work of the Indiana literacy cadre. The state's future depends on it. We applaud governor Braun's vision to ensure
every Hoosier family has the same freedom to choose their best fit education. We support providing families with the flexibility of using ESA dollars as necessary so that their children receive the services they need to be successful. Currently, many families in the dyslexia community are unable to access the reading instruction their children need to be proficient in reading. If these parents are financially able to do so, they often spend thousands
of dollars on outside tutoring. ESA help some families to afford, this specialized tutoring or a specialized school for dyslexia. We continue to raise awareness and to advocate for the training of our teachers so that more students have access to this instruction. As you know, there are many students within the dyslexia community that find that they have a need for a non traditional and virtual
education offers one of those options. My own son was one of these students. I'm DLS, his virtual school prepared him well and he's now studying mechanical engineering at Purdue University at Indianapolis. As a sophomore, he is two credits shy of being a junior. I hate to think where he would be without the flexibility of his virtual education. As he was able to do his intervention during the day. Sadly, however, virtual
students, as I heard you all heard earlier, do not receive full funding. And we believe that all students deserve equal funding and should be given an equal opportunity to succeed. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you. Questions? Thank you for being here and presenting late. Thank you. Next up Patricia Webber, Joe Bedding Cleanup Rick Wadia and in the old Scott Carr.
Cleanup means last. Hello and good evening. Thank you for everyone's time and I appreciate appreciate everyone staying late. I am Latricia Webber. I am the mother of two, one a recent graduate of INDLS and as well as a current student at INDLS that Miss Slager was presenting on earlier. Prior to my oldest starting kindergarten, we realized that our assigned school wouldn't meet our children's needs or our expectations.
Our oldest has now moved on to the first year of college and I now know that we made the right decision by choosing hybrid and virtual schools for their education rather than a school assigned based on our address. Address. A factor that has nothing to do with the way our specific students learn best. Our second child is also proving to be just as well supported in the virtual setting and have no doubt that
she will meet her potential as well. So many children are still trapped in schools that don't serve them, not aware that there's a choice for some of them. Some are stuck in failing schools where their potential is wasted. Others have special learning needs that are ignored in rigid system in a rigid system. Some are bullied or unsafe and need an alternative where they can thrive. Others like ours simply learn better in
a different environment whether that's a private school, a charter school, a micro school, or a virtual school. Most of which are actually public schools as well. This is why we must fully fund school choice, education savings accounts and virtual schools because education is not about protecting institutions. It's about protecting our children's futures. Virtual schools offer a lifeline for students with specific needs. Some children excel in traditional classrooms. That's great. But others thrive in
flexible technology driven environments. Denying access to this opportunity is to deny them a future. We already fund public education with taxpayer dollars, but whose money is that? It belongs to the people that deserve a say in how our child is educated. ESA's put the power back in parents hands. This is not about defunding public schools, it's about funding students. Opponents argue that school choice
takes money away from public schools, but let us be clear no child should be forced to stay in a school that is failing them just to keep the system funded. If a school is truly doing its job parents will choose that same school that they're assigned to. If not, they deserve the right to seek a better fit. Competition makes institutions stronger all the time. Why should education be any different? Education is the great equalizer breaking
cycles of poverty and unlocking potential. Or is it the goal of Indiana to keep things unequal? Do all of you making the rules for us want to continue to view one child as worth every cent of every dollar for education and the next only worth 85¢ of every dollar? For too long, Indiana has told parents to sit down and be quiet and accept what we give you. That time should end in order to progress. And I see somebody's waving at me. Thank you.
Questions? Thank you for presenting. Okay. Next up, Rick Wadia. Let's see. On deck, Scott Carr, and then Bethany Edmonson. Fine from here, mister chairman. I'll I'll speed up the transition. Thank you. I appreciate the time and appreciate the committee's attention today on house bill ten zero one. I thought I was gonna introduce myself as mister irrelevant for you NFL fans, but apparently there's a couple more people behind me. So,
Rick Wojcie, Indiana Builders Association, appreciate all the work that has been done, in previous versions of the budget, and certainly, your work starting today and over the next couple weeks and next couple months. Specifically I'd like to talk about the residential housing infrastructure fund that was created in 2023 to the tune of $75,000,000 several of the co authors in this room, today represent Delaney, representative O'Brien, and it was authored as well by representative Miller and Hall. So thank you
very much for that. In the, version of the budget today, it is been, put in an amount of $25,000,000, and so we appreciate, the continued funding of the residential housing infrastructure fund. We have been talking with IFA and and we think with continued funding of this, we can, grow the fund to over $1,000,000,000 being spent to help provide housing across the state of Indiana over the next decade plus. So, it is truly
an innovative program. Many states across the country are trying to steal it now, because they've seen their early success here in Indiana and as we all know, right, we do things right here in Indiana and then other states are are following behind us and this is a great example of that. The first round of funding is went out the door 11 communities over 2,400 homes in round one. The second round of funding is, is being awarded and, so if the general assembly is, so desires and
continues that funding, we'll be able to continue to keep the ball rolling and is a revolving loan fund. So money will be coming back in, as these projects are coming online over the next two years. Also, real quickly, we have a partnership with the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation. This funds workforce development programs all across the state. There's, been a a long standing line item in the budget, to fund those workforce development programs. Foundation is agnostic and then one of the few, construction related entities that is
solely focused on workforce development. We don't care if it's union, if it's nonunion, if it's road building, residential, commercial, you name it. The goal is to get kids and get adults interested in careers in the trades and show them, the great careers that we can do. In some of our training programs, our end goal is not to train them. Our end goal is to get them employed, and we do a great job of that. And so thank you very much for your consideration and your time. And, mister chairman, I yield my 40 back to the committee. Thank you. We're we're
being clinker. Thank you. Thank you. So Greg, you are pleased with With what is in the budget right now? You are pleased? Representative clinker, we'd love to see some additional funding of, you know, $50,000,000 in the in the housing infrastructure fund. I think would really ramp up that program at the beginning. Right? So the more money that goes in, is more money we can get out the door and the quicker we can build that fund up. But but yes, you know, and given the conditions and the tough
decisions that this committee has to make, we appreciate the acknowledgement that it's a good program. So you're working on that whole structure right now? We're gonna wait and see what the forecast looks like over the next couple months and I'm I'm assuming you'll be hearing from me. Yes. Thank you. Further questions? Thank you for being here. Thank you, mister chairman, members of the committee. Appreciate it. I've heard it's been said if you ask for more, you get less, but we'll see how that goes. Scott Carr, you're up. Bethany Edmondson
on on deck, and Christopher Lagoni in the hole. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Scott Carr with catalyst book affairs group here today on behalf of the Indiana casino association of Indiana. Today I'd like to direct your attention to section 31, which is on page, the end of page 95 and the beginning of page 96. The Indiana casino association of Indiana rises in support of this piece of, house bill ten zero one. It would,
reclassify casino dealers as service providing industry occupation, which would allow their tips to be exempt. This is obviously, important for the many, many members of our casinos. We employ nearly 7,000 Hoosiers in Indiana, and 1,300 of those are actually dealers in the state of Indiana. Often, our employees, you know, are dealing with everything that every other employee is dealing with, right? We have the challenges of high health care, the challenges of rising energy costs, the inflation in
every little bit helps. So we are grateful to see this included, in governor Braun's, introduced budget, and we obviously believe it would be a wonderful benefit, to the members of the casino association who are working, all across the state and in many of your communities. With that, I'll conclude. Thank you. Questions? Thank you. Up next Bethany Edmonson On deck Christopher Lagoni And in the hole Taylor Hughes
Is Bethany here? Alright, we're gonna move on. Christopher Lagoni. Thank you, Chairman Thompson and members of the House Ways and Means Committee for the opportunity to speak about the budget bill. We really thank you for your investment and education the last couple years and appreciate, the process and where the governor starts it. I'm just gonna highlight a few of our policy areas interested in the budget. We appreciate the curriculum materials being a
separate line item to allow for transparency. We support the pre k funding increases discussed earlier by other education groups. And we really support, transparency in how tax dollars are spent for education. That's one of our main policy goals. We are not here against any of the school choice options, but we really want to see some transparency and make sure anybody that accepts tax dollars, documents how those dollars are spent, so we know,
where they went and, they supported education. We also support a tax credit for, education foundations. Education foundations are not schools, they're only non profits. They can be just like an SGO, a scholarship granting organization, and that they would fund pre k scholarships for kiddos in rural areas or post secondary scholarships. That's something that's been a bill that we've been supporting for a long time. We also wanna appreciate the budget, that reflects some investments in
economic development in rural areas. That was very exciting to see, and we hope that that moves forward. We appreciate the opportunity to give input, and thank you for the dedication that you've shown today to listen to all of your stakeholders. Thank you. Thanks for presenting. Okay. Taylor Hughes then on Deck Graham Renbarger and the whole Kent Morgan. Taylor Hughes
Alright, Coop Graham Renbarger Last one I've got is Kent Morgan on the list here Go for it. Oh, here we go. Graham's here. You you didn't have the on deck warning for me, so I was sitting in that. Thank you. Alrighty. Welcome.
Thank you, chairman Thompson, members of the committee. Appreciate you getting through the long night here. I'll be brief. My name is Graham Renbarger, and I'm the legislative director at Americans for Prosperity. We partner alongside thousands of Hoosiers and communities all across state, all across the state here in Indiana. We rise today in in support of Hoosier students and applaud the Indiana legislature, for being the first state in the nation to lead on the way, on dollars following the
student over a decade ago. It is great to see Indiana continue forward and have universal education as a priority for families in every community across the state. This will empower families and allow all children to have access to their hard earned tax dollars and invest in a brighter, better future for all students. We have heard the stories from many, children here today benefiting from the programs. And just, I think their stories and testimonies can
say more than anything that I can say. So happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Thanks for being here and presenting. Mister Morgan? That's it. That's probably the turtles. Okay. Like, I'm gonna wrap it up. It's best for last? Yes. I was gonna
say good afternoon. I'm gonna say good evening. My name is Kent Morgan. Let me explain who I am. I'm a member of the legislative team for the Reserve Organization of America. We are one of the oldest federally national charter veterans organization in America. We're now over a hundred years old. Picture of our founder is located at Indiana War Memorial, General Black
Jack Pershing. He's a World War one four star general. I'm a member of the disabled life member of the disabled American veterans. Also, I was the, legislative chairman for the Department of Disabled American Veterans for approximately four years here at a great state. I became an advocate for veterans starting
in 02/2009 here at our great Indiana state house. A lot of my friends in there, mister Cherry, and others. We had prior testimony on the, trust fund. I'm looking at to this committee to protect that trust fund by our code. The RA, is quite we're concerned about it. And, back in the old days, we had worked with I had was with senator Kinley. He wanted to put
protection around that trust fund. Safeguards. And, I concur with the prior testimony, with, POW, WMIA, General Barley, and Lisa Wilkins. They're right on the target. And you can check it. We try to prepare. When we come here, we tell you the facts. So, I wanna again thank the committee and
the chairman for allowing me to come here and testify. Do you have any questions? Just please protect our trust fund. That's how we ask here as, veterans. And we have a lot of disabled veterans that ask for that trust fund that need help as well as other veterans. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, sir, for
being here. Is there anyone that's here that didn't sign up? I hope so. Do you want to testify? Sure, please. Yeah. Take your name, please. My name is Anthony Butler. I'm the Executive Director of Appleseed Childhood Education in Rensselaer. I come to support the local childcare assistance program that
Governor Braun has written into this budget because we believe that this program would help incentivize county governments to help fund early childhood education. The purpose of Appleseed is to improve the quality of life of children and families in our rural area through early childhood education, community engagement and advocacy. This purpose gives us a mission that's
focused on increasing access to licensed rural childcare and learning, early learning opportunities for children in our communities and beyond. And to that end, we opened an early learning center in Rensselaer in 2023. When we were founded in 2020, there was only one licensed childcare facility in Jasper County. Through a host of community partnerships where we were able to open a second childcare facility in
our community. Our biggest partners are RightSteps Child Development Centers, Franciscan Health, and Jasper County government. And without the monetary support from the county government, we would struggle to provide the high quality care that we do. We also receive support from local businesses and from the city of Rensselaer. We have a very unique public
private partnership that we think that this, local childcare assistance program would go a long way, in supporting, other, county governments to, to do the same. And we know that childcare opportunities are limited throughout the state and especially in rural areas but we also know that they are an economic engine. When we have good high quality childcare,
people want to be part of the community and they want to stay where they live and work in the same place. So we're very much in support and if you have any questions or comments, I'd be happy to hear them. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you for working in that area. We appreciate what you're doing. Thank you. Yeah. Further questions?
Thank you for staying late and being here. Thank you for staying late. I think that is it. Anybody else? Well, members, thank you for it's almost now six hours, and so I I appreciate that. And so, Tuesday upon adjournment and then Wednesday at 01:30, and that that's the plan. Then, of course, then the
following Monday, we'll have the budget. That that's the plan right now. And we'll leave leave next Thursday open at this point, and we'll see if we have to use it. My hope is not to, but we may. So with that, thank you again for all your great questions and time here, and we stand adjourned.