[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6328221,"mediaKeyId","2321398-f59a939dc5b5db0c00864828e7044a42","parentId",2321398,"title","Ways and Means roundup: committee clears several bills, holds Gary hold-harmless discussion and advances quantum corridor measure","audioSeconds",6020,"startMs",1180000,"endMs",7200000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2321398-f59a939dc5b5db0c00864828e7044a42&start=1180&end=7200","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2321398-f59a939dc5b5db0c00864828e7044a42/thumbnail_1180000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6328221/Indiana/Ways-and-Means-roundup-committee-clears-several-bills-holds-Gary-hold-harmless-discussion-and-advances-quantum-corridor-measure","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6328221-945bb61fcd69423978cd1dbbd22c6d0f/orig.mp4?Expires=1777093553&Signature=Q9mg3AgaJ515zP5Us440lBiwGeWiGFPD54Rogdt8OBy4y00PWBq0lsHK8gEfZSpa3r3griuxOI~wVMg11o9QCaVOzhYXv~UhBNJMB7AKzm3jgkJYiy1EjFAAe06MOX9kGgMQdTaraKeT4VJI7GDwU~iBvqcJFgR~Qrby2rL2DBexk~sI5-AOFQ~zo2YR~GeKhQV3mrxAB0Wf89DOsUjJDXEzqV-3wugGFP-PW5wfxDmqAdmU5aD1c1XuWxH9v0Lp4TZcTOvh6V3IuybWCBtsER32FZokVCLrmmBgyOoO9r9xa8r89YdkaD2oAwCUe1I3Weur0FxypEqMeRahR1apTA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Indiana House of Representatives","date","2025-02-12T00:00:00Z","article","The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee considered a broad set of bills affecting local government finance, scholarships, property-tax technical changes and a proposed quantum research corridor, taking votes on several measures and deferring further action on a high-profile hold-harmless set of payments for the City of Gary.

Notable committee actions

- House Bill 1113 (fire protection district purposes): Passed out of committee 23–0. The bill expands the permissible purposes for which a fire protection district may be established, to include fire-based emergency medical services and hazard prevention.

- House Bill 1142 (technical date change): Passed out of committee 23–0. The bill makes a single-date change from 2025 to 2026.

- House Bill 1326 (scholarship and transition-to-teaching adjustments): Passed out of committee 14–9. The bill lowers the age eligibility for a school scholarship program from 4 to 3 and removes an income eligibility requirement for an SGO scholarship; it also consolidates or allows transfer of unused scholarship funds among several programs to support transition-to-teaching grants (sponsor noted a $1 million transition-to-teaching fund and said Commissioners project up to roughly 336–350 applicants this year). Several members expressed concern about relying on Commission for Higher Education discretion for reassigning unused scholarship funds and about adequate outreach and oversight of legacy scholarship programs.

- House Bill 1427 (local government finance / DLGF provisions): The committee considered a lengthy local-government finance measure with multiple amendments, including extended sunsets, changes to tax-bill mailing for zero-assessed-value parcels, and expanded transparency requirements for contracts and agreements. With adopted amendments the bill passed out of committee on recorded vote 20–3.

- House Bill 1448 (hold-harmless payments tied to casino transition): Committee members heard extended testimony and negotiated an amendment proposal that would allow the City of Gary to obtain a state loan to make immediate supplemental payments to Michigan City and East Chicago while repaying the loan over time. Members debated term length at length (10 years proposed by the amendment’s sponsor) and several members suggested shorter terms or front-loaded alternatives. The committee ultimately held the bill for further negotiation and asked staff to add it to the calendar for the next day so the parties could continue talks; no committee final vote was taken on the hold-harmless bill at this meeting.

- House Bill 1601 (quantum corridor / fiber incentives): The committee passed the bill out of committee, 20–3. Committee discussion focused on whether any sales-tax exemptions or incentives in the bill would unfairly favor a single new entrant over existing telecommunications providers. The bill author and other members said the proposed corridor involves secure, limited-access fiber for research and defense-related nodes rather than ordinary residential broadband; industry representatives urged caution about privileging particular companies. Several technical amendments were offered and then withdrawn with an agreement to continue negotiations between legislators and industry before second reading.

Procedure and follow-up

Committee members repeatedly sought further drafting and stakeholder discussions on multiple items. The chair directed staff to add the Gary hold-harmless bill and other carried items to the committee calendar for the next meeting; members asked sponsors to return with refined language and, in some cases, suggested compromise terms for loans or repayment schedules. Several bills with consent amendments were adopted without roll-call friction; more contentious items (scholarship fund transfers and the Gary hold-harmless plan) generated recorded dissent and requests for additional safeguards.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Ways and Means - February 12, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee considered a broad set of bills affecting local government finance, scholarships, property-tax technical changes and a proposed quantum research corridor, taking votes on several measures and deferring further action on a high-profile hold-harmless set of payments for the City of Gary.","taxTitle","Ways and Means, Standing, House of Representatives, Committees, Legislative, Indiana","taxId",20208,"location","Indiana","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6328225,"House committee advances broad healthcare bill after adopting surprise-billing and Medicaid-fraud data-sharing amendments",872,151000,1023000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2321398-f59a939dc5b5db0c00864828e7044a42&start=151&end=1023","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2321398-f59a939dc5b5db0c00864828e7044a42/thumbnail_151000.jpg","/articles/6328225/Indiana/House-committee-advances-broad-healthcare-bill-after-adopting-surprise-billing-and-Medicaid-fraud-data-sharing-amendments","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6328225-9be20c52c4e565df4331490e2e933f9d/orig.mp4?Expires=1777093553&Signature=djDbpmRJsiQwHbUsFFS6CHBif9Q4f~9NkPgG~FfBKIOpHy~jzgDGhnRHR702EsoYA-M6z5L8ryj-Ukwz7wMPiPgpcks9DD~9UKFJ~dwyrhZiG9wa~RAuy43qziZL9i4oc~NaM8bzXy~B~Haf0ucL~dlGL35JDlCtzPo-CJONgeyIASwwWL51P-rgd326LQHdWbnFbRy-mfFbZSgX5F0QeQlKMi6q5-FNBN53fozMI~D~-63~Zhgguq-OutENzl1V0hhSDVyfCaCNOW-OE~wsfOAVih6c1rxC7~EW8Lja-34EsxSvs0j3gmk963wVh6ejBN8OBgi4-sN3u7DNQRJ9jQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","House Bill 1003, a wide-ranging healthcare measure, moved forward in the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee after members approved amendments intended to curb surprise medical billing and improve state investigations into Medicaid fraud.

The bill, described by its sponsor as a multipronged effort to lower costs, fight waste and fraud, expand access and increase competition in health care, is about 40 pages long with roughly 70 sections and had an 18-page amendment filed in committee. Committee members voted to adopt Amendment 6, which expands interagency data sharing to aid Medicaid fraud investigations and clarifies exclusions for certain social-service grantees, and proceeded to pass the amended bill.

The surprise-billing change in Amendment 7 would require health carriers to meet network adequacy standards set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and to address the recurring problem of out-of-network specialists working inside in-network facilities — for example anesthesiologists or pathologists whose bills reach patients unexpectedly. Sponsor remarks said the amendment is an early, state-level approach to a problem the legislature first addressed in 2020 and that federal law has since also touched.

Amendment 6 contains two main parts. First, it authorizes secure information-sharing among state agencies — including, by example discussed in committee, the Department of Revenue, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Workforce Development — to help correlate data in fraud investigations. Second, it adjusts the bill’s language to exempt certain federally supported social-service providers from regulatory changes tied to 340B program rules; the sponsor cited organizations that had testified in committee, naming the Damien Center, hemophilia treatment centers and federally qualified health centers as examples of groups the amendment seeks to protect.

The amendments prompted questions about privacy and statutory authority. Representative Campbell asked whether the Attorney General needed a statute to obtain the requested data; the sponsor answered, “Yes,” saying the provision is intended to create a clear legal channel for confidential investigatory use. Committee members pressed on how medical-record confidentiality and HIPAA protections would be preserved; the bill specifies that complaints to the state Medicaid fraud control unit remain confidential until formal filing.

Committee members expressed mixed views on privacy and access. One legislator said the proposal raised “a breach of privacy” concerns, arguing that storing medical data outside medical facilities should be approached cautiously. The sponsor repeatedly emphasized that the changes are intended to enable interagency coordination while preserving confidentiality safeguards already in place.

On procedure, the committee approved Amendment 6 by roll call (tally: 16 yes, 7 no). After additional brief debate and explanations of concern by several members, the committee voted to pass House Bill 1003 as amended (tally: 15 yes, 8 no). Those tallies were recorded on the committee roll calls.

The bill’s sponsor told the committee he is willing to continue work on language and represent the amendments on the floor if members desire further refinement. The committee did not specify an immediate implementation date in its discussion; the bill will move to the next stage of the legislative process with the adopted amendments.

Notes on procedure and next steps: the sponsor asked for additional stakeholder engagement and said he and staff had already met with the Department of Insurance for clarification. He offered to represent the amendment on the floor if the committee preferred.

","The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee advanced House Bill 1003 after adopting amendments aimed at addressing surprise medical bills by aligning carrier network standards with CMS rules and enabling wider interagency data sharing for Medicaid fraud investigations while carving out certain community health providers.","actionData","errors"]

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Ways and Means roundup: committee clears several bills, holds Gary hold-harmless discussion and advances quantum corridor measure

House committee advances broad healthcare bill after adopting surprise-billing and Medicaid-fraud data-sharing amendments