INDIANAPOLIS—With the legislative session soon coming to a close, Statehouse Democrat budget leaders State Senator Eddie Melton (D-Gary) and State Representative Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) joined together to make a final push for essential items relating to education, healthcare, tax relief and quality-of-life to be added to the budget.

Health

  • Full funding for SB 1 and SB 4
  • Establishes a Mental Health Professionals and Education Grant funded at $20M a year from sports wagering gaming revenue
  • Funds a doula assistance program at $2.25M each year 

Tax Relief

  • $200 homestead credit for CY 2023 billings with credit paid in early 2024
  • EITC increase to 13% in 2024 and 15% in 2025
  • Increase standard homestead deduction from $48,000 to $56,000
  • Increase renter’s deduction from $3,000 to $4,000
  • Increase personal exemption for income tax from $1,000 to $2,000
  • Eliminates the sales tax on feminine hygiene products and adult diapers
  • Exempts student loan forgiveness amounts from state income tax

Education

  • Transition pre-K pilot program into statewide pre-K
  • Increase foundation and complexity grants by a total of 10% both years of the biennium
  • Restore CTE grants
  • Restore Martin University line item at $10M each year

Quality of Life

  • Repeal of permitless carry
  • Fund the Benjamin Harrison Trust at $25M each year
  • Restore full funding for Next Level Trails
  • Response to natural disasters – fund the Indiana 1 Task Force at $750,000 each year
  • Better roads and streets – increase community crossing grant funding

Ranking minority member of the Senate Appropriations Committee State Senator Eddie Melton (D-Gary) made the following remarks:

“Indiana couldn’t be better positioned to make bolder investments in our residents and state. The revenue forecast update projects an additional $1.5B in general fund revenue collections over FY 23-25, and concerns about a recession are dying down. As final negotiations and changes are made to the budget, now is the time to ensure we’re adequately funding critical areas to support a healthy and educated population. We must also take this opportunity to support tax relief for residents who are still struggling to make ends meet after being hit by the pandemic, rising property taxes and inflation. Supporting overall quality-of-life improvements must also be a priority as work on the budget winds down.

“We have the funds, we have the opportunity—it would be a mistake to let this budget go out without these critical priority items that we know will benefit all Hoosiers.”

Ranking minority member of the House Ways and Means Committee, State Representative Gregory W. Porter released the following statement:

“We can’t miss this moment, this opportunity, to invest in the people. Expanding private school vouchers to families making $225,000, as I suspect House Republicans will want to do, would be a missed opportunity. No, now is our window of opportunity to fully fund the Governor’s Public Health Commission funding request, fully fund Senate Bill 1 and make strides toward universal pre-K. I’ve been in the game long enough to know that the rosy revenue forecast we saw earlier this week doesn’t come around every year – sometimes they signal that we need to cut back. When we get a positive sign like this, we need to act on it immediately. Hoosiers need and want transformative investments that will improve their quality of life.”