we're officially in the second half of the legislative session and lawmakers at the Indiana General Assembly are picking up the pace again after taking a midseason break.

A quick count shows just over 150 Senate bills approved and sent over to the House while nearly 180 House bills have cleared and moved to the Senate.

>> The proposed measures changing chambers include, among other things, a proposed two year budget bill property tax reform measures on health matters, veterans benefits, small nuclear reactors, cemeteries and cigar sales.

>> Our guests covered this legislative waterfront next here on PrimeTime.

And good evening.

I'm Bruce Heinsohn with this hour to today's pleasure to have 16th District Republican State Senator Justin Bush and a 3rd District Republican state representative Chris Judy.

And we invite you to share your questions and comments throughout our live program.

>> Just call the number that you see on the screen against Senator Bush, Representative Judy, Justin and Chris .

Good evening.

Thanks for having us.

Thanks for having us.

You're welcome.

Our pleasure.

And let's begin we're starting the second half but if we were up in the broadcast booth around the 50 yard line, we'd talk about the action in the first half.

How has the first part of the session been for the state of the session, if you will?

>> Yeah, we kind of came right out of the gun there.

I think it's a really quick session for us.

We have a lot of bills that were flowing on both sides and now we're going to take on all the House bills and we've sent all our bills over to our friends in the House.

Yeah, same with us on the House side mostly it's been with Ways and means sitting on that committee passing out our House budget which is about a forty seven point two dollars budget .

Forty six percent of that going to K through 12, another twenty two percent going to Medicaid which is again growing concern of the cost increase costs of Medicaid going forward.

>> Yeah, I was going to focus on that because that is if you will job when there are so many pieces of priority legislation like the first eight or so bills in each chamber.

But key of it all is the spending plan is in place.

People will notice it by its absence.

But within this one you have a variety of things to with which to work and wondered from your perspective what it was like in ways and means over that first half to craft what the Senate's looking at now.

Yeah, it was an actually a new experience with a new administration coming in the current administration with new folks running the agency.

So really looking at there they were looking at efficiencies to cut certain agencies to save save fiscal money because not only looking at about a point three percent increase on that second year as far as revenue we'll get that further revenue forecast in April that will kind of solidify the budget.

But but it was good overall we said pretty much a bare budget over the Senate and that's what Senator Bush and the rest of their team over there will be working.

>> Yeah, let's spend at least an extra 30 seconds on that the importance of that April revenue forecast.

What does it give you that we don't have right now?

>> It gives us a more solidified vision of what those revenue forecasts are going to be for 26 and 27 and really dictates what we can find and what we can't fund.

>> Got it.

Well, and while that plate is spinning other plates that also are going around is represent a an effort at property tax reform.

At last count there is a Senate a gubernatorial and a House committee property plan property tax relief plan.

Each has its differences but they seem common on this one point at all.

>> Property tax dollars are spent locally and it seems to be from colleagues we hear that this is a point that maybe is not well understood that this is not state spending property tax money but property tax form helping to put the mechanisms in place.

>> Let me use that as a toss up question just and I'll start with you.

Yeah, you bet.

You know, Senate Bill one is that the bill that we sent over to our friends in the House that dealt with this and that and as you said, you know, these these are really what we are as tax collectors, if you will, in on the Senate side or in the state side rather as we send that money back to the locals so that no one really focuses on giving relief to to seniors who are most at need.

They're living paycheck to paycheck so 65 and up disabled veterans.

And I think there's also some carve outs for those that maybe for first time homebuyers, you know, in their 20s we're trying to save as well.

So we're trying to give some Rosalie's also to farmers.

We've tried to look at some relief for them as well.

Their tax structure a little bit different.

It's more of an average over a five year period for them.

But we do understand there are some Hoosiers that are hurting.

It's interesting though you and I did some surveying on this and I had a large portion almost half of my electorate that said they don't have anything at all when it came to any kind of relief for property taxes.

>> So it's been a different district by district but I think there's definitely some Hoosiers that are hurting that we're going to try to to alleviate some of that pressure for them and good and respected.

Well, we had a nine hour testimony on the Senate bill one two weeks ago on the on the Senate's version and this week we we took testimony on the House bill 14 02 as an amendment which is the House's version of property tax relief which actually looks at a longer term kind of a five year term of of instead of being tax levy driven really being at a tax rate driven process.

So as we move forward you're going to see probably a mixture of what the governor wants, what the Senate wants and essentially what the House wants and all of this is going to work its way out.

We probably won't vote that bill for probably another two or three weeks out of ways and means.

We're going to take a lot of testimony from constituents, from schools, from local governments and we'll find the landing still a lot of moving pieces when I talk to constituents that want to talk about that bill, it may not look the way it looks right now.

There's a lot of discussions that still have to have with a half a session left to go all year.

And again, back to the spinning plates analogy there at least a half a dozen of those that are all dedicated to various health matters and several of these have been pieces of legislation you've both been working with just in among those that are working through the legislative process a Senate bill three fiduciary duty in health plan administer .

>> What does that mean?

So the majority of Hoosiers will go ahead and get their insurance from their employer and actually Indiana's very unique where we have almost 80 percent of employers are taking that risk on their own.

So they're inherently taking that risk and then they're going out and trying to find someone to help them consult with them how to pick the best plan and also how to administer that plan.

So out of the top five big insurers that have the majority of those plans on the market, we're saying to them you have a fiduciary responsibility to make your shareholders as much money as possible and a lot of them are very good at doing that.

But if I'm going to hire you as my business and be the one that's going to be looking out for me, then you should have to share responsibility to me to not put the profits of your company over consultor mine.

And as we see those prices continue to rise for health care costs, you know that's not that's you know, not opening a new location, not having innovation, maybe paying your employees more.

A lot of that money being, you know, out of there by the buy the big five insurers.

>> Yeah.

You're the author of SB three and what is the source of it all at the moment?

>> The state of the patient in the house?

You know, I'm very proud to say that the bill passed out with bipartisan support almost unanimously of the Senate and we sent that bill of the House and we continue to have negotiated and talk with experts across the country to see if we can relieve some pressure.

And it is a bill that I believe is Hoosiers in their pocketbooks and save us some money when it comes to the rising cost of care in Indiana spiraling out of control.

>> Your legislation addressing physician noncom agreements.

There is a version this year and folks might think that they might have heard this about two years ago and the answer is yes they did.

Yeah.

And compare contrast the 2003 legislation to what's going on in the 2005.

>> I'll even I'll even take a couple more steps back at six years ago Chris Judy and I actually filed to Inductor Non-competing and never got a hearing for a few years.

So we're very persistent on it's back again now.

So doctors in Indiana a lot of those folks are when you say nanochip they compete there, they complete their contract and then the basically the employer of the hospital comes in and says you can either take this new contract or you can leave and those non-competing are usually predicated on time.

So it could be up to five years or 50 mile radius around the hospital and 87 of Indiana's 92 counties.

>> We have a severe doctor shortage.

So what those folks are doing is they're taking their practice and they're leaving the state or some of them maybe will move to Lyme, Ohio and people will drive that way to see their doctor that they have a relationship with.

>> So if you can you know, there's no non competes in lawyers but we definitely think that having that with with doctors now is going to be able to have that relationship and also I think by passing this kind of legislation it lets new doctors who are looking for a new place to live that Indiana is open for business.

>> SB three is authored by Justin and sponsored by Chris in the House.

What connects you with it?

Oh, you're talking about the physician outcompetes yeah.

Yes.

So again, personally I had my my personal doctor actually had to move and practice near Chandler University for a year or two to outweigh his waits his Lockerby yeah.

>> Excuse me along with had a couple of friends that are surgeons that have actually had to leave the community to continue to work elsewhere.

One on one moved back to Florida, another one of Ohio.

So we've lost great young talent here in this community and I think this this this bill is going to solidify those once you get folks here and then you get to experience northeast Indiana and how much they love it.

Want to stay here?

>> That's what that's those are those are the folks we want another health care bill before the House Committee on Insurance's SB 480.

But the two little words we've all experienced at some point prior authorization.

What can you tell us about this bill that you've coauthored?

>> Yeah, a prioritization is you know what we want to do is we want to put that power into the doctor's hands when it comes to your care to not have the go ahead and get those authorization but let those doctors the ability to have the kind of test they think that's going to get you healthy.

And I know that Dr. Tyler Johnson from our area up here has worked really hard on that piece of legislation is really part of a you know, really a package we believe is going to deliver better care at a more affordable price.

>> And on that notion of it being a part of somebody's benefit plan, you know, we all concerned about our medical benefits and just benefits in general.

Chris , you have a bill described as an assistance in obtaining veteran benefits.

This is House bill sixteen seventeen what what's going on there?

Yes.

So right now we have a certain entities that are taking advantage of our veterans when they're trying to help them with their benefits.

So right now a veteran can go to their county veterans service officer.

They can go to the VFW American Legion, AMVETS and have this done at no cost.

There are times when veterans decide to go out outside of those entities and pay someone for that assistance and that's where they're being taken advantage of .

They're being told that they're going to be guaranteed increases in their service connected disability.

They're being told they're going to get a guaranteed increase in their pay.

What this bill does essentially puts guardrails around that and says that you can only charge no more than five times the monthly amount increase up to twelve thousand dollars.

This is language that is passed in Louisiana.

It's over in the Senate now with Senator Baldwin who's a veteran sponsoring that bill.

So we'll see how it moves forward yet one more health care bill and there are others beyond these but it is certainly a force within this legislative session, some of them branded by maybe it's workforce development or it's education or its climate but health care certainly prevailing and pervasive as well as all the discussion regarding the management of Medicaid.

But I'm thinking here of a measure addressing physician referrals and reimbursement rates this is an interesting one but it needs a little little preamble.

>> Yeah, it's actually in federal code right now.

What it says is that a hospital system cannot incentivize a doctor to make a referral financially.

>> So if you want to go ahead and keep that in network and we're both doctors, I would say oh we get to go see Bruce now even though maybe you're not the best doctor that's going to be for the patient the affliction that I have but I'm going to receive a financial kickback if I make that make that determination, make sure he comes to you so we we heard this wasn't happening but there was a hospital system in central Indiana that broke this law to the tune of defrauding the government almost half a billion dollars.

So what this measure does it's very difficult to whistleblowers have to move forward to the federal government.

They have to name who they are.

This will allow folks that say this is happening.

If it's here you can reach out to the attorney general's office and he can launch an investigation to see what's there to see to bring the feds to bring the feds in there.

>> I mean it was really egregious what happened.

There were tests that were being ordered that the patient didn't need.

So for me a lot of these bills is putting patients over profits and this is one thing that we know this is happening in Indiana and the state's watching as well.

>> So do the right thing.

Yeah, we are on private this evening with State Senator Justin Bush, State Representative Chris Judy and we are live in studio and happy to take your call.

You see the number on the screen.

We have an offline question from Fred and it goes like this this just put up Fred.

>> Thank you for checking in.

He says I am opposed to partizan school board elections.

Have you considered taking into account the testimony of Northwest Alan County Superintendent regarding SB one just so there it is absolutely.

I mean we I've spoken to almost all my superintendents about several different bills or the bills that dealt with with charter schools that we talked about.

We talked about SB one and one of my things I do it when we're doing a session is really make a around for all of our superintendents.

>> So I know that you've been in touch with folks too.

And you know, we we love those text messages and phone calls that come from the folks actually back home.

Understand what SB one looks like right now.

Like we said, there's a lot of work to be done.

But I think when you look at the fact that about how that's going to affect the locals in the school district is something that I think that weighs heavily on our hearts and yes, I think I know what he's talking about and ways and means we were talking about debt services and I asked the super tenants, you know, there are 21 of their 22 million dollars of debt services covered by property tax and how that were the Zacatecas debt service come from and where it's coming from is the growth the growth of north was down counting the amount of homes that are being built and they're having a building in schools that under the high school.

>> So I think yes, we're taking all of that testimony into into consideration when we when we finally craft a Senate bill one looks like you're right.

>> Thank you very much.

And if you'd like to join us again, check the number at the bottom of the screen.

Give us a call.

We appreciate it.

Chris , you authored a measure clarifying what is required to be included in child custody orders.

I did.

It's a different kind of legislation.

Walk us through sixteen twenty six.

>> Yes.

So this this is a compromise and this came about with the Bar Association over the last 60 years.

Many of my colleagues and I have introduced bills when it comes to coequal parenting 50 50 coequal parenting what this bill actually does and says that that those facts and findings now have to be on those finalized custody orders currently through trial rule 52 that either party can request those facts and findings and if that doesn't happen, the trial judge can release as little or as much as they want on those facts and findings.

What this bill does is just codifies and says hey, within those four percent of those custody cases that are disputed and even less were those those findings aren't released you now have to release those you had told me at one time that a lot of legislation is borne out of real world experience and you know, this is this is the condition under which we go forward to see about either remedy or repair or prevention, you know, going forward.

And in one case again you both overlaps or appreciate your your comments on House Bill fifteen eighty five this is symmetry perpetual care funding and I believe also involves a veteran focused nonprofit cemeteries.

Tell us what's going on with this piece.

>> This is interesting.

Yeah, this was born out of there's the veterans memorial we have I believe it's a three fourths the size of the Vietnam War Memorial that was placed out off of off a bass road I believe now they have the Korean memorial there and some other things.

So the kids that maybe can't go out to D.C. get to be able to see that here.

But veterans have really taken to it and removed to be there with their fellow veterans.

So this is a bill that we've been working on for two years now to find a way to have a columbarium which is you think about folks that are cremated can have their ashes and turn into a cement wall there where they can buy that memorial and their fellow fellow veterans.

So we had to cut through a lot of red tape and find some legislation where it's not technically a cemetery.

>> There's a lot of rules around that believe it or not and it took us there.

So we're excited to move that across the finish line.

>> I know that has been part of this as well and I think it's really going to make a lot of veterans happy to know that they can remain there forever with their fellow soldiers.

>> Yes, most definitely.

If I can make a plug for the veterans memorial out there if you haven't made it out there yet, please go out there.

They have a replica of the Vietnam War Memorial, a replica of the Korean War Memorial.

It's just and a whole history of the military out there.

>> So encourage you to go out there visit absolutely no good segue to this one.

But on a different note film and media production tax credits has brought you both together around Senate Bill three 06 tell us so it's lights, camera and Indiana on a big screen .

Yes.

You know, both of us have been been a part of this for a long time but it's five years.

Introduce some legislation that dealt with this and really what this is having people come to the Hoosier State as they film movies a lot of times we'll watch our favorite program and you can see that Georgia Peach and what it's meant to Georgia the billions of dollars that it's brought there.

So we have a framework in place now where folks can film here and it's you know, we've had a few roads I believe is a maybe a Hallmark Christmas movie that was filmed here last two summers ago and everyone always compliments about the people just walking down the street and saying hello and how fun it was to be the in Caps game.

So the more folks we can have here experience Indiana, we also have a gluttony of talent that comes from behind the camera as well with our media schools and ball state.

So we have a lot of folks out in Hollywood that would like to bring their skills back and live in Indiana but be able to that kind of film those TV shows here just like the movies we'd love a happy ending.

Yeah, I'd like to follow up on that.

I mean we have a great school great great program at Indiana University, Huntington University Ball State University and when these kids graduate our universities there's no jobs here.

They have to leave the state of Indiana for these jobs.

So the transfer of this credit would bring these companies in to be able to produce right here in Indiana.

>> We've got more content now than we've ever had even though I know people go right to the show and pin this on what to watch every week but the rest of everyone else everything is under the sun is streaming.

>> So there's a lot of money to be made in that profession right now.

Yeah, absolutely.

As we look to the weeks ahead, what legislation either something you've written sponsored coauthored or other baycol with other pieces of legislation are you interested in following between now and the and the end of April?

>> You know, I'm the ranking member of the health committee and I have three of those bills and I think we have some really great ideas that would really help struggling Hoosiers and also put money back in our pockets.

The cost of care is too expensive in the state.

Those are certainly really important and I think they have the biggest impact on everyday Hoosiers.

>> And Chris , I thought you said no one is going to be in ways and means for the next three to three weeks probably so I think if the continued diving into what what that's going to look like at the end of session and making sure that we can give property tax relief to our constituents but yet not not not hurt our our schools and local governments because again that tax money does not come to the state of Indiana.

It stays local but also we need to give relief to our to our homeowners.

So I think as that moves along in the next three weeks then also just putting a plug out there I'd love to get a two million dollar line of them for Turnstone Turnstone just as such a wonderful job for our community.

We were able to do that in twenty twenty three.

So hopefully with the revenue forecast is looks good in April we're able to continue to help them out.

>> I think I and I have not left every night at the state house and Chris Judy is still in ways and means so I just want to everybody watching because she's working hard for you late night so just dropping off coffee to this guy over here.

So putting in the long hours I think I understood that the February report revenue report was somewhat encouraging.

It was so could be a trend hopefully.

OK, well there you go.

I would love to be sure we have time to include this because there is one additional piece of legislation we always want to say one of these things is that like the other deals with supplemental cigar sales.

>> Yes.

So a lot of folks are familiar with with Rootes right there by bepart you feel that it's in caps play and what Rudy does sometimes it's all shut down the street and have a block party there through all the right channels and I know that right now sometimes we can have it where you possibly could have a beverage in certain areas if you have those have those right codes and right permits and this is to be able to to sell cigars and have cigars out in the street.

I know that they've got an excise doing their job is stop them a few times.

So we're just trying to allow that for the folks in the cigar industry to be able to sell cigars and charity events and things of that nature but also maybe enjoy a smoke if if you have an extend out Rudy's a little bit a few times a year it did have that feel of kind of a Dora but obviously you know for aromatics for for aromatics.

>> Yes.

Yes.

So it's not all doom and gloom and high brow bill.

Sometimes we have some bills that that I really think are fun and also about the area good good common sense legislation.

>> Hey man, there you go.

We have time to sneak this in this question from Susan who says you talked about people leaving due to non competes.

One of the things are you doing to keep people in the end I'd say we are continuing to lower our property tax so it's at three percent now to go to two point nine percent next year.

Then by 2027 or two point nine five percent in twenty twenty six two point nine percent and twenty twenty seven.

We've also exempted military pay and along with their retirement pay from the from income tax trying to keep those veterans here and to bring them back home because some of the things we do over the last few years we have some of the largest immigration numbers in the Midwest.

>> If you count even up in Minnesota people are actually moving to Indiana.

I think we have one of the top five tax climates in the nation.

So not only do I think that we're keeping folks here but we have four counties in Illinois that would like to succeed and come into Indiana.

>> That said, there was a bill I believe for a while in the House that talked about trying to add them.

>> But I think a really great story to tell and I think people are seeing they're moving here.

>> Yeah, we have a quick one from Tim wanting to know how you feel about the new jail and how will that affect its type even as we speak and how will that affect property tax?

>> Well, more of a county local issue I would say that the new jail the I think needs to happen right where they were at downtown I don't think could rise anymore.

It was costing folks too much.

So I think that that was a wise thing to do to to have that as far as how that affect property tax.

I'm not entirely sure.

>> I mean really I think they had that money in and bonded at the county level already I believe for that facility.

>> Yeah.

And all I can see is that game where you're moving little squares inside a big square and if you can finally get it to work out that's called property tax reform and you're taxing district.

>> Yeah yeah.

You can teach a class like that like it was a master of the game first so I'll work on that.

But we're very glad you were here to work with and for us our guests this evening Indiana Republican state Senator Justin Bush, Republican State Representative Chris Judy and thank you again for being with us.

Thank you.

>> Thank you.

Pleasure for all of us with prime time, I'm Bruce Haines.

Thank you for watching.

>> We'll see you back here again next week.

Have a good night