20 JULY / AUGUST 2021 GR SUMMIT 2021 Legislative Session Summary Successful session in face of outside challenges Dax Denton Senior Vice President - Government Relations Indiana Bankers Association ddenton@indiana.bank @ibagovrelations Eric J. Augustus Vice President - Government Relations Indiana Bankers Association eaugustus@indiana.bank The Indiana General Assembly concluded a historic and unusual session on April 22, one week earlier than the originally set date of April 29. As of late last year, leadership in both the House and Senate were working through the details of how a legislative session would functionally operate during the pandemic. Ultimately, lawmakers were able to conduct business with certain measures in place to reduce the risk of exposure for both lawmakers and the general public. Most notably, the House Chamber was relocated to a larger space in the Indiana Government Center South. The Senate Chamber closed its public gallery and moved the senators’ voting desks to that location to provide for adequate distancing. Committee hearings took place remotely, based on space accommodations, or in larger rooms when available. As a result, legislators navigated the external challenges of the pandemic to achieve a successful session. Technically, lawmakers recessed the 2021 session with the intent to come back into session later in the year to address redistricting. The redistricting process is completed legislatively and utilizes U.S. census data when establishing new legislative districts. Once lawmakers are in possession of all necessary census data, it is anticipated they will return to session later this year to complete the work of redrawing the legislative districts for all House, Senate and congressional districts, a process repeated every 10 years. In the meantime, shortly after the General Assembly recessed, members convened a special session of the legislature to conduct a veto override of SEA 5, which had been vetoed by Gov. Holcomb. SEA 5 put in place restrictions on local health emergency orders in addition to establishing an appeals process for local health emergency orders on businesses. The veto override was completed on May 10. For the recently concluded legislative session, 1,025 bills were introduced between both the Senate and House. Of these, 316 bills, or roughly 31% of the bills introduced, survived the first half of session. At the halfway point, the Indiana Bankers Association was tracking 74 of the 316 bills that survived the first half of session. Of those 316 bills that survived to the halfway point of session, only 220 bills were ultimately passed to be sent to the governor’s desk for signature into law. Several IBA-tracked bills passed that will have a direct impact on the industry. The first two bills sent to the governor from session to be signed into law were important to the industry. First, HEA 1056 clarified the issue arising from last session’s SEA 340, through which the change of “or” to “and” imposed a new requirement of a second witness when recording documents. The second bill, SEA 1, provided immunity from civil tort liability to any individual, corporation, organization or entity for damages “arising from COVID-19” which occurred on or after March 1, 2020. Both of these bills were effective immediately upon the governor’s signature, becoming law on Feb. 18. In addition to HEA 1056 and SEA 1, the IBA supported legislation that restated existing law that a deposit account is a contract for the payment of money, which has a six-year statute of limitations (SEA 370). In addition, the state will move to an electronic lien and title system for vehicles under SEA 400. This bill ushers
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