Indiana‘s public health crisis may be one step closer to ending.
The Indiana General Assembly will meet again for a one-day session on Monday after Thanksgiving, Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville) and House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) announced Saturday.
The announcement comes days after Holcomb shared his vision to end the public health crisis. Lawmakers need to make three “key” legal changes to protect Indiana residents – even if there is no public health crisis – Holcomb said in a statement Tuesday.
Holcomb: Lawmakers need to pass 3 issues to end Covid-19 public crisis
These three changes include allowing enhanced federally compatible funding for Medicaid spending to continue; continuing enhanced benefits for Medicaid spending; and allowing the vaccination of children from 5 to 11 years old.
The General Assembly does not usually return to the State House to consider legislation until January, but this unprecedented session could put an end to the public health crisis that has been going on since March 2020.
Some politicians saw it as a symbol of government overreach, and Bray and Huston claim that, overtime, the executive orders dealt with “more and less issues.”
“Indiana is successfully overcoming the pandemic,” Huston said in a statement Saturday. “There are only a few key components of the executive order that remain in place, including measures that help vulnerable Hoosiers.”
The bill will take into account Holcomb’s requested changes, in addition to added vaccination proposals and COVID-19 employers. A business requiring vaccinations against COVID-19, for example, should grant exemptions for religious and medical reasons, including pregnancy or pregnancy. (Although President Joe Biden’s proposed vaccination requirements for employers, likely tied to the Supreme Court, would override any state law if found constitutional.)
Lawmakers will meet Monday, Nov. 29, for the one-day session. Indiana’s current public health crisis – Holcomb’s 20th since the start of the pandemic – goes into effect on Wednesday, December 1st.
Public testimony will be heard on Tuesday, November 23, from 10:30 a.m. in the House Room.
IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky contributed to this report.
Contact Rashika Jaipuriar at rjaipuriar@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @rashikapr.
Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at 317-432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @ kaitlin_lange.
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