ECONOMIC RESILIENCE

Build a more resilient, diversified Indiana economy that can withstand disruptions and prioritizes opportunity industries, workforce reskilling, and inclusive economic development   

• Back to Work: Support safe return to work and economic recovery

  • Employer Liability Protections: Enact timely, temporary, and targeted employer liability protections for organizations in compliance with federal, state, and local COVID-19 guidelines and regulations
  • Work Share: Establish an Indiana Work Share program to save jobs, retain workforce skills, and maintain benefit coverage
  • Transit: Ensure workforce access to reliable public transit by holding harmless from funding cuts transit providers with low ridership due to COVID-19
  • Pregnancy Accommodations: Clarify employer guidance on reasonable accommodations for employees with medical conditions relating to pregnancy to improve maternal health and female workforce participation

• Downtown Indy: Empower Indianapolis with tools to recover and rebuild

  • Panhandling: Existing statute should be amended to allow for proper enforcement of aggressive panhandling regulations in compliance with federal requirements
  • Service Enhancement: Support increased levels of service to homeless populations including a comprehensive approach to establish low-barrier shelters and wraparound service treatment models. Allow funds from Medicaid 1115 waiver to be used for homelessness intervention and prevention services
  • Reduction of Emergency Services Utilization: Develop and scale partnerships between law enforcement and human service providers to promote preventative care, reduce costly over-use of emergency services, and increase connection to treatment and wrap-around services
  • Economic Improvement District: Catalyze economic recovery and sustained investments in safety, cleanliness, and human services by reversing 2018 changes to the EID statute and increasing flexibility for downtown Indianapolis

• Economic & Workforce Development Alignment: Prioritize Opportunity Industry growth

  • Reskilling: Leverage federal funding to expand digital literacy and online instruction programs for adult learners. Prioritize programs preparing essential and displaced workers for career advancement in Opportunity Industries
  • Reshoring: Identify Opportunity Industries for potential reshoring and target with public incentives to attract relocating firms
  • Credentialing: Indiana workforce development system must adopt public funding criteria to assure the quality of online non-degree credentials; expand high-quality, short-term training to respond to market changes; prioritize sector partnerships for new programs to reskill displaced workers; target reshoring industries for new credentialing programs

• Housing: Build financial stability, improved health outcomes, and housing market strength
• Development Incentives: Establish a state-level tax credit to match or enhance federal LIHTC credits to incentivize development of new or rehabbed affordable units
• Education: Protect early learning access, improve connectivity, and support school safety

  • Pre-K: Prioritize available federal relief funds to high quality childcare options; consider Adverse Childhood Experience scores in funding allocation; establish a Childcare tax credit; expand access to On My Way Pre-K by raising income eligibility
  • Digital Divide: Maximize equitable access to devices and connectivity (including innovative approaches from outside traditional telecom), prioritizing rural areas and communities of color to prevent widening of the achievement gap

Hold Harmless: Ensure school safety and uninterrupted instruction by holding harmless from funding cuts all schools forced into virtual learning by COVID-19

HOOSIER HEALTH

Support a comprehensive approach to increase the health, resiliency, and productivity of Indiana’s current and future workforce

• Tobacco Tax: Raise Indiana’s cigarette tax by two dollars per pack and impose tax parity at point-of-sale for e-cigarette and vaping products

  • System Supports: Direct revenue from tobacco tax increases to raise Indiana’s low public health spend and address chronic public health challenges

• Healthcare Workforce: Enhance workforce pipelines and supports for essential healthcare workers, public health system workforce, and mental health providers
• Telehealth: Support the expansion of affordable telehealth options to improve access to care and enable more preventative care
• Racial Health Disparities: Disaggregate government data to enhance equitable decision-making related to racial health disparities and social determinants of health
• Food Access: Support agency flexibility to enable SNAP benefit utilization for online ordering and home delivery on a permanent basis
• Mental Healthcare Funding: Explore strategies to enhance funding for wraparound services, reimbursement of mental health providers, and public safety partnerships

SMART JUSTICE REFORMS

Support strategic criminal justice reform to enhance public safety, maximize rehabilitation, and minimize jail overcrowding, recidivism, and local fiscal impact

• Mental Health System: Support rehabilitative outcomes for mental health cases

  • Assessment & Diversions: Increase resources to court system to conduct mental health assessments and refer defendants to treatment and services
  • Pre-release Screenings: Administer mental health and skills assessments to inmates pre-release, connect to treatment, services, and employment opportunities

• Administrative Reforms:

  • Multiple Felony Sentencing: To reduce impact on criminal justice systems, offenders with multiple felonies should be sentenced to the Department of Correction
  • Bail Consideration: Cash bond consideration must require a screening assessment and the ability to increase the bond considering severity of criminal history
  • Fines & Fees: Require that fines and fees not exceed cost to administer justice processes. Where fees exceed cost, surplus should fund restitution and treatment

• Public Input and Oversight: Advance community trust and successful justice outcomes

  • Policymaking: Support Marion County efforts to establish structures for civilian input and oversight of law enforcement policymaking
  • External Oversight: Trigger automatic external investigation for fatal use of force or misconduct cases

• Anti-Bias & Cultural Competency: Support community trust-building and deter bias

  • Training: Support law enforcement job performance by funding and requiring Cultural Competency, Implicit Bias, and Bias Crime training for all officers statewide
  • Bias Crimes: Amend bias crimes statute to make more inclusive and enforceable

• Law Enforcement Officer Supports: Ensure officer well-being and accountability

  • Mental Health: Provide resources for mental health reviews and connection to services for law enforcement officers undergoing routine high stress
  • Pre-Employment Screening: Support candidate quality and officer job performance by requiring comprehensive background checks for Indiana law enforcement candidates, including group affiliation and and social media screens for racial bias
  • Body Cameras: Support statewide use of police body cameras and policies guiding the use, preservation, and public access to ensure transparency and accountability