Back to Work: As Hoosiers return to work, employers continue to face a disrupted job market and often severe hiring challenges:

• Employer Liability Protections: Preserve employer liability protections for organizations in compliance with federal, state, and local COVID-19 guidelines and regulations – these protections should not be threatened or revoked for organizations that choose to require COVID vaccinations
• Workshare: Establish an Indiana Work Share program to save jobs, retain workforce skills, and maintain benefit coverage
• Transit: Protect local public transit agencies from funding cuts or unfair mandates, to maintain reliable transportation options that connect employers and workers
• Pregnancy Accommodations: Keep expectant mothers safely on the job by passing substantive workplace accommodations to clarify employer obligations, improve maternal health and enhance female workforce participation

Tax Increment Financing: Maximize the ability of local government units to respond to redevelopment and economic development opportunities through utilization of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts:

• Transparency: Establish a schedule of performance reports to local governing bodies and encourage the establishment of public online resources for tracking TIF performance metrics, funded by TIF revenue
• Housing: Expand eligibility requirements to allow more communities to utilize residential and housing TIF structures to incentivize development of affordable housing

Local Incentives: Secure and maintain flexibility of local incentives for economic and community development efforts to encourage new growth and redevelopment of existing resources

Certified Tech Parks: Increase the Certified Technology Park (CTP) tax capture allowance from the current $5 million cap to allow high performing CTPs to increase public-private investment in the CTP and surrounding areas

State Incentives: Maintain Indiana’s economic competitiveness through the preservation and responsible use of existing state tax incentives, placing emphasis on skills enhancement and workforce training to attract investment from diverse industry sectors (e.g. strengthening the state Skills Enhancement Fund to assist companies in addressing 21^st Century skills gaps).

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Investments: Support policies that can improve the State’s capital environment, nurture innovation, and advance racial equity by:

• Prioritizing increased access to capital and technical assistance for businesses and entrepreneurs of color
• Reviewing state entrepreneurship and innovation support operations to eliminate process barriers to equitable access
• Maintaining permanence of the state’s Research and Development, Hoosier Business Investment, and Venture Capital Investment tax credit programs
• Enhancing flexibility for public investment in venture capital funds that invest in Indiana companies
• Maximizing funding for university-sponsored grant programs and seed funding for applied research and commercialization, including pursuing opportunities as a Regional Technology Hub under the proposed federal ‘Endless Frontier Act’

Advanced Telecommunications: Support efforts by telecommunications providers to transition their networks from old legacy technology to an advanced all-IP, all-mobile, 5G supportive, all-cloud infrastructure