2/17/2023 Session Update

By: Anna White

It’s Friday again, and we have some legislative updates for you! First, we’d like to thank everyone who attended our Love Letters for Legislators event on February 13th! It’s important that we make sure your legislators hear your voice.

There is one major legislative update for this week. The hearing for HB 1568: (pharmacist-prescribed oral and patch birth control) continued on 02/14 and passed, but with an amendment that prohibited pharmacists from prescribing abortion-inducing drugs and added a penalty for pharmacists that do, putting them at risk of losing their license. This bill was not intended to allow pharmacists to prescribe abortion-inducing drugs, and it is not currently legal in Indiana, so the amendment doesn’t functionally change much. However, the FDA recently approved the abortion-inducing drugs mifepristone and misoprostol for pharmacist prescription because they are incredibly safe. HB 1568’s new amendment is a preemptive strike against allowing increased abortion access. It’s important to note that many organizations, including the United Nations, advocate for self-managed medical abortions, where people can receive abortion pills outside of formal medical institutions to increase access. Any future bills aiming to expand abortion pill access in Indiana will have to invalidate the new clause in HB 1568 to be successful.  

Without further ado, the tracker is below! See you next Friday.

Women’s Health

  • SB 153: Allows pharmacists to prescribe and dispense oral and patch hormonal contraceptives. Requires healthcare plans to provide coverage for contraceptives and certain services. Grants exemption for nonprofit religious employers. 

    • Status: First reading: referred Committee on Health and Provider Services on 01/09

  • SB 252: Allows for LARCS to be transferred between Medicaid recipients. The aim of this bill is to eliminate medical waste for LARCs that were prescribed for one patient but never actually used (IUDs and arm implants). Missouri, which has less Medicaid recipients than Indiana, has saved $1.8 million from a similar bill. 

    • Status: First reading: referred to Committee on Health and Provider Services on 01/11

    • Adopted and passed by Health Provider Services Committee on 02/02

    • Second reading; ordered engrossed on 02/06

    • Third reading; passed unanimously on 02/07

    • Referred to the House on 02/09

  • SB 311: Reestablishes the licensure of abortion clinics, changes statutes regarding when abortions may be performed; removes eight-week limitation for abortion-inducing drug

    • Status: First reading: referred Committee on Health and Provider Services on 01/12

  • SB 425: Pregnancy Accommodations: Requires an employer to grant an employee’s reasonable request for a known limitation related to the pregnancy absent undue hardship to the employer’s business. Provides that an employer may not require an employee to take leave under a leave law or a business policy if there is another reasonable accommodation possible. Establishes civil action for violation.

    • Status: First reading: referred to Committee on Pensions and Labor on 01/19

  • HB 1568: Allows pharmacists to prescribe and dispense oral and patch hormonal contraceptives. Provides that pharmacists who oppose contraceptives on moral or religious grounds are exempt from prescribing them.

    • Status: First Reading: referred to Committee on Health and Provider Services on 01/19

    • The Committee hearing for this bill began on 02/07 but did not close with a decision until the hearing continued on 02/14.

      • It passed its hearing on 02/14, but with an amendment that prohibited pharmacists from prescribing abortion-inducing drugs.

    • 02/16: Second reading: ordered engrossed

 

Sexual Harassment, Assault, & Consent

  • HB 1066: Provides that if schools provide education on human sexuality or sexually transmitted infections, the school must provide comprehensive sexual education, using appropriate instructors. 

    • Status: First Reading: referred to Committee on Education on 01/09 

  • HB 1224: Allows pharmacists to prescribe and dispense oral and patch hormonal contraceptives. Requires healthcare plans to provide coverage for contraceptives and certain services. Grants exemption for nonprofit religious employers. 

    • Status: First Reading; referred to Committee on Public Health on 01/10

  • HB 1364: Elements of Rape: Provides that a person commits rape if the other person submits to sexual intercourse or other sexual conduct under the belief that the person committing the act is someone the victim knows, other than the person committing the act, and the belief is intentionally induced by artifice, pretense, or concealment. 

    • Status: First Reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code on 01/17

Economic Stability

  • SB 259: Provides a sales tax exemption for feminine hygiene products

    • Status: First Reading: Referred to Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy on 01/11

  • HB 1137: Provides that it is unlawful practice to: (a) discriminate pay based on sex; (b) discipline or interfere with any employee or other person who inquired about, disclosed, or discussed the employee’s wages; (c) require wage nondisclosure as a condition for employment, or (d) require an employee to sign a waiver or other document denying them the right to disclose wage information. 

    • Status: First Reading: referred to committee on Employment, Labor, and Pensions on 01/10

Voter Access

  • HB 1131: Redistricting Commission: Establishes a redistricting commission to create, hold hearings on, receive public comment on, and recommend plans to re-draw general assembly districts and congressional districts. Provides appointment of 4 commission members by legislative leadership. 

    • Status: First Reading: referred to Committee on Elections and Apportionment

    • Read our guest blog on redistricting commissions, here.

W4C