Dear Editor,

It has been a privilege to serve the residents of the 22nd District in the Indiana House of Representatives. These past few weeks have been a flurry of legislation and I thought I would take this time to update you on some of the critical pieces of legislation that have been discussed during this session.

The first bill I want to talk about is HB 1005. This bill allows for students to receive grant money to go to a private school or other education-related expenses. I heard from people on both sides of the issues, from parents to teachers and school administrators. My thoughts have always been that education money should be tied to the students. Parents should not be forced to pay for their children’s education twice. Parents should be able to decide to use the tax dollars schools should receive on the education they feel is best for their children. I voted for this legislation.

The second bill that I want to discuss is HB 1123. This bill attempts to increase the role of the General Assembly during states of emergency. Over the course of the last year, I heard from many Hoosiers in this district about how the governor has gone too far with his executive authority. I called out the Governor from the onset suggesting that he had gone too far. 

I authored three resolutions that would end the governor’s state of emergency per the Indiana Code and offered several amendments that would have fixed this bill, but none were supported by the rest of the body. I voted against this bill because it fell short of actually reigning in the governor’s powers.

The third bill that I want to discuss is HB 1134. This bill would have changed the requirements of “minor parties” to get candidates on the ballot for senators and Governors. This was a knee-jerk reaction because a Libertarian Party candidate got the largest percentage of votes they have ever received in last year’s election.  I authored amendments that would have given libertarians a stake in county election boards and lowered the threshold to 498 signatures per Congressional district like the State did for then-candidate Todd Young for United States Senate. The author let the bill die before I had the chance to offer these amendments.

The next bill I would like to mention is HB 1369. This bill will eliminate the need for Hoosiers to obtain a license to carry a handgun in Indiana. It is also known as Constitutional Carry. I have been a big supporter of the Second Amendment since my first election. In fact, I have authored Constitutional Carry language in the past that no one in Indianapolis seemed to support.  Yet, there are some concerns about this bill in regards to a database that law enforcement is supposed to create, but they don’t want. There are some privacy concerns in this bill. The underlying policy of ending the license to carry a handgun is important, and I voted for the bill but will be working to try to remove some of the language to make the bill better.  

The last bill that I will discuss is HB 1001, also known as the state budget. There are many good things about the budget.  The budget is balanced, it gives money to schools, it helps fund good roads, and it will help our credit rating and make Indiana a good place to work, and live. However, there are a couple of bad parts of the bill that can not be ignored. This budget gives the governor $150 million that he can spend at his own discretion for Next Level Regional Recovery Grants. 

This is favoritism and could have been better used for small businesses that the Governor destroyed with his executive overreach. There are also a few tax increases that could not pass on their own merits. While the bill has a lot of common sense in its spending, I voted against this budget due to a lot of wasteful spending.

That is a summary of key House bills, now the House has received bills that have passed the Senate for consideration. I hope to keep hearing from everyone in the district so I can best represent you.  Please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].  Thank you.  

Curt Nisly
State Representative, District 22
Milford