Stay Informed

By the time this issue of The Hoosier Farmer gets in the hands of its readers, the 2024 session of the Indiana General Assembly will be more than half done.

Because this is a short session, both the Indiana House and Senate must adjourn by March 14, and current predictions are that they could finish their work even earlier than that.

Among the many bills Indiana Farm Bureau’s public policy team is monitoring are the following:

• Right to repair ( House Bill 1155, authored by Rep. Robb Greene, R-Shelbyville) – Requires a manufacturer of a piece of agricultural equipment sold in Indiana to provide to an independent service provider or owner of the agricultural equipment any service documentation the manufacturer provides to its authorized service providers; and make available for purchase any part or tool the manufacturer provides to its authorized service providers. A similar bill ( Senate Bill 53, authored by Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Carmel) has been filed in the Senate.
• Foreign ownership of agricultural land ( HB 1183, authored by Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer) – Provides that a prohibited person may not acquire or lease agricultural land, mineral right, water or riparian right on agricultural land located in Indiana.
• Major groundwater withdrawal facilities ( HB 1305, authored by Rep. Sharon Negele, R-Attica) – Puts in place a definition of “major groundwater withdrawal facility” and establishes prerequisites to the issuance of permits for such facilities. A similar bill has been filed in the Senate ( SB 249, authored by Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette).

INFB members can stay involved in the session even if they can’t make it to the Statehouse. One way is through the weekly updates that are available through the end of the legislative session from INFB’s public policy team.

Members can listen to the updates live by joining the call via Zoom, or they can listen to recorded updates.

The updates are provided every Friday starting at noon ET. Anyone who would like to join those calls should email ppt@infb.org. To watch recordings of past calls, visit the “ Webinars and Recorded Calls” section of INFB’s website.