FROM INDIANA PUBLIC BROADCASTING

Indiana’s 2024 legislative session begins today, kicking off 10 weeks of work that will end no later than mid-March.

Republican legislative leaders have said they don’t want 2024 to be about big changes. Instead, they point to last year’s work — on issues including public health, mental health, housing and education — and stress that this year should be about small changes to existing initiatives and they absolutely don’t want to spend any money this year.

But fiscal leaders doubled down on their insistence that Indiana not reopen its current, two-year state budget after a forecasting error by the state Medicaid program revealed last month that it will need one billion dollars more in the current budget cycle than previously expected.

While full agendas will be released in the coming days, known topics to be addressed include student reading proficiency, chronic absenteeism in schools and increasing child care access.