Legislative Report

BOSE PUBLIC AFFAIRS GROUP INSURANCE

BULLETIN XV, NUMBER 5

February 27, 2015

In This Issue

General Assembly Overview

Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits
Medical Malpractice
Innocent Co-Insureds

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY OVERVIEW

The first half of the 2015 Indiana General Assembly long session
concluded this week. The Senate concluded its business on February
24 while the House adjourned on February 25. Legislators will
reconvene on Monday, March 2 to begin the second half of the
session.
368 Senate bills died in the first half of session and 220 Senate bills and
Senate Joint Resolutions passed. On the House side, 495 bills failed to
proceed and 186 bills and House Joint Resolutions made it through
the first half.
The House advanced the state budget bill, HB 1001, by a vote of 6929 mostly along party lines. The most discussed portion of the budget
is the school funding formula and how dollars are allocated to
schools across the state. The Senate will consider HB 1001 beginning
in the Senate Appropriations Committee the second half of session.
A number of bills died on the House and Senate floor, including HB
1624, a bill addressing the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sunday in
Indiana. HB 1624 was not called down for a third reading vote on the
House floor by the author, Rep. Tom Dermody (R-LaPorte). The bill
received opposition from the grocery, drug and convenience store
industry after restrictive provisions were added in the House Public
Policy Committee.
The gaming bill underwent some further changes on the House floor.
The House removed language that would have cut millions of dollars
in funding that goes to communities where casinos are located. HB
1540 still allows for riverboat casinos to move on land, creates new
tax breaks for casino investment, and allows live dealers at the two
racinos based at horse tracks.
We expect committee hearings to resume next week after bills that
survived the first half of session have been assigned to committees in
the second house and the committee chairs have had time to
review all bills assigned to them. As always, we will continue to
monitor all legislation for amendments containing detrimental
language which may have died during the first half of the session.
The following are tentative upcoming deadlines to keep in mind:
-

House committee report deadline: April 8

Senate committee report deadline: April 9
House and Senate second reading deadline: April 14

House and Senate third reading deadline: April 15

Conference committees: April 15-29

The legislature must adjourn, sine die, no later than midnight, April 29.

UNCLAIMED LIFE INSURANCE BENEFITS

SB 425 provides that DMF searches must only be conducted on a
prospective basis, beginning July 1, 2015. Further, it removes the
fuzzy match requirements found in IC 27-2-23-13. The bill was
amended on the Senate floor to clarify that this bill does not prevent
an unclaimed property examination by an attorney general under IC
32-34-1. As amended, the bill passed by the Senate by a vote of 3713.
The bill has been assigned to the House Insurance Committee and
Chairman Lehman is the House sponsor. A hearing on SB 425 will
likely occur within the next few weeks.

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
The two bills dealing with medical malpractice (SB 55 and HB 1043)
have both failed for this session. As reported last week, SB 55 was
DEFEATED on the Senate floor by a vote of 22-27. In the House, HB
1043 died after failing to be called for 3rd reading by Wednesdays
deadline.

INNOCENT CO-INSUREDS
SB 125, as introduced, provided, in pertinent part, that an insurer may
not deny, exclude or limit payment of a claim made by an innocent
co-insured. The bill received a hearing last week in the Senate
Insurance & Financial Institutions, during which it was amended to
assign the topic for study during the 2015 interim. As amended, the
bill passed out of committee and the Senate floor unanimously.

For more information

Trent Hahn
tfhahn@bosepublicaffairs.com
Telephone: 317/684-5400
Fax: 317/684-5432