The Indiana General Assembly's work continues at the state house as we approach the final month of the twenty twenty three legislative session and while the statutory end of the session is April twenty nine legislative leaders have indicated they'd like to wrap up the session by April 26, their twenty seventh.

>> In the meantime, committees were busy hearing and taking testimony on bills that crossed over from the other chamber.

Those measures include topics such as physician non compete agreements, credentialing for Medicaid services, gender transition procedures for minors, standing orders for overdose intervention drugs, public pensions and financial literacy.

Our guests this evening are familiar with this partial legislation list and we'll get an update on these bills and more on this week's prime time.

>> And good evening.

I'm Bruce Haines with us today is Forty Ninth District Republican state representative and House Assistant Majority Floor Leader Johanna King and 14th District Republican State Senator Dr. Tyler Johnson.

>> And we invite you to join the conversation with your questions and comments.

>> You just call the number that you see on the screen as we widen out.

Welcome our guests one more time Representative Joanne King, Senator Tyler Johnson, Joanna Tyler, thank you very much for being here tonight.

>> Thank you.

Thank you for the invitation.

Sure.

All of a sudden we're staring at April I know about an hour ago it was January.

But I'm wondering from both of you your second budget session, how does it compare if there is a comparison?

>> Well, we're very fortunate in Indiana.

One of the priorities we have is to leave this session with a balanced budget that's always been a priority for our legislative body and this year is no different from that.

So it's a very fast paced year .

It does feel like it was just December and here we are looking at one more month of the budget process.

So the that process that bill is now in the Senate chambers and they're reviewing all of the aspects that we have to make.

The last I looked I think we're at about forty four billion dollar budget in the state of Indiana which is significant.

We have one more forecast that we're kind of waiting on to make sure that we're well within those means of making sure that we're being responsible with taxpayer dollars.

>> So April 29th is our deadline.

We've got a lot of work to do before then and Tyler, your first experience people will probably tell you where budget sessions like then you have your own reflections to see how much that's lived up to the advertising.

Yeah, it the first thing that people tell you it goes quickly and there's a lot that's thrown at you that comes to fruition very quick.

You get elected in November.

You have till December to file bills and in January it starts.

And so those first couple of weeks are kind of a whirlwind and trying to figure things out and these last couple of weeks I have a feeling you're going to be very much the same.

>> Yeah, there is a lot that moves through and it seems that sessions have themes of a kind and in both chambers some of the priority legislation in the beginning but half of the top 10 bills in both chambers were all health related.

So it's interesting that for our guests you're serving on public health committee and maybe it would be worth sharing what issues you find your group is facing recognizing Dr. Johnson's background as a doctor and being involved in medical work yourself.

>> So thank you.

I do serve on public health which has been really interesting this year are the priorities that we're looking at is working on providing better access to health care at a more affordable cost.

>> So when you look in our region you look at other states in the in the area here Indiana has some pretty high health care costs and we're wanting to really figure out what can we do to alleviate some of those pricing challenges.

>> One of the things that I've been working on is the credentialing process.

So when a physician is moving from one hospital to another and he has the credentials that he needs to to serve the process was keeping him from being able to bill right away what we're wanting to do is really look at those processes and make sure that access to medical care is swift.

>> Good and is affordable for Hoosiers.

So the credentialing process is something we're looking at.

I'm carrying Senate Bill four hundred which is Senator Liz Brown's bill.

That bill is really focusing on several priorities when it comes to making access to health care more affordable.

Prior authorization is one of the things that we're really looking at and I'll defer to the doctor here.

I know that this is his area of expertize and I'm sure they're working on things on the Senate side as well.

One of the things we talked about is it's interesting how bills go back and forth and Senate bill four hundred in particular was very interest of mine to start with because you know, as a physician all the other stuff in medicine is very frustrating.

We'd like to focus on patient care and how patients getting taken care of .

But a lot of the stuff that adds to cost is all the red tape and bureaucracy and delays and we just don't want that stuff to happen.

And so I was very impressed with Senator Brown tackling this and it's a it's a big bill.

There's a lot of things in the bill but prior authorizations making sure you have a physician emergency physician in the hospital when you're there and things like that so tackles a lot of different things.

>> So that was one of the bills we started on our side and worked on and then sent over to the house and they're working on now one development this week impact I think and this where your clarification the Food and Drug Administration announced that Narcan would now be available for sale over the counter to be sold as a way of treatment for those that are experiencing overdose medication.

There is a Senate bill 214 if we're scoring at home that the talks of seeking a standing order for overdose intervention drugs.

Does the FDA's announcement change the nature of that bill in any it does a little bit.

So the bill worked on a lot of the other medications.

So Narcan comes in multiple different forms and the common form everybody thinks of is the spray that you put in the nose.

But it does come in and injectable forms that you can put in a muscle in other areas like that.

So it really does the bill that was put forth helps with a lot of those different things so that the state could actually provide a standing order for the whole breadth of the Narcan that's available.

And the federal discussion at the FDA really focuses around that over the counter nasal spray which has a very low side effect profile almost none.

>> So it's pretty good move on their part back to the House side and you were talking about credentialling.

There is another effort I believe that you are coauthoring regarding in the eligibility age for Medicaid.

>> Actually we're working we're working on a lot of things right now.

That is another thing we're looking at.

I don't know how much movement we're going to get on on that.

That's that is up to the will of the committee to make sure that we're vetting that process while making sure we're making good decisions.

One of the things that I look at for sustainability and for balanced budget we we continue to look at the pie chart that the Indiana state budget is and that Medicaid portion continues to grow.

It continues to be a higher percentage of our overall budget.

So for example, 10 years ago, if I'm not mistaken, it was about 10 to 12 percent.

It's we're getting we're approaching 18 percent.

That means those dollars are really critical how we spend them.

So we're looking at all opportunities to make sure that we are funding that well.

But also making sure that we're we're taking care of Hoosiers in their time of need.

So a lot of discussions around that and on the back to the credentialling that also spoke to I believe a concern you had for being sure that there was appropriate service in rural areas for for medical services.

>> Yeah.

So one of the things that Senate Bill four hundred also deals with is making sure that there are emergency room physicians at emergency rooms and that seems appropriate right?

Well, there's there are times when that hasn't been happening.

We want to make sure that when Hoosiers go to an emergency room that it is staffed by a physician that is able to meet their needs and so while that may not be as big of an issue in the bigger cities, in more rural areas, that is a huge insert.

>> So that's part of the Senate bill for us as well making sure that we've covered again as Dr. Johnson said that Senate bill four hundred is a very large bill.

>> So it's got a lot of provisions in it.

We're still finishing details.

I know it's going to be in ways and means on the House side on Wednesday this week and then hoping to get it out to the floor for voting first part of next week.

We are we approaching the deadlines for when those committee reports need to be in.

I believe the 13th of April is it's right within our you know, right in front of us here.

That's when the deadline is that bills need to be heard on the House floor.

So we've got some work to do to finish Senate bill four hundred but we're getting very close to finishing that one.

>> And speaking of physicians maybe by way of Segway, I'm recalling Senate Bill seven again some of the top ten in each chamber and this one on doctor non compete agreements clauses rather it's in the House on employment, labor and pensions.

Do we know much more if that is as a coauthor and I know Justin Bush was the author also from this region.

>> So yes, Senator Bush good friend worked on this bill for a couple of years actually.

And so that's one of the things you step into the roll into the seat newly elected freshman here and one of the things that they're working on so you get to speak to some of these things and have bring that real world knowledge with you.

And so we were citizen legislators, right?

We have day jobs.

I go to work on the days I'm off and you know when we're not down in Indianapolis and so it it was a good bill.

It helps free up physicians from being tied to a health system or a practice so that we are not driving them out of Indiana when they need to leave.

And that's a problem right here in the northeast Indiana region where a physician who wants to come here wants to stay here either doesn't like their job or for some reason their their job is downsized at the hospital.

Now they have to go outside of the area and most of the time they leave and end up in another state and we want to keep those good physicians here in Indiana so the bill hasn't been heard yet on the House side and we were encouraging them to hear that and want to keep working on that.

So an important issue, a number of issues that again initiated in the Senate that heard in public health .

I'm just going to stay in that field for a little bit more two bills that you're familiar with Dr. Johnson speaking about the administration of anesthesia in dental offices and the practice of medical terms.

I'm going to put them both together.

You can take it wherever you want and then ask where the status of that is from the lady in the middle.

>> Yes.

So two bills that I worked on and two of the very first bills I filed and one works on just cleaning up the red tape associated with medicine so that there's not a duplicative cost when you have an anesthesiology and a dentist in a dental office that happens but they have to be licensed separately so there's a double cost there.

So we're just trying to clean that up and so that the state's not putting an undue burden on those physicians and those dentists and then on the other one is just making sure that people are calling what what they are.

So it's a transparency bill.

So if you're a plastic surgeon then you can call yourself a plastic surgeon really doesn't do anything more than that and nothing less.

Just want to make sure people are are going to people that they know what their actual title is and so far they have been holding it looks like they're waiting for their next step in the spotlight.

>> So if you're talking about the committee, are you talking about Senate Bill seven and when it's going to be heard you could do that whether we were talking about the one about the anesthesia in the I mean this is the challenge I'm sure committee we're going to say pardon me which one again this is so well and especially with public health .

>> You know, when I look at the number of bills that were filed that were were sent to public health , I mean we still have a couple more meetings.

I think three of my committees I sit on four committees, three of my committees are done with their committee work.

We've we've heard the bills that we're going to hear coming from the Senate.

We've put those out on the House floor public health .

I have at least two more meetings that we're going to be working on bills I know this next week we've got four bills that we're going to hear so it's a lot of work and try to keep everything kind of organized in your head can be a challenge sometimes but yeah, it's important work and a priority bill in the Senate I would imagine is on the shorter list and that is as before where we're looking to try to carry out some of the health commission findings and and move forward on that.

>> Is that the got to get her done?

Absolutely.

Senate Bill four will be heard soon and will be voted we already heard in committee we've now had some time to digest it.

I think there's going to be opportunity for some amendments on that bill and then it will if it's the will of the committee it will be passed out of committee and then to the House floor for a larger discussion which is so important.

>> So and on the Senate side as that bill came to be Dr. Johnson, what's your what's your sense of it?

This is the idea of channeling additional funding to other counties should they elect to do so to take a proactive step on improving some of Indiana's metrics?

>> Yeah, that Senate Bill four is the Public Health Commission bill and so they spent a lot of time over the summer looking at it, sent us their recommendations.

It got drafted and part of that process is amending the bill, making the bill better and I was able to take part of that and add some amendments.

We had three amendments on the floor and able to you know, one of the big concerns we heard from constituents is giving the State Department of Health too much power.

You know, so there is a little pushback on that and so we wanted some checks and balance there and we wanted our local county health officers to have some say in applying for money .

And so it's more the discussions become more of a grant program for them to apply to.

So that money's still there and then we want the county commissioners to have some control over that and so that it's not just thrown out there and that your money, our taxpayers money isn't wasted on projects that aren't going towards good things.

So there was a lot of discussion and and talk on that and even more in the House and it'll be a good bill by the time it comes out.

>> We are talking this evening with State Representative John King and State Senator Dr. Tyler Johnson and here on prime time and we want to welcome Thomas to the program.

Sir, good evening.

>> Go ahead with your question or comment please everybody.

My question is, is you being elected officials at a somewhat higher level?

I heard her bring up the comment the will of the committee you know, the will of the Lord is that for the elected sake these days be shortened.

So she brought up earlier things being speed up and rapidly heading along when that guy's out there around the Wal-Mart I spend my money at the community with the sign up, say they need help.

Please anything.

God bless.

You know, behind the scenes is is he really somebody with the opioid problem that needs that Narcan and it's out at the story go to to get it and what's going to be his next move?

My question is what are you highly elected officials doing to really try and get down to where the rubber meets the road as well as connects with law enforcement so that these people can have assistance out there where needed not just be handcuffed and thrown behind bars.

We've got too many drugs out here just floating around.

I've heard a lot of various comments being brought up about funding and things.

But my question is what's being done about it?

>> Thanks a lot, Thomas.

Thank you, sir.

And let me turn to our guests and have them offer some some thoughts on your response so tell you I'll start with you, sir.

>> Yeah.

So Thomas, thank you.

You know, there is a lot of discussion on how we spend money and where that money goes to as we were just talking about, we wanted one of the bills we had this year was to make sure that police and EMS had appropriate types of Narcan available.

There's a huge problem with fentanyl and opioids as you were discussing and so we want to make sure that the first responders have the tools they need to help these people when they do overdose.

It goes farther than that though.

Part of the public health discussion is making sure that, you know, we had projects and programs in place to help people that are addicted.

It's a vicious spiral and you have to have a place to go and a community to build to help you get through that.

And so we want to make sure money is being spent towards that and that it's going towards those programs and our tax dollars your tax dollars are going to things of value like the joint.

>> I think you know, that's another thing that we haven't talked about tonight but I think it's important to talk about is you know, mental health continues to be something that we as Hoosiers really need to look at and Senate bill one really does that.

>> Senator Kreider has worked on this for many years.

This has been something that him and even Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch have really made it a priority for them to really look at mental health issues and how can we best help people that are, you know, down on their luck and are having a hard time just getting through the process of life.

And as Dr. Johnson said, you know, fentanyl is out there.

We have issues around that.

We want to do what we can to help people have the access that they need to get the help that they need both with mental help which with our drug issues and some of those are interrelated.

And so really helping to to figure out what we need to do I think is important.

I think Senate Bill one is a great bill that will help us to begin to prioritize some of those things that maybe we have let go for far too long.

>> So tell us thank you very much for your your comments or we appreciate it.

We did say that it's almost like there are four weeks it's more like the two minute warning but with those bills that are still in process.

Tyler, let me start with you on pieces of legislation that you're following that may have come through your CO authorship, your sponsorship or some of your colleagues who have been very fortunate to have most of my bills are moving still and that's a good thing.

And one of the one of the bills that we're paying very close attention to that Representative King already talked about his House bill 10 04 and it really talks about health care costs and where those are at and we want to set up a fair system without being unfair to certain hospitals or health system and that's a hard balance to strike and I always kind of fall in that transparency realm where people should just know where they're going and what they're getting from that.

And so we want to make sure that we do have a good balanced approach to that.

So that's one of the bills that I'm looking at very closely.

Another one that's actually very important to me is House Bill one thousand and six and so that's been worked on right now and it discusses on how people with mental health crises interact with jails and how they interact with hospitals and what what rights to does the patient have versus what tools does the physician or hospital have to make sure that patient can get to where they need to be to get the help they need.

So that involves courts and a lot of things so very good Bill, that needs some work but it's moving through great joy.

>> How about for you?

Well, one of the bills that I that I sponsored this session that I'm especially proud of is the Senate bill three forty five.

>> That was a bill that was authored by Senator Holdman in the Senate and I had to do with the Safe Haven baby box and the reason that's so important is that whole process started from this region and it is now is there are safe haven baby boxes in a lot of states across the United States because of the work of one woman who said this is an important thing to do.

So safe haven baby boxes exist to help someone that in a moment of crisis decides that they cannot they can't be the mom or the father that they need to be to this child and they can safely relinquish this child at a fire department or at a hospital with no penalties, no risk of being arrested or anything.

Just be able to say look, I can't do this.

The reason that is so important is it really gives that that child an opportunity like what the bill did this year.

So that's in previous years that that bill was passed.

But we worked on this year is changing the process of how that child once it is relinquished where it goes next.

So this year we we have a new path for a child.

It can go directly to an adoption agency.

And so again figuring out the process of what happens at your child used to go to Diciest than a foster family and then maybe months down the road to their forever family.

This process we we believe will help that child go to their forever family sooner still will have to go through the parental you know, go through the same steps they did legally but now will be to their forever family.

So I'm really proud of how that bill originated here in the state of Indiana, how that law originated here and how now other states are saying this is a great thing that we can do to help moms and to help babies make sure they have a safe place to go.

So that bill passed out of the House just recently.

Glad to have that when I've got a couple more that I'm still working on Senate Bill four hundred which we've talked about is the Omnibus Medical bill which I will say in that process we brought so many entities to the table who brought the insurance agency?

We brought the hospital association.

We brought them all to the table to really look at what we all can do to help make health care more affordable and more accessible for Hoosiers working on four hundred still I have seventy three Senate bill seventy three which is an occupational therapy bill and Senate bill thirty five which is financial literacy.

>> I was going to go out on that one that we have just enough time to do it because this is one of those bills that where we have a sponsor in the House and a coauthor in the Senate you each have about thirty five seconds to talk about the importance of financial literacy.

>> What is the bill attempting to accomplish?

It is attempting to help make sure that all Hoosier students have a better idea of where their dollars go when they spend money, how a credit card works, how it doesn't work, what how interest rates work, how to fill out checks, contracts, all the things that we as adults do that sometimes kids leaving high school aren't quite prepared.

>> We just want to help them get a better start on that.

Yeah, I mean a lot of things we've discussed at the state house around how do you get kids real world experience to be ready to go and that's a huge part of it is do you have these base block things that you need to be a successful adult and very important thing and something we discussed quite a bit in the Education Committee.

>> Yeah, I would think that maybe a few adults like myself wouldn't mind auditing too just to be sure that we think we know what we're up to.

But that would be certainly an important one to continue.

Any final thoughts as we're moving into the closing moments here?

>> I just I'm so honored to be working with Dr. Johnson in the public health arena.

He brings a great deal of wealth of information to the state House and it's just an honor to be able to work alongside him on bills that are important to Hoosiers and that improve health care in Indiana.

>> So and I was going to say that, you know, we've I've been really blessed with a lot of good people and Representative King's one of those that have helped me walk this journey to start with .

>> And so it's good to hit the ground running at the state house and have a lot of people looking out for you.

Well, we appreciate you both being here and best wishes the rest of the way in the work in Indianapolis and you can continue to follow that work on prime time as we move through April together here on PBS for winter guests tonight House assistant majority floor leader and 49 district Republican State Representative Julian King and 14th District Republican State Senator Dr. Tyler Johnson.

I'm Bruce Haines for all of us with prime time take care and we'll see you soon.

>> Good night