Rural lobbying groups seek stronger water rights, more medical personnel
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When the Indiana General Assembly convenes next month, rural interest groups will be pushing for more local control over water supplies, greater broadband internet access and steps to provide more medical personnel for rural hospitals.
Debate over who should control the state’s water resources has been spurred by a controversial proposal to consider pumping water from Wabash River aquifers in the Lafayette area to a state-crafted advanced manufacturing park 35 miles away in Boone County.
But many other issues also will dominate the rural agenda when lawmakers convene Jan. 8 for a “short” legislative session that is required to end by March 14.
Here’s a look at some key rural interest groups and the issues they will be pursuing.
Indiana Farm Bureau
Local control has long been a priority of Indiana Farm Bureau on a myriad of issues, and the group will now work to persuade the Legislature to consider applying the concept to water rights, said Andy Tauer, the group’s executive director of public policy.
Lafayette area officials have been clamoring for more local control in recent months as the state explores the possibility of pumping as much as 100 million gallons per day from Wabash River aquifers to the LEAP Innovation and Research District in Boone County.
Currently, the state lacks a comprehensive regulatory system to review such large water withdrawals in advance.
Tauer said Farm Bureau members see it as a potential statewide issue that requires the establishment of some guardrails. He said it’s unclear what those guardrails would look like, but he emphasized that local control is key.
“We are absolutely a local control organization. That’s one of our core tenets,” he said. “There’s a lot to unpack in terms of water quantity, just due to the lack of overall regulation that we have here in the state of Indiana currently.”
Tauer talks about some of his organization’s priorities heading into a non-budget year.
Farm Bureau has created a task force to research a water policy strategy that would prioritize local control and property rights. The goal, Tauer said, is to protect communities from outside investors purchasing land and instead preserving farmland and local authority.
A topic of conversation that will bleed into the Legislature’s budget-writing session in 2025 is the rising cost of property taxes on farmland and how to contain them.
Farmland property assessments increased this year, resulting in property tax bills jumping about 16%, according to a Purdue Extension report.
Tauer said he is initiating conversations with lawmakers about the tax structure ahead of the 2025 budget year to set the stage for change.
Farm Bureau worked closely with the Legislature’s land use task force over the summer but is unsure if any related legislation will result in time for the 2024 legislative session.
Several soon-to-be-completed studies, including one from the state Department of Agriculture about the loss of farmland over the past 10 years, are expected to provide some guidance. But Tauer said his organization generally will be focused on farmland preservation and land use and property rights impacted by residential and commercial development.
Farm Bureau also would like to see more state money directed to rural roads, bridges and water infrastructure. The organization also supports workforce development efforts that build on the scholarship program created earlier this year to provide work-based learning experiences for high school students.
Indiana Rural Health Association
The organization’s priorities primarily involve bolstering the rural health-care workforce and increasing the number of rural doctors and nurses through residency and nursing school expansions.
“Providing health care is very different than any other business or any other industry that’s out there,” said Dan Hardesty, the association’s director of governmental affairs. “Our challenges are a little bit different than some of our suburban or urban counterparts.”
Hardesty talks about three areas within rural health care his association hope to engage in conversations with lawmakers about.
Workforce shortages are a major problem for rural health care, Hardesty said.
According to an association advocacy document, one part of the solution could be to increase the number of rural physician residency placements by expanding a medical funding program.
He said another approach would be to increase nursing instructors by allowing four-year colleges to use part-time faculty in their nursing programs, which could in turn increase student-instructor ratios and enrollment.
The association also supports reducing or eliminating a hospital assessment fee on rural providers, which could then pass the savings on to patients.
The fee was introduced in 2011 and has an expiration date of June 2025; its purpose is to pay part of the state’s Medicaid service costs and increase reimbursements. The Indiana Capital Chronicle reported the fee brought in $344 million last fiscal year, much higher than the estimated $270 million.
Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association
Executive Director Christopher Lagoni said his organization and several partners are working with lawmakers on a bill that would let undocumented students born in other countries to qualify for in-state tuition at Indiana colleges.
In Indiana, about 8,550 residents are protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Of those, about 1,645 are attending a higher education institution, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.
Lagoni said he believes there is significant bipartisan support to pass the measure in an effort to make higher education more attainable and create a better prepared workforce. However, a similar bill died in committee last session.
Lagoni said association members also are seeking increased control and flexibility over teacher salaries in contract negotiations.
Some districts are handicapped by certain funding and salary mandates, he said, and experienced teachers are leaving for larger districts for pay raises.
The requirement to pay teachers a minimum salary of $40,000 has left some districts focusing dollars on meeting that threshold, he said, instead of raising salaries across the board. The organization is advocating for the Legislature to loosen the mandates and let the market demand for teachers determine salaries.
Lagoni talks about needing time to implement recent large school-focused legislation.
Additionally, he said his association wants some assurance that money from the new Career Scholarship Account program, which provides work-based training opportunities for high school students, provides equity for rural school districts. Concerns linger that rural areas won’t have as many employers to provide work opportunities as urban and suburban school districts will.
The organization also wants a new law to require that a school board member be appointed to redevelopment commissions for residential tax increment financing districts.
Indiana Rural Broadband Association
With over $868.1 million in federal broadband funding heading to Indiana next year, association President Alan Terrell said he is working with lawmakers to build a system to receive and disburse the cash.
“My focus will be on just making certain the program is inclusive — that we have a level playing field for small broadband providers,” Terrell said. “And I expect that will happen. There’s no reason not to believe so.”
Terrell talks about the cost of implementing broadband and why rural areas are the focus of the funding.
The Indiana Farm Bureau also is collaborating with partners and lawmakers to make sure the cash is not sent to overlapping areas and is reaching the locations that need it — down to the “last acre.”
According to the White House, about 12.4% of Indiana residents don’t have access to adequate broadband service.