Economic development, mental health funding dominate Third House

Feb. 6—Economic development and mental health funding were the top topics at this year's first Third House session held Friday in Hingst Hall on Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo's campus.

State Rep. Mike Karickhoff, R-Kokomo, State Rep. Heath VanNatter, R-Kokomo, State Sen. Jim Buck, R-Kokomo, and State Sen. Stacey Donato, R-Logansport all attended Friday's event, answering questions from the public and the event's host the Greater Kokomo Chamber of Commerce.

The Indiana General Assembly is currently in session. This year is a budget-writing year, meaning legislators will have until late April to craft the state's two-year budget, all while fielding calls from various stakeholders across the state looking to get their priorities funded.

Here are the highlights:

READI AND SITE ACQUISITION FUND

Many of the questions asked from the chamber were about economic development. The first question sought opinions on providing additional funding for the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI).

Gov. Eric Holcomb has some major economic development asks in his budget proposal, including $500 million to fund another round of READI and $150 million to seed a revolving fund for site acquisition to help attract new businesses to the state.

The North Central region, which includes Howard, Tipton, Cass, Miami, Fulton and Clinton counties, was awarded $30 million in READI money last year, the first of which was recently doled out. The first round of the READI program was funded by the American Rescue Plan and allocates public money to boost various economic development projects geared toward improving quality of life and human capital in 17 regions across the state.

Given that READI was "well received" across Indiana, local state lawmakers Friday said they would be supportive of funding a second round, depending on what the tax revenue forecast ends up showing come April.

Karickoff said he was a supporter of former Gov. Mike Pence's Regional Cities Initiative, a little brother version of READI, and is a supporter of the READI grant program as well, citing the $ $1 million in READI money that will be used at Ivy Tech Kokomo to help fund the college's planned Industry 4.0 Training Lab. The lab will "prepare students to engage with additive manufacturing, augmented reality, cybersecurity in the manufacturing space, horizontal and vertical system integration and production using autonomous robots," according to the North Central region's READI grant proposal.

"There's not a corner of the state that hasn't benefited from this," Karickhoff said. "I think the READI grant and how we've invested it has certainly helped position us to train our workforce."

Buck said he was proud that the state has prioritized funneling money toward local communities.

"The economy of the state of Indiana is built up from the local communities," he said. "You're the engine for Indiana's prosperity. As long as we can keep sharing that money in programs like this, that's what is making Indiana prosper."

Another prominent ask from Gov. Holcomb is a one-time $150 million to create a revolving fund for site acquisition. The quasi-public Indiana Economic Development Corporation has secured the rights to purchase more than 10,000 acres of land near Lebanon, just off of I-65, to develop a Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace (LEAP) district, a proposed tech and manufacturing park anchored by a $2.1 billion investment by Eli Lilly and Company.

The LEAP District has faced some strong opposition from Lebanon locals, who fear the loss of their rural community and farmland. Despite the backlash, the state appears to want to continue acquiring land for economic development.

Local state lawmakers said they were supportive of creating the revolving loan fund for site acquisition.

"I think right here in Howard County we've got a great example, with the battery factory, of what stuff like this can bring communities," VanNatter said.

Karickhoff said he is "open-minded" to both sides of the coin but feels the state should have some "tools" at its disposal for economic development.

MENTAL HEALTH FUNDING

Additional public health and mental health funding is another top priority for this budget-writing year. Indiana ranks low in almost every major health metric and in its public health funding levels.

Multiple bills have been filed this legislative session to address the issues.

The state lawmakers at Friday's Third House session were asked by one of the attendees their opinion on one of the health-centric bills filed, Senate Bill 1, authored by State Sen. Michael Crider.

SB 1 would create 988 Crisis Response Centers, which would allow mobile crisis teams to be deployed to assist in a severe mental health crisis and would direct Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration to apply for support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand the network of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.

The state lawmakers talked favorably about the bill, especially Sens. Buck and Donato.

"We've seen the results of not paying attention to mental health," Buck said.

Donato said what got her "on board" was the estimated $4.2 billion in mental health costs that go untreated each year in Indiana.

"That is sad to hear," Donato said. "If this much mental health is untreated, we need to do something different."

The next Third House session is scheduled for 8 to 9 a.m. Friday, March 3, in Hingst Hall at Ivy Tech Kokomo. The event is free and open to the public.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.