STATEHOUSE (July 13, 2023) — State Sen. Ryan Mishler (R-Mishawaka) will serve as chair of the Medicaid Oversight Committee and as a member of several other key study committees in preparation for the 2024 legislative session.
Mishler's other assignments include:
Mishler said three key areas for further review emerged during the 2023 budget session – Medicaid spending, tax cuts and road funding. As chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Mishler is participating in discussions on all three of those areas by way of his study committee assignments.
During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers expressed concerns regarding the over $2 billion increase in Medicaid spending when crafting the new state budget. This is why House Enrolled Act 1001 established the Medicaid Oversight Committee to holistically review and make recommendations concerning all requests for the Indiana Medicaid program's new and existing services.
"As I look at Indiana's current fiscal picture, my biggest concern is our ballooning Medicaid spending," Mishler said. "That's why the Medicaid Oversight Committee is so important. We need to be thoughtful in what and who we are covering with this program so we can ensure we can continue to pay for it and at the same time balance the other budgetary needs of the state."
As a member of the State and Local Tax Review Task Force, Mishler will participate in discussions about planning for the future of Indiana's tax and revenue structure.
Each year, Indiana appropriates about $1 billion to the Pre-1996 Teachers' Retirement Fund. In recent years, lawmakers have been making additional payments in order to accelerate the date when the Fund will become self-sustaining. Once this pension plan no longer has an unfunded liability, Indiana will have freed up at least $2 billion in the state's biennial budget, which presents the state with the opportunity to make tax cuts or other transformational changes to benefit Hoosiers.
"We need to start planning now for our state's financial future as we approach the day when we will no longer need to make these huge payments to the Pre-1996 Teachers' Retirement Fund. This task force, part of the Senate Republican agenda and created through Senate Enrolled Act 3, will provide us with the information we need to make informed decisions about how we might streamline our tax system and make it work better for all Hoosiers."
Finally, lawmakers identified the need to continue planning for the state's future infrastructure needs, resulting in the re-establishment of the FIRSST Task Force.
"As technology continues to evolve, state governments need to be thoughtful in how we are funding our roads," Mishler said. "The FIRSST Task Force is going to play an important role in reviewing our road-funding mechanisms and making sure we have the long-term funding structures in place to sustain our infrastructure now and into the future."
Legislators will meet over the summer and fall months to discuss topics approved by the bipartisan Legislative Council, which is comprised of 16 voting members – eight from the Senate and eight from the House of Representatives.
To view study committee agendas and stream hearings online, visit iga.in.gov. To view a list of topics that will be examined by the committees, click here.
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State Sen. Ryan Mishler (R-Mishawaka) represents Senate District 9,
which includes portions of Elkhart, Kosciusko, Marshall and St. Joseph counties.
Click here to download a high-resolution photo.
