Indiana 2026 Regular Session Status: Passed Senate 6 R cosponsors

SB 161 — Education matters.

Last action — Representative Davis added as cosponsor

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed Senate
  4. 4
    Passed House
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has passed the Senate. Introduced January 05, 2026. It now moves to the second chamber.

Next likely step: consideration and a floor vote in the House.

Odds of enactment

Moderate chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a moderate chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Advancing 38% · moderate confidence

  • Passed Senate

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 6 sponsors

    4 primary, 2 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (6 R).

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

Requires the Indiana department of education to elect to participate as a covered state in the federal tax credit scholarship program for elementary and secondary education under Section 25F of the Internal Revenue Code (enacted in Public Law 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025). Makes conforming changes to the school scholarship tax credit in current law. Requires the governor and the department of workforce development, in consultation with the commission for higher education, to: (1) establish a process to identify eligible workforce training programs; (2) establish a process for institutions and programs to apply for recognition as an eligible workforce training program; (3) coordinate certain workforce training matters; and (4) require eligible workforce training programs to provide certain datasets to the department. Provides that the department of workforce development must maintain alignment with federal rules governing workforce Pell grants.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Representative Davis added as cosponsor

  2. Recommitted to Committee on Ways and Means pursuant to House Rule 126.3

  3. Committee report: amend do pass, adopted

  4. First reading: referred to Committee on Education

  5. Referred to the House

  6. Cosponsor: Representative McGuire

  7. House sponsor: Representative Behning

  8. Third reading: passed; Roll Call 74: yeas 42, nays 2

  9. Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed

  10. Amendment #1 (Raatz) prevailed; voice vote

  11. Committee report: do pass, adopted

  12. Committee report: amend do pass adopted; reassigned to Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy

  13. Senator Garten added as third author

  14. First reading: referred to Committee on Education and Career Development

  15. Authored by Senators Raatz, Rogers

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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4 sponsors · 2 co-sponsors · 144 not signed on

Sponsors (4)

Co-sponsors (2)

Not signed on (144)

144 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 144 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

taxation labor education
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 161 do?
Requires the Indiana department of education to elect to participate as a covered state in the federal tax credit scholarship program for elementary and secondary education under Section 25F of the Internal Revenue Code (enacted in Public Law 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025). Makes conforming changes to the school scholarship tax credit in current law. Requires the governor and the department of workforce development, in consultation with the commission for higher education, to: (1) establish a process to identify eligible workforce training programs; (2) establish a process for institutions and programs to apply for recognition as an eligible workforce training program; (3) coordinate certain workforce training matters; and (4) require eligible workforce training programs to provide certain datasets to the department. Provides that the department of workforce development must maintain alignment with federal rules governing workforce Pell grants.
Who sponsors SB 161?
SB 161 is sponsored by Michelle Davis (Republican), Julie McGuire (Republican), Robert Behning (Republican), Chris Garten (Republican), Linda Rogers (Republican), and Jeff Raatz (Republican).
What is the current status of SB 161?
This bill has passed the Senate. Introduced January 05, 2026. It now moves to the second chamber.
Where can I track SB 161?
Track SB 161 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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