Gov. Daniels signs 7 bills into Ind. law

Gov. Mitch Daniels signed seven bills into law last week. The newly adopted Indiana laws are:

HB 1009 — Resolves technical conflicts between differing 2011 amendments to Indiana Code sections, including incorrect statutory references, nonstandard tabulation, grammatical problems and misspellings.

HB 1016 — Specifies that a fire protection district is a “public agency” and may use the design-build contracting method for carrying out public projects.

HB 1112 — Amends references to federal telecommunications laws made obsolete by amendments to the federal law. Repeals a statute requiring the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to determine a successor local telephone exchange carrier for an area in which an existing local exchange carrier ceases operations.

HB 1148 — Provides that the examinations to register as a professional engineer and certification as a land surveyor or land surveyor-in-training may be computer-based. The law specifies that an applicant for registration as a professional engineer is allowed three chances to pass the examination for registration.

SB 0013 — Prohibits the distribution of cash assistance benefits at a point-of-sale terminal that is located on the premises of an adult entertainment establishment. The law also requires the drug utilization review board to prepare and submit a preferred drug list report to the select joint commission on Medicaid oversight one time per year instead of twice per year.

SB 1148 — Specifies requirements related to insurance covering portable
electronic devices.

SB 0212 — Directs the Indiana Department of Transportation to amend its rules regarding utility facility relocation, requiring utilities to provide contact information for authorized representatives for purposes of highway and local improvement projects.

 Additionally, the bill requires INDOT to publish and update an electronic database of authorized utility representatives for purposes of utility facility relocation.

All laws will go into effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year — July 1, 2012.

— Mark Keierleber