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Weekly Statehouse update: DEI ban, more income tax cuts, physician non-compete bill

The authority to grant clemency to an Indiana death row inmate rests with the governor. The Indiana Parole Board can provide a recommendation to the governor.
The authority to grant clemency to an Indiana death row inmate rests with the governor. The Indiana Parole Board can provide a recommendation to the governor.

A Senate committee advances a bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion. Legislation heads to the Senate floor to continue cutting the state individual income tax rate. And a measure banning non-compete clauses for physicians clears a committee.

Here’s what you might have missed this week at the Statehouse.

SB 235: Limitations on diversity, equity and inclusion

Diversity, equity and inclusion would be banned in state agencies, educational institutions and any organization that receives money from the state under a bill approved by a Senate committee. Under  SB 235, DEI’s definition includes social justice, systemic oppression and antiracism. And it bans taking positions on those issues. It also limits training related to race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation.

SB 451: Income tax rate

Indiana is in the middle of a five-year reduction of its individual income tax rate.

SB 451 would continue lowering the rate by 0.5 percent every even-numbered year — but only if state revenues grew by at least 3 percent the previous even-numbered year.

Join the conversation and sign up for our weekly text group:  the Indiana Two-Way . Your comments and questions help us find the answers you need on statewide issues, including our project  Civically, Indiana  and our  2025 bill tracker .

SB 475: Physician noncompete agreements

New legislation,  SB 475, would fully ban non-compete clauses for all physicians. Noncompete agreements often prohibit workers from leaving a job and taking another in the same industry.

Current law bans it for primary care doctors.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at  bsmith@ipbs.org  or follow him on Twitter at  @brandonjsmith5 .

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Brandon J. Smith has previously worked as a reporter and anchor for KBIA Radio in Columbia, MO. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, IL as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.