Republican Indiana State Representative Kendall Culp is planning to submit some bills for consideration during the short session of the Indiana General Assembly when it opens for session Monday, January 8.
One bill he will be presenting came out of a Land Use Task Force, of which he is a co-chair.
“You have pressures from all kinds of economic development activities,” said Representative Culp. “There ‘s concern about how we’re using our land and if it’s farmland being converted over is that a concern with food security and the amount of food. We’ve kind of stepped back and looked at that, but also part of that is our communities, and District 16 that I represent is full of small, rural communities. There’s a lot of issues, I think, surrounding those communities and so if they want to continue to be vibrant and growing and sustainable in the future, it’s decisions that make today that will help determine in 10, 15, or 20 years if they continue to be relevant.”
He said the bill would create grant funding for quality of life issues.
Culp continued, “If your community collaborated with a lot of different groups in the community and they said we need more affordable childcare, or we need more affordable housing, or maybe we need better access to broadband – those are just some examples – if they could apply to this fund, it would be a matching fund. The smaller communities would have a smaller match. The larger populated counties or communities would have a larger match just like they do with road funding for Community Crossings. We would pattern it after that.”
He noted that this bill has a financial component and may not be voted on in this session, but he can introduce it this year. The General Assembly can take action in 2025 to review funding needs in the next biannual budget.
Representative Kendall Culp represents District 16 which covers portions of Jasper, Pulaski, Starke and White Counties. Constituents with questions or concerns can email h16@iga.in.gov.
More on what Culp will introduce in this year’s legislative session will be featured in future newscasts.
