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Read. Follow. Verify.Indiana Senate Bill 20 Creates Voluntary Family Leave Insurance Program and Small Business Tax Deductions
Last action · December 8, 2025: First reading: referred to Committee on Insurance and Financial InstitutionsSponsor: Lonnie Randolph
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What This Bill Proposed
Indiana Senate Bill 20 requires the department of insurance to establish a voluntary family leave insurance program by January 1, 2027, allowing participating employees to receive wage replacement benefits during leave and providing small businesses a 200% tax deduction for matching contributions starting July 1, 2026.
Participating employees gain access to paid family leave benefits through self-funded payroll deductions, while qualifying small businesses receive an deduction equal to double the contributions they make toward employee accounts.
- The General Assembly is the state legislature of Indiana responsible for enacting statutory law. context
- The federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) provides eligible employees with unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Employees
Employees may elect to participate in the voluntary program, make payroll contributions, and receive wage replacement benefits during family leave.
Small Businesses
Small businesses employing fewer than 50 workers are eligible for a 200% adjusted gross income tax deduction on any contributions they make toward employee trust fund accounts.
Department of Insurance
The department is tasked with establishing, administering, adopting rules for, and reporting on the voluntary family leave insurance program by statutory deadlines.
Key Facts
- The department of insurance must establish a voluntary family leave insurance program no later than January 1, 2027.
- Small business employers making contributions to the trust fund are entitled to an adjusted gross income tax deduction equal to 200% of their contributions for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026.
- Participating employees must contribute via payroll deduction at a rate determined annually by the department to fully fund program benefits and expenses.
- The department must submit a report on the proposed program to the legislative council and budget committee no later than November 1, 2026.
Show all 6 facts
- The voluntary family leave insurance trust fund is established to pay program benefits, consisting of contributions, general assembly appropriations, and investment earnings that do not revert to the state general fund at fiscal year-end.
- A small business is defined as an entity employing fewer than fifty employees for each working day during at least twenty work weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, with a majority of employees working in Indiana.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible to participate in the family leave insurance program?
How do small businesses benefit from participating?
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News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in Senate committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Dec 8, 2025SenateIntroducedFirst reading: referred to Committee on Insurance and Financial Institutions
- Dec 8, 2025SenateAuthored by Senator Randolph Lonnie M
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Introduction of State-Backed Voluntary Family Leave
The bill creates a mechanism for employee-funded family leave insurance backed by the department of insurance, paired with aggressive 200% tax incentives for small businesses.
Connected Entities
Sources
iga.in.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy40Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz35Current news / social attention level
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