Reelect Donna Schaibley for Indiana House District 24: Representing Hoosier Roots and Values

September 2020

The general election is fast approaching, and Rep. Donna Schaibley is asking for your vote for her reelection this November. Schaibley is proud of her legislative accomplishments. Throughout her six sessions in the Indiana General Assembly, Schaibley has used her skills and experience in using the legislative process to improve the lives of Hoosiers. The successful outcomes of her bills are a testament to the level of commitment and compassion that she brings to the position as a representative in District 24.

Schaibley has authored/co-authored dozens of bills that have been voted into law and has successfully assisted with other important legislation, including:

• Reforms designed to reduce Hoosier health care costs.
• Increasing school safety.
• Balancing Indiana’s budget.
• Addressing serious crime.
• Increasing access to mental health care.
• Small business tax relief.
• Strengthening Indiana’s workforce.
• Increasing government efficiency. Indiana’s effective and responsive government has been nationally praised, including being ranked first in the nation for having the best state government by US News & World Report in 2017.

A Lifelong Hoosier Representing Hoosier Values

Rep. Schaibley has resided in Carmel, along with her husband, John, for nearly three decades. Schaibley and her husband share two children and two grandchildren. She graduated from Purdue University with a B.A in education and political science. Schaibley has worked in the administration of two major universities and was a leader on the board of trustees of the Orchard School. She has also served as a substitute teacher in the Carmel Clay schools and has been an active volunteer throughout the community. Schaibley has been serving as District 24’s state representative since 2015 and is vice chairman of the Courts and Criminal Code Committee. Schaibley also sits on the Insurance Committee and the Financial Institutions Committee and is a member of the Recycling Marketing Development Board.

Tackling the Issues and Pushing for Transparency

Over the course of six years, Schaibley has championed for many issues, including readjusting the school funding formula that increased dollars to our community schools. 

“Providing additional funding for local schools is one of the first issues I took up when I first arrived at the statehouse,” Schaibley said. “I worked hard to make it a fair distribution of funds for local schools and continue to work to provide more funding for our schools. In the last budgeting cycle, we gave an additional $763 million for grades K-12 throughout the entire state.”

Schaibley continued, “I’m also very concerned about the high cost of health care for Hoosiers and have had bills pass regarding health care services as well as health care costs. We’re on a trajectory in Indiana and across the country that is not sustainable as far as health care costs are concerned. The average costs of insurance for a family is over $20,000 a year [not including the deductible], and that is just not sustainable.”

The issue of health care cost transparency has been a strong area of focus for Schaibley.

“We need more transparency of the cost of health care and health services,” Schaibley expressed. “These have traditionally been shrouded in secrecy. I authored my first health care transparency bill in 2016 but I could not get a vote on it in committee that session. This year, we passed quite a few transparency-related bills regarding health care, including the good faith estimate language that I authored that allows patients the ability to find out the cost of a procedure prior to having it done. The provider has to give you that information within five business days.”

Engaging District 24’s Constituents

Throughout her tenure, Schaibley has made it a priority to engage her constituents and listen to their concerns and ideas.

“Recently, because of the pandemic, I’ve heard a lot from my constituents about unemployment issues,” Schaibley shared. “I have worked with the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) to address their concerns as well as my own concerns. There have been so many people applying for unemployment and issues related to filling out the application that have caused several applicants to be reevaluated, which prolongs the process even further. I’ve worked with my constituents and the DWD office to address those issues and have been able to resolve the majority of them.”

Working Through and Looking Beyond the Pandemic

Working with local businesses and constituents throughout the district, Schaibley empathizes with their pain and suffering and is working with them to find viable solutions that she can take back to the statehouse to turn ideas into actions.

“Going forward, I think we [legislatures] will have to look at some kind of liability protection,” Schaibley stated. “If you’re following the protocols and doing all the right things, I think that we need to work to provide some kind of liability protection for businesses, schools and hospitals. I’m going to be pushing for that, and we can’t wait for the federal government to address the situation. We need to be doing that at the state level.”

Schaibley added, “In the meantime, I am optimistic that Congress will come up with some kind of agreement for the good of the country on additional PPP or some kind of stimulus. This has been frustrating for me because I believe that we all need to pull together now. This is not a time for partisanship. There are people hurting, and we need to have additional funding coming in to help these people.”

Schaibley Is a Firm Believer in Working Across the Aisle

“What’s the right thing to do” is a personal motto of Schaibley’s.

“I am also a firm believer in working across the aisle,” Schaibley said. “I have not always followed along with everything that my party has said and have been independent with my thoughts and actions. However, I am very proud of the responsible way that we have budgeted and maintained reserves for emergencies, which is putting us in a great state right now. Those dollars—as a result of responsible budgeting—are being used to get us through an unprecedented time.”

When compared to neighboring Illinois, Schaibley said that Indiana is still extremely competitive and attractive to businesses looking to relocate to Indiana, even amid a pandemic.

“When I go door to door, I run into quite a few people from Illinois who have relocated to here because they were concerned about the things going on in our neighboring state. By continuing to be fiscally responsible, we continue to make Indiana strong, and that makes our state attractive to businesses, in addition to keeping our regulations to a minimum, which also makes a positive environment for companies to come here.”

Schaibley added, “We continue to compete to bring new jobs into the area, and I think with our solid base and pro-business stance to help with relocation and acclimation, this is why companies continue to look at our state and relocate here. And we want to continue to bring new jobs in so that those who have been unemployed may find new jobs and positions to move into.”

Schaibley’s Legislative Priorities for 2021

While she routinely meets with constituents, community groups, school and business leaders, mayors, city and town council members and state government officials, Schaibley remains committed to continuing her efforts to be informed about the needs and concerns of the people of District 24 and to effectively represent them in the General Assembly and to be their voice with state government agencies. Based upon that input, Schaibley pledges to continue her work on many issues, including the following priority areas:

·         Helping Hoosiers who have been hurt by the pandemic, helping people safely get back to work, helping our children safely get back to school and getting the economy back to normal.

·         Further increasing health care cost transparency to enable Hoosiers to compare health care prices and other initiatives to improve the health care system.

·         Continuing to work for the rights of victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

·         Working to ensure equal justice under the law and the ability of Hoosiers to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights.

·         Further reforming school funding, building on our earlier progress in this area.

·         Maintaining a responsible budget for Indiana.

“There are several things that I am working on, especially with health care-related issues,” Schaibley emphasized. “Health care is complicated and time-consuming, and I am committed to continuing my work on these issues and reduce health care costs. I am also working on human trafficking and sexual assault issues and with victims’ rights. This area is of major interest to me, and I have worked on legislation in those areas over the last several years. This past session, I was the House sponsor for the sexual assault victim bill of rights, which is very important, and am continuing to work on that to make some additions in that area next session. Regarding human trafficking, I’m working with a bipartisan group of legislators along with a judge in Muncie. We meet every couple of months and decide what legislation to work on and what human trafficking issues we’re going to address.”

Representing District 24 Is a Calling and a Privilege

Looking back at the last six years and looking forward to what comes next, Schaibley expressed her gratitude to be able to serve the people of District 24.

“I’ve been very honored to have this job down at the statehouse,” Schaibley stated. “It has been an honor, and I am very blessed to represent the district that I do because I have an incredibly involved and extremely interested group of constituents, which is great. And because of their level of interest, they are informing me of what is important to them, and that helps me to figure out what I should be doing to help or to move things along. And having that engaged community has been really good for me because it helps impact how I craft legislation or the things that I take on. All of that has been a very positive thing for me and helps give me the direction that I need to go forward and do what’s best for District 24.”

For more information about Donna Schaibley for State Representative and more about all the issues that she is advocating for, visit schaibleyforindiana.com.

PAID FOR BY DONNA SCHAIBLEY FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE