This story was originally published by TheStatehouseFile.com.
By Abigale Lash
TheStatehouseFile.com
January 21, 2026
Some county elected officials have been denied the benefits that are given to their colleagues because they are not “full-time employees.” On Wednesday, Rep. Chris May, R-Bedford, brought a bill to the House Local Government Committee at the Indiana Statehouse with hope that it will put a halt to further disparities among county officials.
House Bill 1354 would make all county elected officials full-time workers, meaning they would have access to health insurance through the county’s tax systems.
May said that before this bill, Indiana elected officials have been discriminated against and the elimination of health insurance has been used as punishment. County executives currently have the power to decide if a public official is a full-time employee or not; officials who are part-time employees do not have access to health insurance funded by the county. These include coroners, surveyors, clerks, etc.
In 2024, an Indiana Supreme Court case took on the same issue. Kevin Huck sued Perry County commissioners after he was denied health insurance due to being a part-time employee. Huck did not win the lawsuit. May said this case was one of the reasons he authored the bill.
David Bottorff, executive director of the Association of Indiana Counties, testified in favor of HB 1354.
“The court case referenced part-time and full-time employees. Elected officials in our mind are not employees, right?” Bottorff said. “If you’re the coroner, you’re on call 24/7 for accidents. If you’re a surveyor, you’re responding to drainage issues after a flood.”
Bottorff said that county elected officials should be considered full time because they are always on call and oftentimes do not get allotted vacation days.
“The commissioner shouldn’t get to choose who’s full time and part time because they really don’t know how many hours they work,” he said.
In some counties, commissioners can choose whether to accept health-care benefits, but the majority rules. Bottorff said that sometimes two commissioners will choose to deny the health coverage, but one will choose to accept it and be left without it.
Bottorff also said that some people avoid joining a county council in fear they will not receive health insurance due to unpopular political beliefs.
“We shouldn’t have this back and forth at all,” Bottorff said. “You know, this year, they are giving it [full time employment benefits] to this office, and the next year they take it away from that person.”
He said this bill does not allow people who are not doing their jobs to get through unscathed; their salary would be changed when the budget is approved. County elected officials would not force recipients of health insurance to take it—they would have the choice whether to use it or not.
Rep. Lorissa Sweet, R-Huntington, asked whether county budgets would allow for this to happen.
“Health insurance is very expensive, but again, we don’t feel like it’s the job of the commissioners to say the coroner is part-time this year,” Bottorff said.
House Bill 1354 passed 9-0 in the committee and now moves to the House for second reading on Thursday.
