New Indiana laws include requiring civics test for students

("Indiana State Capitol Building" by Drew Tarvin, CC BY 2.0)

Several new state laws are being set in motion starting in July, from a required high school state government test to allowing wrongfully incarcerated individuals to collect $50,000 a year.

Starting Monday, Indiana high schools will have to administer the U.S. naturalization test, as part of a mandatory government course, that’s given to immigrants hoping to become U.S. citizens. An initial plan had proposed that students had to pass the test to earn a high school diploma, but that plan was scrapped.

Other new laws include allowing people who are wrongfully incarcerated be eligible to receive $50,000 for each year behind bars once a conviction is vacated due to innocence.

Also, the head of the Indiana Department of Education will now be appointed by the governor, starting in 2021.