State lawmakers will have about $213 million less to spend during the next two years than they thought when they started working on the next two-year budget.

Senate members approved a bill Wednesday that would make it illegal to possess, purchase, sell or use powdered alcohol in Indiana. It also requires further study on the issue this summer.

Through three-quarters of the current fiscal year, Indiana tax collections have missed the mark by more than $100 million. The State Budget Committee will review new revenue projections Thursday.

HB 1019 eliminates a system that let local governments and schools set wage floors that contractors must meet on public projects.

For the second year in a row, a bill to set restrictions and regulations for fenced hunting operations has been stopped in its tracks on the Senate floor.

The bill will move to a joint House-Senate conference committee where members will try to strike a deal that can be passed by both chambers by midnight April 29.

Indiana school districts could raise money by putting ads on their buses under a proposal added to the state budget by the Senate Tuesday.

Democrats offered an amendment to the bill aimed at killing the issue this year. But Republicans said lawmakers tried to study the common wage last summer, and legislative leaders rejected that attempt.

A proposed balanced budget constitutional amendment could give the state firmer ground to stand on when it comes to its high credit rating, Standard & Poor's said in a report Tuesday.

Recent ethics scandals at the Statehouse prompted lawmakers this session to strengthen Indiana's ethics code. The bipartisan legislation is the most sweeping ethics reform in a decade.