INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO): The Indiana state legislative session has begun, and one group is hoping lawmakers will keep lower-paid Hoosiers in mind. 

The Indiana Institute for Working Families has released its priority list for 2016 and the group's program manager, Jessica Fraser, says the focus needs to be on removing all the barriers that keep some Indiana residents from staying above the poverty line.

“What can we do to raise wages? What can we do to make sure that families are making ends meet, have a healthy safety net for when times do get hard again? Because the recession, it'll come back around again.”

Fraser says after the recession hit a few years ago, Indiana tried hard to position itself as “pro-business.” That's been accomplished, she says, and now the focus needs to swing back to helping residents who are struggling.