Bonus Newsletter! January 8 - Statehouse Startup
the General Assembly is back in session!
Indiana’s Legislative session begins today and must end by April 29th, 2025. This year is a long session, which means they will be creating a 2-year budget.
Indiana House breakdown: 70 Republicans, 30 Democrats
Indiana Senate breakdown: 40 Republicans, 10 Democrats
Indiana Republicans have both a trifecta and a triplex in Hoosier government. They control the governorship and have majorities in both chambers (trifecta) as well as the top three executive positions of Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State (triplex)
Deadlines:
Bills must be filed by January 9th for the Senate, and January 14th for the House. See what has been filed here: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills. Some short summaries of problematic bills are below.
Bills must be heard within their chambers (House or Senate) by February 20th. After that date, the bills will be switched to the other chamber.
The deadline for the third reading of bills (after committee hearings and the originating chamber hearings) is April 15th. Bills can be reconciled by conference committees after that time, until April 28th, the final session date.
IndyStar has a nice story about who’s who in the Statehouse and how to get in touch with them, or MADVoters Indiana created these handy infographics:
BILLWATCH 2025:
I will be including information about bills as they move through the legislative process. the League of Women Voters created an AMAZING guide about how to use the state website to follow the bills:
A recent issue of the Hoosier Politics newsletter included these short summaries of some bills that may assist you in focusing your energies:
SB 11 would ban social media for minors without parental consent.
SB 13 would increase penalties for drivers who do "donuts."
SB 112 would make it illegal to misrepresent an animal as a service animal.
SB 138 would make it a misdemeanor to sell low-THC products to people under 21.
SB 160 would prohibit cities like Indianapolis from reducing lanes of traffic in a construction project (read: Indy's "road diets." Not the Blue Line.)
SB 166 would ban marijuana from being advertised in Indiana.
HB 1013 would give us an official state nickname of The Hoosier State.
HB 1028 would freeze your property tax liability to what it was when you bought your home.
HB 1029 would institute closed primaries in Indiana.
HB 1087 would require INDOT to add a lane of traffic to I-70.
HB 1136 would potentially dissolve IPS. (WFYI also had an article explaining this in more detail)
The Hoosier Politics newsletter also highlighted some trans-shenanigans for 2025:
“In 2022, Indiana lawmakers passed a ban on transgender girls playing on girls' sports teams in K-12 schools. Now, the same bill authors are proposing expanding this ban to college sports in House Bill 1041 filed last week… [This time, those] four authors all have leadership roles in the House, making it all the more likely this idea would see some movement… We spoke with the bill authors about why they filed the bill.” To add some context, the NCAA president says there are less than 10 transgender athletes of any sex/gender completing at the college level nationwide. How many people will this bill affect in the state? Why are our legislators spending time on this issue?
MADVoters have a few Calls to Action for a few bills. including HB 1136 mentioned above. Here are call scripts and some rationale:
HB 1136 - School corporation reorganization: call Rep Teshka (317.232.9650) to OPPOSE
SB 161 - Enforcement of prohibitions on public camping - call committee chair (Sen. Buck 800-382-9467) to OPPOSE
from MADVoters Indiana Facebook page re: why oppose this bill: “SB 161 appears to be a thinly-veiled attempt to criminalize homelessness and prevent protest encampments like those we have seen for Gaza. It also overrules cities and towns from being able to really govern their own by micromanaging how they handle their affairs. Freedom of speech is important - even if what is being said may be controversial, we must protect every person's right to it. And banning "camping" only criminalizes the homeless and does not provide systemic relief and change.”
SB 143 - Parental rights - call committee chair (Sen. Brown 800-382-9467 - she also authored the bill) to OPPOSE
from MADVoters Indiana Facebook page re: why oppose this bill: “SB 143 is an inflammatory bill built on culture issues, and could really endanger vulnerable youth in unsafe homes. For example, last year the legislature pushed through a new law to mandate schools inform parents if their child requested a new name or pronoun at school. This is a sensitive and complex topic, and if a student feels their parents aren't a safe person to tell, it's a pretty clear indicator that the student may not be living in a safe and supportive household. Youth have a right to safety, and while we as parents and caregivers nurture and guide them, they are their own people, and not for us to domineer, control, and force into unsafe situations.”
SB 142 - Eviction issues - call committee chair to SUPPORT
this bill allows automatic expungement of qualifying evictions. Under current law, this must be requested by the tenant. Qualifying evictions include those with money judgements which the tenant has paid, and evictions from over seven years ago.
OTHER STATE SHENANIGANS:
new Braun appointments with local ties:
State Rep. Alan Morrison (district 42 - Parke/Vermillion Co.) will have to give up his House seat to replace Daniel Bortner as Director of the Department of Natural Resources. The caucus will be January 14th. Tim Yocum, Vermillion County Commissioner since 2014, and Darrek Davis, the Executive Director of the Indiana State Pipe Trades Association, are currently declared candidates.
Former TH mayor Duke Bennett is out at the Office of Community and Rural Affairs. and replaced by former Hamilton County Councilor and Carmel mayoral candidate Fred Glynn
Derek Camp announced he's not running for Allen County Democratic Party chairman, adding to speculation that he's eyeing a run to lead the state party.
Okay that’s enough for now! Next issue on the regular schedule comes out this weekend. :)