Bill roundup: Lawmakers wrap up budget, tackle final, thorny bills

A basket of bills sit next to the Speaker's podium in the Indiana House of Representatives. (IBJ Photo/Cate Charron)

Indiana lawmakers wrapped up the 2025 legislative session early Friday morning, sending the budget and a host of lingering, complex bills to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk.

Around 1:20 a.m., lawmakers approved the last bill of the session: the 2026-27 state budget. The $46.2 billion budget includes a $2 increase of the cigarette tax and heavy spending cuts after leaders learned last week that they needed to significantly slim down their plan.

Over the 2025 session, the state Legislature approved bills that would recreate the property tax system, provide more road funding to Indianapolis, greenlight new investment in nuclear energy and increase scrutiny of large hospitals. 

Not all bills passed were intensive policy changes. Lawmakers also approved a commission to consider absorbing disgruntled Illinois counties, made way for regulations for bare-knuckle fighting, approved possible tax breaks ahead of this summer’s WNBA All-Star game and expanded of pull tab gaming for veteran associations. 

The governor has seven days to sign or veto a bill after the Legislature is done with it. If he doesn’t act on the bill, it will go into law without his signature.

Here’s the status of some of the bills we’ve watched this session.

Economic development 

After eight years of former Gov. Eric Holcomb’s development-focused tenure, Braun—an entrepreneur and former CEO—wants a greater focus on entrepreneurship and small businesses.

House Bill 1601

• Expand the data center tax exemption to include quantum computing research, advanced computing and defense infrastructure with at least a $50 million investment in five years
• Author: Rep. Edmond Soliday, R-Valparaiso
• Last action: House concurred 61-24, April 21
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

House Bill 1489

• Creates an Indiana-Ireland commission to advance trade relations
• Author: Rep. Timothy O’Brien, R-Evansville
• Last action: House concurred 88-2, April 17
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Senate Bill 516 

• Creates the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and establishes certain IEDC provisions for land sales
• Author: Sen. Brian Buchanan, R-Lebanon
• Last action: Senate concurred unanimously, April 16
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Senate Bill 431

• Prohibits a company based in a country considered to be a foreign adversary from building a data center in Indiana without an electricity usage study and requires the project to generate its own electricity
• Author: Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford 
• Last action: Governor signed into law, April 10
• Status: Law, effective July 1

Workforce 

Over the past few years, state leaders have overhauled the state’s high school curriculum and graduation requirements to prioritize career coaching and alternative paths to higher education. The state has also been working to boost training and certificate programs for young and adult learners.

Senate Bill 448

• Requires the Department of Education to prepare a plan to develop a market-driven credential program with at least three priority industry pathways
• Author: Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute
• Last action: Senate concurred 39-3, April 17
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Child care 

Child care—and the lack of available and affordable options—has been plaguing families in Indiana and across the country. Business leaders now worry the price and lack of options will prevent new workers from moving to the state and remove others from the workforce.

House Bill 1253

• Allows a single-owner child care company or nonprofit, including YMCAs and school-affiliated organizations, to open multiple locations under one license
• Bill author: Rep. Dave Heine, R-Fort Wayne
• Last action: House concurred unanimously, April 21
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Senate Bill 463

• Expands approved uses of funds from the employer child care expenditure tax credit to include employee training, scholarship programs and compensation for employees with a higher level of training; also sets staff ratios and maximum group sizes based on certain age ranges in licensed child care centers
• Author: Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso
• Last action: Senate concurred 35-6, April 17
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Indianapolis

The capital city is a demographic and political outlier in Indiana, sometimes causing the Republican supermajority to target legislation toward conflicting priorities and initiatives. But also, as the state’s largest city, some legislation impacts its government and residents more than others.

House Bill 1461

• Address road-funding disparities through a range of funding mechanisms, including an increase to the maximum rate for county wheel and vehicle excise tax and required county bonding abilities
• Author: Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie
• Last action: House concurred 68-17, April 17
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

House Bill 1006

• Establishes a special prosecutor unit, prosecutor review board and public prosecution fund, in part to investigate whether prosecuting attorneys are “noncompliant” with state laws. Similar legislation has previously been used to target Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears.
• Author: Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers
• Last action: House concurred 61-21, April 17
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

House Bill 1131

• Classify the town of Cumberland as an excluded city and no longer part of the consolidated city of Indianapolis
• Author: Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart
• Last action: Governor signed into law, April 10
• Status: Law, effective July 1

Senate Bill 142

• Allows a court to order an expungement in certain eviction cases
• Authors: Sens. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne; Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis; and Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores 
• Last action: Senate concurred 35-1, April 16
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Taxes

Braun and legislative leaders have prioritized changes that would reduce property taxes and could have a significant impact on local government spending.

Senate Bill 1

• Reforms how the state collects property taxes, establishes a 10% credit and includes a charter school revenue-sharing bill (previously Senate Bill 518)
• Author: Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle
• Awaiting: Governor signed into law, April 15
• Status: Law, goes into effect over the next four years

Senate Bill 451

• Continues to decrease the adjusted gross income tax rate if the state hits high revenue targets. The 2025 tax rate is 3.0%.
• Author: Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle 
• Awaiting: Governor signed into law, April 16
• Status: Law, cuts cannot start until 2030

Health

Reducing the cost of health care is a major priority for policymakers. And the debate comes as the state’s Medicaid costs continue to balloon, making the low-income health insurance program a budgetary concern.

House Bill 1004

• Penalizes large hospital systems if their prices exceed certain thresholds
• Author: Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne
• Last action: House and Senate agreed to conference committee changes, April 24
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

House Bill 1003

• Enacts a range of measures to increase transparency
• Author: Rep. Brad Barrett, R-Richmond
• Last action: House and Senate agreed to conference committee changes, April 24
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Senate Bill 2

• Reels in Medicaid’s Healthy Indiana Plan, or HIP, by applying coverage limits and work requirements
• Author: Sens. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka; Chris Garten, R-Charlestown; and Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso
• Last action: Senate concurred 37-10, April 17
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Senate Bill 3

• Installs measures to push insurers and related officials to act in the best financial interests of their clients
• Author: Sen. Justin Busch, R-Fort Wayne
• Last action: Governor signed into law, April 16
• Status: Law, effective July 1

Water policy & utilities 

The state’s management of its natural resources and energy systems has risen to public consciousness thanks to questions about water for the LEAP District and debates about electricity for data centers.

House Bill 1007

• Creates a tax credit for expenses in the manufacturing of a small modular nuclear reactor
• Author: Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso 
• Last action: House concurred 63-23, April 22
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Hearing in Status: Progressing

Senate Bill 4

• Requires the leaders of projects that will move significant amounts of water to obtain a permit
• Author: Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford
• Last action: Governor signed into law, April 22
• Status: Law, effective immediately

Senate Bill 424

• Establishes a framework for small modular nuclear reactor development 
• Author: Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford
• Last action: Governor signed into law, April 10
• Status: Law, effective July 1

And everything else

Senate Bill 478

• Creates a three-tiered permitting system for retailing, distributing and manufacturing of low-THC hemp products and hemp flower
• Authors: Sens. Travis Holdman, R-Markle; and Chris Garten, R-Charlestown
• Status: Dead

Senate Bill 157

• Makes it easier for property owners to oust squatters in certain circumstances where trespassing law may not cover
• Author: Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton
• Last action: House and Senate agreed to conference committee changes, April 24
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

House Bill 1008

• Creates a boundary adjustment commission that would study whether to recommend the absorption of Illinois counties that want to secede from the Democrat-led state
• Author: House Speaker Rep. Todd Huston, R-Fishers
• Last action: House concurred 64-23, April 17
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

House Bill 1073

• Provide regulations for bare-knuckle fighting, professional wrestling, boxing and sparring through the Indiana Gaming Association
• Author: Rep. Craig Haggard, R-Mooresville
• Last action: House concurred 83-2, April 16
• Awaiting: Governor’s action
• Status: Progressing

Senate Bill 209 

• Legalizes use of electronic pull-tabs largely for use at veteran organizations
• Author: Sen. Kyle Walker, R-Lawrenceburg
• Last action: Governor signed into law, April 16
• Status: Law, effective July 1