Last day of the 2026 Indiana legislative session

A few dozen of Indiana’s state boards and commissions face elimination as legislators on Friday endorsed a plan principally aimed at panels deemed unproductive.

An initial version of House Bill 1003 targeted 63 boards, commissions, committees and councils for elimination or modification at the end of this year.

The bill approved in House and Senate votes on Friday dialed that number back to about 40 and delayed most of the board eliminations until July 2027 to allow for possible changes during next year’s session.

Republican legislators made the bill a top priority for this legislative session.

Bill author Rep. Stephen Bartels, R-Eckerty, and other supporters argued that many of the state’s more than 250 boards and commissions were rarely meeting and some struggled with member attendance.

The final bill retains the state’s Natural Resources Commission, which an earlier version would’ve scrapped. It did, however, remove a requirement that the governor’s citizen appointments be bipartisan.

Another contentious action remained in the bill, however: elimination of the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, with its building code responsibilities shifting to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Last-minute attempt to revive hemp drug ban fails in final hours

ndiana’s prohibition on intoxicating and synthetic hemp-derived drugs was dead for less than a week before it was resurrected and killed again — this time, until at least next year.

Indiana will go another year without a 21-plus age limit on intoxicating hemp products, bill author Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, bemoaned Friday.

Lawmakers have repeatedly tried to regulate potent delta-8, TCHA and other cannabinoid products, which have existed in a legal gray area for eight years. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana, which remains banned at the federal level and in the Hoosier State.

Efforts in Indiana have consistently failed amid a House-Senate stalemate on how expansive or limiting the state’s approach should be.

Freeman’s Senate Bill 250 struck a stricter tone, mirroring Congress’ recent closure of a so-called loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill. That law defined legal hemp as any part of the plant containing less than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight, sparking a booming industry for other intoxicating cannabinoids.

A stopgap federal funding law enacted in November specifies that all forms of THC count. It also caps THC products to just 0.4 milligrams per container, and outright bans lab-made ones. It goes into effect this coming November.

Freeman said lawmakers would end the legislative session “having done nothing” on hemp — leaving state statute out of line with federal. The Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution declares that federal law wins out over conflicting state code, but Freeman was still concerned.

“Currently, right, marijuana is illegal, (but) tell that to however many states it’s legalized in. Don’t tell that to California; they don’t care,” he said. “So they’re saying we’re not following federal law. Now, I think that is a really dangerous precedent … And by the way, Indiana is going to be in that category come November, which is all all shades of scary to me.”

The Indiana bill additionally laid out a regulatory scheme for any low-potency, field-grown products on the market — notably, with the long-sought age requirement.

Industry representatives previously testified customers would not want THC products that don’t produce a high. The legislation wouldn’t have affected CBD, which is not intoxicating.

It cleared the committee stage and then passed the Senate in a 35-15 vote. The bill made it to the House floor but wasn’t called for second reading before a key Monday deadline.

“Another example of why we should be a unicameral Legislature,” he told the Capital Chronicle then.

Lawmakers from all four caucuses met in conference committee Thursday to unveil their plans for stripping Senate Bill 144 of its provisions and inserting the Senate-passed version of Freeman’s bill. But it wasn’t in the conference committee report released Friday afternoon.

Rep. Elizabeth Rowray, R-Yorktown, said it was the third iteration of the CCR and acknowledged the hemp drug ban was “added in” and “subsequently taken back out.”

Indiana is among just 10 states that don’t allow either medicinal and recreational sales. The state has stubbornly resisted efforts — even from Republicans — to legalize marijuana.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December to speed up reclassification of marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, but that hasn’t yet been completed.

Cost caps central to Medicaid long-term care bill clearing Indiana Legislature

A Medicaid bill reshaping parts of Indiana’s long-term care system cleared the legislature a final time Friday and now heads to Gov. Mike Braun.

House Bill 1277 passed the House 96-0 and the Senate 46-4.

Author Rep. Brad Barrett, R-Richmond, said the final version reflects months of negotiations over costs, services and the state’s rollout of its PathWays for Aging program.

“We were trying to, really, at the end of the day, do two things. One was to put a cap on services — because we’ve seen that, sometimes, the expense of even keeping a patient at home could outspend institutionalization,” Barrett said. “And so this was a big compromise.”

Changes made on the final day of the session also rolled in language from other Medicaid measures and stripped out a provision added earlier in the process.

Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, ultimately supported the measure but urged lawmakers to revisit one section next year that directs Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration to seek federal approval for an individual cost cap tied to home- and community-based services under the state’s PathWays program.

The specific provision directs the FSSA secretary to file an amendment with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish an individual cost cap for home and community-based services under the Pathways of Aging program — not to exceed the institutional cost of nursing facility services.

Yoder cautioned that the language could carry unintended consequences if not revisited.

“There is concern that this language is, in fact, not sunsetting the individual cost cap itself once it is federally approved,” Yoder said. “I hope that Indiana never becomes a state that moves backward, once again relying more heavily on institutions for people with disabilities.”

The bill drew scrutiny earlier in the session from long-term care providers and advocates who questioned whether the broader Medicaid changes — including Indiana’s transition to the PathWays managed-care model — would actually produce savings or risk limiting access to home- and community-based services.

Lawmakers later delayed a key transition requirement and added a sunset to the individual cost cap as part of the compromise.

Felonies, fines for improper CDLs advance to Indiana governor’s desk

Lawmakers in both chambers approved legislation Friday that imposes felonies and fines on improperly credentialed truck drivers and tightens employer and training-school penalties.

House Bill 1200 now heads to Gov. Mike Braun for final sign-off.

The measure passed the House 92-3 and the Senate 49-1.

Author Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, described the final draft as a broad enforcement push aimed at truck drivers operating with invalid or fraudulent credentials — and the companies that put them on the road.

Momentum for the proposal followed multiple fatal crashes involving semi-trucks in Indiana and a growing debate at the Statehouse this session over immigration enforcement and commercial driver licensing requirements.

The bill now would make it a Level 6 felony for a driver to operate with bad, false or expired credentials and impose a $5,000 penalty on such drivers.

Other provisions require Indiana’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles to periodically check non-domiciled CDL licenses — meaning commercial licenses issued to drivers who are not permanent Indiana residents but are authorized to operate commercially in the United States — through federal Homeland Security systems and to revoke licenses if they are no longer valid.

The bill also creates new penalties of up to $50,000 for training schools that certify drivers without proper credentials.

Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, raised concerns, however, that the measure did not explicitly block those on asylum or parole programs — who under federal law can obtain work permits and CDLs — without further vetting, and suggested the bill missed an opportunity to close what he views as remaining loopholes.

“I had an amendment the other day that dealt with a specific type of people … that have never been vetted by any government,” Young said.

He warned that individuals who can legally obtain work permits and CDLs might still pose a danger if not appropriately screened.

Young also pressed on duplicate definitions of fraud in the criminal code and questioned the bill’s ability to collect fines from companies without assets. Even so, he ultimately voted in favor of the bill.

“I hope we don’t have somebody coming through the state of Indiana and killing our citizens because they’re a parolee who can’t speak English,” Young said.

Bill sponsor Sen. Mike Crider, R-Greenfield, defended the final language and said parolees must show legal documentation, like green cards, to secure CDLs and that the BMV felt existing vetting covered those concerns.

“No one filed a bill to address the things we’re talking about,” Crider said. “Rep. Pressel and I took it upon ourselves to amend the bill to include provisions that are going to keep people alive.”

Education deregulation measure heads to Indiana governor despite warnings it goes ‘way too far’

A second-round education deregulation effort backed by House Republicans advanced to the governor’s desk Friday despite concerns from Democrats that the measure weakens educator protections and professional standards at a moment when Indiana schools are already struggling with teacher recruitment and retention.

The House voted 66-29 to concur with Senate changes to House Bill 1004, capping a multi-year effort to strip unused, outdated and conflicting language from Indiana’s education code. The Senate approved the bill Wednesday in a 28-20 vote.

Authored by Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, the bill is part of the House GOP’s broader push to reduce regulatory requirements across state agencies and education systems. Behning has framed the effort as ongoing cleanup, following last year’s repeal of nearly 35,000 words of education statute.

Behning said Friday that concerns raised earlier by school administrators over contract language had been addressed in the final version of the bill. 

“There was collaboration between the principals association [and] school boards,” he said.

Behning also pointed to changes affecting school referendums and partnerships with outside providers.

“There was some language taken out dealing with first class mailing specifically on referendums,” Behning said, adding that the bill allows schools to contract with private, for-profit or nonprofit providers for after-school care or preschool services.

But Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, held that the deregulation package goes too far.

“For several years, educators have been coming to us … asking for deregulation, and I supported deregulation. However, this bill went way too far,” Smith said.

He zeroed in on provisions eliminating contract language specifying teacher work hours. 

“When you take this provision out, what you’re doing is you’re allowing somebody who wants to be a dictator … to force people to stay as long as they want them to stay,” Smith said.

“We’re having a problem already trying to attract people into the … career of being a teacher. Teachers all over the state have responded saying that they are concerned about this provision,” he continued. “We’re going to look back and we’re going to regret what we did to public education, because every session we destroy a valuable portion of it.”

Bill targeting low-earning college degrees clears Indiana Legislature

A last-day vote in the Indiana Legislature advanced a controversial provision allowing the state to scrutinize and potentially eliminate college degree programs tied to low earnings, despite warnings from some lawmakers that the policy risks undermining essential but often underpaid professions.

Senate Bill 199 directs the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to review programs whose graduates earn median wages below the average earnings of a high school graduate in Indiana — ranging roughly from $24,000 to $35,000 — and determine whether those programs should continue, be restructured or be consolidated.

The bill would operate alongside other ongoing higher education review efforts already underway in Indiana, including recent CHE crackdowns to cut or merge hundreds of low-enrollment or duplicative degree programs statewide.

The Senate voted 34-14 to approve the final version; the House followed with a 62-32 vote.

Supporters of the measure, including bill author Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, said the policy is intended to spark further review, not automatic cuts, and to ensure students and families understand the economic outcomes tied to degrees.

Opponents, however, countered that the approach puts salaries over public value and risks destabilizing programs that still contribute to the state’s workforce.

Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder said Friday the social media language that was previously housed in the bill “sort of took the oxygen out of the room.” She argued that lawmakers “didn’t really have an opportunity to vet the other portion of this bill” dealing with college degrees.

“I agree that students and families should have that information,” Yoder said. “I think that is a worthy conversation to be having. But … that is not the only reason why students study these areas. And I think that there is value to studying these areas.”

The final draft of the bill also directs school districts to report their paid-leave practices to the Indiana Department of Education.

Separate language requires schools to maintain a 75% IREAD pass-average over a three-year period. Schools that fall short must participate in the state’s Literacy Cadre. The program pairs schools with instructional coaches to improve K–3 reading proficiency using science-of-reading-aligned professional development.

Raatz pushed back.

“There was nothing hidden from anybody, at all,” he said. “Nothing in this bill says anything is going to change. It says we’re going to review it. … It’s not a sinister plot.”

Military police proposal crosses legislative finish line

Hoosier Gov. Mike Braun would be able to deploy an Indiana National Guard unit with police powers anywhere in the state for any reason under a finalized proposal heading to his desk.

The conference committee report for House Bill 1343 passed largely by party line votes: 65-29 in the House and 37-11 in the Senate. GOP opponents included Rep. Daniel Lopez of Carmel and Sen. Vaneta Becker of Evansville.

It allows the guard’s leader, Adjutant General Lawrence Muennich, to establish a “military police force” of members with police powers, like for arrests, searches, seizures and more.

Bill author Rep. Steve Bartels, R-Eckerty, has said the Guard will merge six existing units under a new moniker, not form a new unit.

Members would have to take army or air military police training, Indiana-specific law enforcement instruction and an oath of office. They’d also need security clearances and clean records.

Beginning July 1, Braun could authorize the force to exercise those policing powers throughout the state after providing “reasonable” notice to local law enforcement. He’d coordinate with them “as circumstances permit.”

Democrats unsuccessfully advocated for a requirement that communities request the help before the governor deploys the force.

They pushed back on the House floor Friday.

“The biggest problem is you haven’t the solved the possibility of this being abused,” said Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington. “… Military police will be able to supplant your own law enforcement, because they’ll be out enforcing civilian laws against civilians.”

Rep. Ed DeLaney called the move “the biggest insult to our police and sheriffs.”

“If you live a city or a county where you think the local law enforcement is not up to the job and could be shoved aside, then you might want to vote for this,” he said.

Bartels has previously said a governor can already deploy the guard at will but the proposal offers guardrails through the training and other mandates.

The force would also have to coordinate with the Indiana State Police — and use the National Incident Management System, a federal guide for all levels of government, the private sector and beyond to coordinate emergency responses. Bartels said NIMs is standard operating procedure already but that lawmakers wished to put that into Indiana Code.

Lawmakers also inserted a version of a dead bill — House Bill 1040, dealing with attacks against school and health care employees — and a brand-new ISP recruitment provision.

The Law Enforcement Training Board would be able to waive basic training requirements in Indiana for experienced out-of-state officers who meet certain requirements.

The wide-ranging public safety matters bill also alters the military family relief fund, along with grants for veterans and guard members, and establishes a civilian cyber corp subdivision of the guard’s reserves, among other provisions.

Indiana youth social media crackdown advances to governor’s desk

A push to rein in youth social media — renewed in part by recent high-profile online exploitation cases — culminated on the last day of Indiana’s legislative session after lawmakers in both chambers agreed on final language and sent the bill to Gov. Mike Braun.

A final bipartisan Friday vote in the Senate capped a monthslong scramble that spanned multiple bills, and social media language once declared dead was ultimately revived and folded into a broader education bill.

The final draft of House Bill 1408, authored by Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, clears the way for parental-consent requirements, age-verification mandates and algorithm limits for certain social media platforms used by Hoosiers under 16.

The social media provisions did not originate in that bill, however. Language was first introduced this session in Senate Bill 199, penned by Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, but was later stripped out by the Senate.

After more back and forth, the restrictions finally landed in House Bill 1408 as part of a negotiated end-of-session compromise.

“This is an epidemic across our nation,” Raatz said during the final Senate debate Friday. “Everybody in this room, I don’t think, can deny that that’s exactly what is going on. The question is, what can we do? This is one of the things that we absolutely can do.”

This was lawmakers’ second consecutive attempt to regulate youth access to social media after a broader proposal failed to pass in 2025. This session, the General Assembly took a narrower approach focused on parental consent, age estimation and social media platform design features.

Urgency was amplified this month following the death of Fishers teenager Hailey Buzbee, who authorities say was killed after being lured online by a predator. Braun and legislative leaders have repeatedly pointed to rising online exploitation cases as justification for tightening controls.

“I’m asking you to help protect our young children,” Raatz said. “The most vulnerable are our kids under 16 years of age… We have an obligation to protect those who are vulnerable the same way we do with driver’s licenses, the same way we do with alcohol.”

To read the full story go here.

Voters will have say on Fort Wayne-area casino under plan backed by lawmakers

Voters in three Fort Wayne-area counties would decide whether a new casino could land there under a bill that’s cleared the General Assembly.

The Indiana House and Senate both endorsed a final bill version on Friday, sending it to the governor’s desk for action.

A requirement for the voter referendums in Allen, DeKalb and Steuben counties was only added to House Bill 1038 after the proposal narrowly cleared the Senate on Tuesday amid objections over the lack of those county votes.

Bill author Rep. Craig Snow, R-Winona Lake, said he and the vast majority of House Republicans believed the referendums were necessary — and that the bill wouldn’t have won passage without them.

“If a casino is going to go somewhere, we want broad support,” Snow told the Capital Chronicle after the House vote. “… At the end of the day, if the voters don’t want it, they should be able to say that.”

Each time since Indiana lawmakers first authorized casinos in the 1990s, local residents have voted in a referendum.

The bill cleared the House 56-37 and the Senate by a 34-16 margin for what would be the state’s largest gambling expansion since 2019 when lawmakers approved the legalization of sports wagering and new casinos in Terre Haute and Gary.

Gov. Mike Braun’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the bill’s passage.

The measure calls for this year’s November election ballot to include a casino referendum question in all three counties. The Indiana Gaming Commission could then only consider casino license requests for a county where voters supported the project — and must select a bid no later than April 15, 2027.

To read the full story go here.

Northeast Indiana casino clears House; one vote left to go

The sponsor of the bill  says a requirement for county voter referendums was necessary for it to win passage.

The Indiana House voted 56-37 on Friday in favor of the bill that would allow three northeastern Indiana counties — Allen, DeKalb and Steuben — to pursue the casino project.

 still faces a final vote in the state Senate later Friday before the expected adjournment of this year’s legislative session.

The Senate  on Tuesday as several senators objected because it lacked local referendums on whether residents support such a project.

Bill author Rep. Craig Snow, R-Winona Lake, said he and the vast majority of House Republicans believed the referendums were necessary.

“If a casino is going to go somewhere, we want broad support,” Snow told the Capital Chronicle after the House vote.

The bill calls for this year’s November election ballot to include a casino referendum question in all three counties. The Indiana Gaming Commission could then only consider casino license requests for a county where voters supported the project.
Whichever company wins the license, the bill would require it to spend at least $500 million on the casino and related amenities within five years.

Lawmakers eye executive order costs in bill on its way to governor

The financial hit from each of an Indiana governor’s executive orders would be tallied up within a week under heavily edited legislation on its way to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk.

A conference committee report for Senate Bill 4 tasks the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency with analyzing the fiscal impacts to state and local government for all executive orders — not just when a governor uses one to declare a disaster emergency.

The analyses would be due within 7 days. Braun has issued more than 80 executive orders since taking office January last year.

Both chambers unanimously approved the finalized proposal Friday morning, in a 91-0 vote in the House and a 50-0 vote in the Senate.

That’s despite some resentment over the removal of more than 80 pages of provisions amended into the fiscal matters bill by members of the House. Their additions — dealing with economic development reporting, tax credit reviews, public library budgets and more — were ruled not germane by the Senate and largely moved to another bill.

“When the Senate told you these provisions from the House were non-germane, did it occur to you to explain to them that we’re an equal house in this General Assembly, and we don’t particularly care what they think is germane?” asked Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, in a Thursday evening rules committee meeting.

“It seems to me like the House is just rolling over and caving in,” Pierce added. “We might want to have a more of a backbone over on this side of the of the capitol building, and perhaps see if we can get them under control a little bit.”

Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, justified the removals.

“As somebody who is well-known for calling germaneness violations throughout the session, I appreciate sticking to the letter of the law and trying to be as germane as possible,” he said.

The measure, now mostly returned to its Senate-passed form, also lowers the implementation and compliance cost threshold that must be noted in agency regulatory analyses. The current $1 million mark for impacts to local governments, businesses and individuals — over any two-year period — would be halved to $500,000.

Braun’s administration would also be authorized to pull from the financial responsibility and opportunity growth fund to boost the struggling Child Care and Development Fund program, which provides vouchers to low-income families. The lawmaker-dominated State Budget Committee would have to approve of any injections into the program.

CCDF has been closed to new children for more than a year due to funding constraints, and isn’t expected to reopen registration until next year. The waitlist for vouchers has topped 30,000.

Braun busy signing bills

While lawmakers are finishing up their work, 44 bills have already made it to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk.

And he has signed them all into law as of Thursday.

The marquee bill so far has been the financial framework behind a possible Chicago Bears stadium deal. But there are some others already inked as well.

He signed House Enrolled Act 1002 — a move to try to address utility affordability in the state. It requires assistance programs for low-income customers as well as shutoff protection during hot temperatures. It also introduces a new multi-year ratemaking regime that includes performance metrics.

Braun also approved Senate Enrolled Act 12 — a ban on ranked choice voting even though ranked choice voting isn’t used in Indiana.

Senate Enrolled Act 3 provides the public question wording for a constitutional amendment to be on the ballot in November about bail for crimes other than treason and murder.

The governor signed House Enrolled Act 1035, which protects parents from child abuse investigations simply for giving their children age-appropriate freedom. Think a kid walking to the park or staying home alone for short periods of time.

The first bill signed of the session was a tax conformity measure to match Indiana’s tax code to changes made in the federal tax code for the current tax filing season.

To follow along, go to Braun’s bill watch page.