An already extraordinary session of the Indiana General Assembly resumes Monday for an eight-week sprint to the finish line.
State lawmakers tentatively are planning to adjourn for the year Feb. 27, well ahead of the March 14 statutory deadline, to make up for the two weeks the Republican-controlled House and Senate met in early December to consider, and ultimately reject, a controversial congressional redistricting plan intended to advantage Republican candidates in this year's U.S. House elections.
Indeed, the upcoming elections will be on the minds of all 100 state representatives, and 25 of the 50 state senators, who will be on the ballot at the May 5 primary election and the Nov. 3 general election.
Interest groups aligned with Republican President Donald Trump have vowed to spend millions of dollars in Indiana, particularly against Republican state senators, in retribution for the failure of the Trump-backed partisan redistricting in House Bill 1032.
That potentially includes two Republicans representing Northwest Indiana — state Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland; and state Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell — who joined the Region's entire Senate delegation in voting against splitting the 1st Congressional District, which is centered on Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline, into two pieces sprawling through rural areas to the south and east nearly to Ohio.
In the House, Region lawmakers voted strictly along partisan lines with every Republican representative supporting the unusual, mid-decade redistricting and every Democratic representative voting "no."
A key date to watch will be Feb. 6 — the candidate filing deadline for the primary election.
But the mere threat of an intra-party opponent, possibly supported by Republican Gov. Mike Braun over the incumbent, is almost certain to make it more difficult for lawmakers to reach consensus on key issues amid an extremely tight timeline for legislative action.
How tight? House and Senate committees that meet on Mondays might only hold one or two committee hearings ahead of the Jan. 26 initial deadline for committee action.
Since every proposed new law must be approved by a committee before it can be considered by the full chamber, that doesn't leave lawmakers much time to take public testimony, suggest and adopt revisions or fully debate the underlying issue before acting.
Ultimately, each measure must be approved with identical language by both the House and the Senate to advance to the governor to be signed into law or vetoed.
Hasty lawmaking can produce poor policies. In fact, one of the major items on this year's legislative agenda is correcting some of the flaws identified by local units of government in the property tax changes contained in Senate Enrolled Act 1 (2025) that lawmakers rushed through last year at Braun's behest.
Also poised for possible legislative action are Indiana's soaring energy costs and the role of data centers, rising food prices, unaffordable health care, unavailable child care and myriad other issues on the minds of Hoosiers.
Lawmakers could additionally consider legislation to enable the construction of a Chicago Bears stadium in Northwest Indiana, depending on what the pro football team is looking for from the state and whether Indiana has the means, and the will, to provide it.
Altogether, some 700 proposals for new state laws are expected to be filed, and more than half will be dead before the month is out.
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