Indiana’s shortened legislative session is barreling into its final week, with several significant issues unresolved ahead of Friday’s expected adjournment.
Republican legislative leaders cut two weeks from this year’s session calendar to make up for the time lawmakers spent in December on the congressional redistricting debate.
Here’s a look at some of the key topics facing final decisions:
Limits on local housing rules
Legislation aimed at boosting residential construction and home ownership is facing pushback over concerns about limiting local authority over housing regulations.
House Bill 1001 is a top priority of House Republicans, with its supporters arguing “unnecessary regulations” are driving up housing costs and suppressing new construction across the state.
Even though city and county officials could vote to opt out of the bill’s limitations, the measure barely cleared a Senate committee last week as several Republican senators criticized its encroachment upon local control.
Top Republicans indicated negotiations are continuing on the bill, with the final version still up in the air.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray acknowledged the conundrum when talking with reporters on Thursday: “We’re hopeful that it’ll be a bill that we can get passed and that will be good policy.”
Youth social media restrictions
Senate and House negotiators will be working to reach an agreement on legislation aimed at restricting social media access for youths.
The House set an age threshold of 17 in Senate Bill 199 for a prohibition on minors opening accounts on covered social media platforms without parental permission. Those would include Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
The parents of Hailey Buzbee, a 17-year-old Fishers girl who was killed this winter after being lured online by a predator, are among those urging the tighter restrictions.
House members endorsed the bill last week, but lawmakers will likely have to move the social media provisions to a different bill because of Senate rules over whether they are germane with the original legislation.
Bray said he believed the Senate would support restrictions “pretty similar” to those approved by the House.
The irony is that the bill originally had similar social media language but the Senate removed it because of legal concerns. Now leaders say the language isn’t germane to the bill it originated in.
Hammond Bears stadium
Lawmakers appear set on approving the financing framework toward a possible deal on the Chicago Bears crossing the state line to build a new domed stadium in Hammond.
The National Football League team could still end up staying in Illinois, but Indiana officials say about $1 billion in tax revenue from a new stadium district and county restaurant and hotel taxes could be spent on the project.
The Indiana package has the support of Gov. Mike Braun, Republican legislative leaders and several Democratic lawmakers from northwestern Indiana.
Full details of the financial structure are unsettled, leading to some hesitancy.
“There’s going to be a big price tag to pay, and we need to hear from Hoosiers on where they are,” said Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington.
Gov. Mike Braun gave several television interviews over the weekend on the topic saying the likelihood of the move is now “better than 50/50.” In another interview he said he hoped to “ink” the deal “within a month or two.”
Gaming expansion to Fort Wayne
Approval appears likely for a process aimed at allowing construction of a new casino in the Fort Wayne area.
Questions on House Bill 1038 have included whether to transfer the license for Indiana’s lowest-performing casino from the Ohio River city of Rising Sun — and determining compensation for the current casino owner and making up for the local tax revenue loss. Another option is to authorize a 14th state casino license and leave the Rising Sun casino in place.
House Speaker Todd Huston called the option for allowing the new license “a pretty good compromise.”
The latest version of the bill allows three Fort Wayne-area counties — Allen, DeKalb and Steuben — to pursue the casino project, with the winning company required to spend at least $500 million on the casino and related amenities.
Despite a state-commission study finding that downtown Indianapolis would be the most profitable site for a new casino, that possibility has not gained traction amid questions about its impact on existing casinos.
Fewer early voting days?
An attempt by some Republican lawmakers to cut Indiana’s early voting period from 28 days to 16 days appears unlikely to succeed.
The proposal was inserted into a bill last week by a Senate committee without any testimony coming from the public or local election officials.
A similar proposal failed last year to clear the Senate and it is uncertain whether senators will even take it up this week.
Even if the Senate were to endorse the change, it isn’t an idea that Huston, the House speaker, cares for.
“I’m very, very comfortable with our election laws as they are,” Huston said. “I think giving people a longer opportunity to vote strikes me as a good thing.”
Hot-button issues lingering
The Senate is expected, perhaps on Monday, to give final approval to a bill mandating local cooperation with federal immigration crackdowns.
Republican House members already pushed through Senate Bill 76, which also would give the state attorney general’s office authority to seek sanctions against businesses found to have hired “unauthorized aliens.”
Democrats and other opponents have argued the bill endorses the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that have led to turmoil in Minneapolis and other cities. They also condemned the legislation’s mandate that all police departments, schools and universities comply with the federal agency’s enforcement activities.
Bills on a couple other hot-button issues — tighter restrictions on abortion drugs and a ban on transgender students from using school restrooms matching their gender identity — failed to advance by a deadline last week. But with support from social conservatives, there is a chance the topics could be inserted into other measures.
Nevertheless, this year’s compressed General Assembly session has left many lawmakers and others scrambling to understand the flurry of legislation being hustled through.
“One of my fears about this short session being so short and fast,” House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta said, “is that we’re going to be back here next year in a long session, probably correcting a lot of things that we pass out of here this year.”
This article was written by Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Tom Davies.