As we experience the descent of a wintry blast that threatens to make Indiana feel like a scene from Frozen, we’re grateful to be hunkered down at the Statehouse, watching the red-hot action of a busy legislative session.  

Conversations around some bills have cooled this week (See the public camping bill, SB 285, which passed out of committee on Jan. 14 and is awaiting a full House hearing). But the topic of affordability continues to be on fire, with meaningful progress on bills related to bringing down the cost of housing and utility bills. Legislation regarding the management of facilities, transportation, and accountability for schools within Indianapolis Public Schools boundaries also continues to be a hot topic. 

Bundle up and get cozy! There’s no better fireside reading than a legislative missive. Here’s this week’s forecast:  

• Easing the Housing Freeze (Housing Matters) 
• Many Burning Questions (K-12 Education) 
• Turning Down the Heat (Electric Utilities) 
• Fueling the Talent Fire (Workforce + Economic Development) 
• Cooling Oversight (Civilian Oversight Boards) 
• Controlled Burn (Education Cleanup) 

Easing the Housing Freeze

House Republicans advanced their priority housing bill, HB 1001, out of the House Local Government Committee this week on a 7-3 vote. Authored by Republican Rep. Doug Miller, the bill is aimed at expanding housing supply and improving homeownership affordability by easing certain local zoning and development rules. The version that moved forward reflects amendments made in response to feedback from local governments and stakeholders, including revisions related to duplexes, accessory dwelling units, and impact fees. 

The bill drew broad support from housing and economic development advocates, including the American Institute of Architects, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, and United Way of Central Indiana, all of whom pointed to Indiana’s ongoing housing shortage and the need to reduce barriers to new construction. Some local officials, however, raised concerns about the bill’s impact on local control and infrastructure funding, arguing that limits on impact fees could shift costs to future residents. While some committee members signaled they want additional clarity as the bill moves forward, HB 1001 now heads to the House floor. 

Many Burning Questions

HB 1423 is Republican Rep. Bob Behning’s proposal to create a new, mayor-appointed Indianapolis Public Education Corporation (IPEC) to manage facilities, transportation, and systemwide accountability across schools within Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) boundaries. The Chamber continues to support the creation of IPEC to create a more cohesive and efficient system of schools that serves all students within IPS boundaries well and ensures fair access to transportation and facilities, regardless of whether students attend district-run, public charter, or innovation schools.   

Following action in the House Education Committee, the bill now includes amendments that strengthen financial clarity and answer timeline questions, with a two-year ramp-up window before the IPEC begins management and operational duties in the 2028-29 school year. The changes adopted also set up a more consequential debate next week as the bill heads to the House Ways & Means Committee. Key topics center around how finances flow with the new corporation in place – and what dollars and obligations remain with schools that would be under IPEC oversight. (Warning: this gets wonky fast.) 

• 💰Legacy school debt stays put: A key improvement aligns closely with the Indy Chamber’s position: all existing bond obligations remain with their original issuers – whether IPS or public charter schools – and bondholder rights are unchanged. This avoids creating a new or ambiguous “successor obligor” by shifting debt to the IPEC, which could have unsettled capital markets. From a credit and taxpayer perspective, maintaining continuity for existing debt is the most stable and market-friendly approach, and a meaningful step forward for the bill. 
• 💸There’s clarity around tax distributions: The bill preserves current property-tax distribution formulas, so revenues will continue to flow to IPS and public charter schools via the county auditor. It also creates a new fund, capped at up to 3% of property tax revenues, to provide operations dollars for IPEC. While this makes sense logistically, we have questions about the implications for financial oversight and transparency. It will be arduous for taxpayers and employers to monitor the finances of dozens of individual schools and IPS. If IPEC has responsibility for accountability and oversight of schools, but no centralized financial controls, that also could create ambiguity.  
• ❓Questions remain about “pledgability:” Another concern is cash flow for IPEC. If the entity is expected to issue debt for facilities improvements, bond markets typically require guaranteed, first access to at least the minimum amount of revenues required to service debt through a dedicated mechanism (such as a debt-service levy). Without this, investors and rating agencies are likely to view the corporation’s ability to repay debt as uncertain, even if the corporation has broad governance responsibilities. 
• 💡One solution might be: Bond counsel has flagged that if lawmakers intend IPEC to issue debt, the statute could mirror Indiana school corporation financing norms. This might involve explicitly including IPEC in the state intercept remedy – a widely understood credit backstop – or utilizing bond pathways that school corporations already use. Such options could increase market confidence. 
• ⏭️ What’s next: The House Ways & Means Committee is expected to take up these financing and revenue-flow questions. The key issue will be whether HB 1423 ultimately includes the market-ready guardrails needed to match the corporation’s responsibilities with dependable financial tools – clear authority, transparent cash flows, and proven financing mechanisms.  

🤔 Indy Chamber’s Take: We view the Education Committee amendments as real progress and will continue to focus on ensuring that any new governance structure delivers stability, transparency, and public trust, while avoiding unnecessary financial risk for taxpayers. 

Turning Down the Heat 

A major bill aimed at making electric bills more predictable and fairer for Hoosiers has been revised and advanced to the full Indiana House after committee action. Lawmakers on Tuesday updated the proposal, authored by Republican Rep. Alaina Shonkwiler, with changes expected to improve clarity and consumer protections as it moves forward. 

One of the key changes reflects input from legislators on both sides of the aisle: updating the terminology for “budget billing” to “levelized billing,” which lawmakers see as clearer and more direct. Utility customers would pay consistent monthly amounts based on their historical energy use, rather than seeing big swings in bills, and would settle up no more than twice annually to reflect spikes in energy use.  

Under another change, utilities would also fund assistance programs for income-qualifying Hoosiers from 0.2% of their residential electric revenue, rather than through existing energy assistance dollars collected from ratepayers.  

A House committee unanimously approved the bill, sending it to the House floor for further consideration. 

🖼️The big picture: The bill ties into broader affordability concerns at the Statehouse, as utility costs have been rising sharply and become a top issue for many households. Proponents argue that creating more consistent billing, protecting income-eligible customers from disconnections during extreme heat, and building low-income assistance programs will help families manage costs. While generally supportive of affordability goals, some lawmakers may push for additional consumer safeguards as the bill advances. 

Fueling the Talent Fire 

We believe talent is the key to our region’s growth and economic vitality. To that end, the Indy Chamber supports efforts to enable high school and adult learners to get paid, on-the-job experience to help them learn while working, and build our region’s talent pipeline. For these efforts to succeed, we need clear guidelines in place to address employers’ workplace liability concerns related to employing youth under 18. HB 1098, authored by Republican Rep. Matt Commons, takes a step toward addressing these liability concerns.  

In its original draft, which we told you about two updates ago, the bill aimed to reduce uncertainty by clearly assigning liability when a student is placed with an employer through a talent intermediary. It put primary responsibility for legal and administrative claims on the intermediary, rather than leaving roles ambiguous. Recent amendments clarify both the benefits and protections students qualify for and the division of responsibilities between employers and intermediaries. 

• Under new amendments, the bill now requires an employer and an intermediary to enter into a written agreement spelling out their respective duties when placing a student in a work-based learning program.  
• It also repeals outdated references to the federal School-to-Work Opportunities Act and explicitly states that, with certain limits, students in these work-based learning programs are eligible for workers’ compensation and occupational disease benefits when they are performing services for an employer. 
• It also protects employers from insurance discrimination by prohibiting insurers from denying coverage, canceling policies, or charging higher rates simply because a worker is under 18 or enrolled in a work-based learning program.  

🤔 Indy Chamber’s Take: We believe the amendments mark progress, but we still advocate for employers to maintain liability, with clear protections, such as a statutory safe harbor, to provide them peace of mind and confidence to engage.  

🏥Meanwhile, in the healthcare workforce… 

HB 1278 aims to help address Indiana’s nursing shortage by loosening restrictions on colleges and universities that train nurses, allowing more institutions to expand or start nursing programs. Supporters say the change would increase the pipeline of qualified nursing graduates and help meet growing workforce demand. 

👏The bill drew broad support from nursing schools, healthcare advocates, and workforce groups, including the Indiana Nurses Association. Proponents argue the bill could also help reduce healthcare costs by easing staffing shortages. The amended bill passed committee unanimously and will move to the full House. 

💲And on the tax credit side… 

SB 264, authored by Republican Sens. Brian Buchanan and Linda Rogers, updates Indiana’s EDGE tax credit to give the state more flexibility to attract and keep talent. It allows the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) to boost the value of an EDGE credit when a company incurs relocation costs to bring a worker to Indiana for a new job. And it makes clear that companies can also qualify for EDGE credits for retaining employees, not just creating new jobs, if they increase an employee’s hourly wage by at least 25%. 

The bill passed out of committee last week and now moves to the full House. 

Cooling Oversight

The Indianapolis City-County Council created a General Orders Board in 2020 with authority to approve policies on how the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers conduct themselves, including the use of force. Indianapolis’ civilian-led board is among many policing reforms implemented across the U.S. following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police force in Minneapolis.  

Council Republicans have advocated to rein in the authority of the Board, noting that challenges with making quorum for meetings have stalled decisions and hampered the department’s ability to approve policies. Council Democrats have rejected those efforts.  

SB 284, authored by Republican Sen. Cyndi Carrasco, would limit the authority of any civilian oversight board or commission created by a city, county, or township in Indiana to oversee a law enforcement agency to advisory only – meaning they cannot make binding decisions. These boards would be allowed to review, recommend, and provide input, but final authority would remain with the law enforcement agency itself. The bill explicitly excludes merit boards and commissions, which already have defined statutory authority. SB 284 passed out of committee and heads to the House. 

🤔 Indy Chamber’s Take: Public safety is among the most important issues affecting our city. We need to create optimal conditions for IMPD to enforce safety and build trust with the community – and we also need to ensure the department can attract and retain top talent. The Chamber was an early supporter of the creation of the General Orders board — we are looking for opportunities to preserve civilian input in policing policy while ensuring that the GO board runs optimally.   

Controlled Burn  

HB 1004, authored by Republican Rep. Bob Behning, is a wide-ranging education clean-up bill that updates, consolidates, and eliminates dozens of education statutes across K-12 and higher education. Among many other provisions, it would change requirements around curriculum and graduation and ease teacher licensing rules. With recent amendments, the bill would allow school boards to hold meetings in different school district boundaries, align the number of absent days with current law, and ensure dating violence education in schools. It passed out of committee and heads to the full house. 

Thank you for reading this week. Remember, while the action is moving fast, things are just warming up at the Statehouse. We hope that by the time of next week’s update, the thermostat will follow suit. 

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