ICV Legislative Update: Week of April 11, 2025

With two weeks left until the end of session—when lawmakers officially adjourn Sine Die—we are in the final push for the bills we are watching. We’re ready for long days at the Statehouse working to protect our air, water and energy generation.

At this point, traditional committee hearings have come to an end, but that doesn’t mean lawmakers won’t be able to move quickly to update legislation that’s on the move. This week, there will be a number of bills on second and third reading in each chamber, and we will start to see more conference committees meeting.

For a recap on how the legislative process unfolds, check out our blog post from earlier this year.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED

Because things are moving so quickly, we wanted to move up four pieces of troubling legislation that we hope you’ll contact your elected officials about. It won’t take you more than 10 minutes to send an email on all four items to let lawmakers know you’ve got concerns.

🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1037: This bill would remove the ability for localities to require stormwater permits for construction projects under an acre. This bill risks increased flooding, pollution and sedimentation, resulting in worse road conditions and water quality as well as higher water utility rates. Let your lawmakers know that you are watching and to put our water quality and ratepayers before developers!

🛑 OPPOSE: Senate Bill 287: By injecting partisan politics into Indiana school board races, this bill will increase political division in schools and make it difficult for ordinary citizens and members of the military to serve their communities. This bill is headed to conference committee. Reach out to your lawmaker and ask them to oppose partisan politics in school board races.

🛑 OPPOSE: Senate Bill 197: Newly added language in this legislation would eliminate the Thriving Buildings program in the City of Indianapolis and any other local governments trying to increase building efficiency. The Thriving Buildings program requires building owners and operators of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to track and report their utility data to identify ways to reduce energy and water usage. Please contact lawmakers and ask them to Vote NO on SB 197!

🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1461: This road funding legislation now contains an unprecedented and unfair fee increase that will penalize EV and hybrid vehicle owners. The supplemental registration fee for hybrids would increase from $50 to $170, and the fee for EVs would increase from $150 to $340. Drivers who use less gas are not unwilling to pay their fair share toward road funding, but increasing fees on hybrid and EV drivers by more than 200% or 300% without a proper formula is unfair. Please ask lawmakers to remove this unfair, last-minute fee increase!

BILL UPDATES

WE START CONFERENCE COMMITTEES NEXT WEEK! 

Conference committees are fast moving and hard to track publicly. We are following the committees at the Statehouse and will keep you updated. 

😐 NEUTRAL: Senate Bill 425 Energy Production Zones. Energy Production Zones. This bill includes language to incentivize land re-use for new energy projects by limiting local control of project siting. It does not include wind and solar from participating in the program. Changes to the bill in committee work to address some local energy siting concerns. This bill is still eligible for changes on second reading this Monday.

🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1007 shifts costs outdated coal generation costs on to ratepayers and taxpayers. Contact your legislators to vote NO on raising your monthly bills. 

🛑 OPPOSE: Senate Bill 10: Voter Registration. This bill removes student ID from the list of acceptable voter ID, and unnecessarily discourages young people from participating in elections. SB 10 passed both chambers and was sent to the governor on April 9. 

🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1680: This sweeping election bill creates additional voting barriers for naturalized citizens, opens the door to increased voter intimidation, burdens houseless people and disenfranchises independent voters by closing Indiana primaries. Join the League of Women Voters of Indiana and ask lawmakers to vote NO! on HB1680. HB 1680 passed third reading in the Senate on April 10th. It is now eligible for concurrence with the House.

🛑 OPPOSE: Senate Bill 423: Small modular nuclear reactor program. SB 423 contains identical language from SB 424 allowing utilities to bill ratepayers upfront for project development costs and does not require financial risk sharing between public/private partners. It is no longer a pilot program. SB 423 was amended in committee and engrossed on 2nd reading. It will be voted on by the whole House next week.

IT’S FINALLY EARTH MONTH!

There are Earth Month and Earth Day events happening all across Indiana throughout April! We have collected them into an interactive map so you can easily find events in your area.

Join ICV across the state at the following Earth Day events in April:

Wesselman Woods Earth Day: April 19, 2025, Evansville

Elkhart Earth Day: April 26, 2025, Elkhart

GOOD NEWS SATURDAY

👏 Senate Bill 211, which makes Clean Water Indiana funding permanently available for invasive species management, has been signed into law! This is a fantastic move and we are excited to see this funding opportunity become permanent.

👏 Senate Bill 4 is headed to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law! This is a good first step to becoming better stewards of our water and making sure we have reliable water availability well into the future.

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 17: Cayuga Generating Station CPCN [coal to gas plan] Hearing, 1pm (Monroe Convention Center, 302 S. College Ave., Bloomington)

April 17: Cayuga Generating Station CPCN [coal to gas plan] Hearing, 6pm (Oakley Auditorium, Ivy Tech Community College, 8000 S. Education Dr, Terre Haute)

April 25: Pregúntele a un Organizador Comunitario / Ask a Community Organizer: Indiana Conservation Voters (Goshen Library)

April 26: Elkhart Earth Day, 10am-1pm (Elkhart Environmental Center)