ICV Legislative Update: Week of April 18, 2025
We’re heading into the last full week of the 2025 legislative session! Lawmakers expect to adjourn Sine Die late next week but can adjourn as late as April 29.
We will have a wrap-up email for you next weekend before moving into our non-session newsletter cycle. That means you’ll hear from us a little less frequently, but we won’t be doing any less work to advance policy for clean air, water and energy!
⭐ Need help finding your legislator or their contact information? Contact us and we can help!
URGENT ACTION NEEDED!
Because things are moving so quickly, we wanted to move up two pieces of troubling legislation that we hope you’ll contact your elected officials about this weekend. It won’t take you more than three minutes to send an email on both items to let lawmakers know you’ve got concerns.
🛑 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, a widely supported local program. There are automatic exemptions in place for buildings that cannot access this data. This language is still active and may end up in a different bill before the end of session. Please contact your lawmakers and ask them to Vote NO on SB 197. Tell them to oppose state government overreach on a smart, money saving program which reduces our energy demand!
🛑 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.
CATCHING UP WITH ICV
Daniela and Delaney were up in Valparaiso on Saturday for Porter County Earth Day! They spoke with residents of northwest Indiana about our work in clean air, water and energy. Attendees decorated and wrote postcards to their legislators, rolled the dice for an Earth Day giveaway, learned about ICV and more!
Come see us at these other Earth Day events around the state in April!
🌎 Wesselman Woods Earth Day: April 19, 2025, Evansville
🌎 Elkhart Earth Day: April 26, 2025, Elkhart
Watch for an email next week on our Earth Month giveaway campaign!
BILL UPDATES
😐 NEUTRAL: Senate Bill 425 Energy Production Zones. This bill includes language to incentivize land re-use for new energy projects by limiting local control of project siting. Unfortunately, it excludes wind and solar energy from participating in energy production zones. The Senate dissented on SB 425 on 4/17. It is headed to conference committee next week.
🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1007, which shifts costs of outdated coal generation to ratepayers and taxpayers. The Senate sent HB 1007 back to the House with changes on 4/16. Contact your legislators to vote NO on raising your monthly bills.
🛑 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. The House dissented on the Senate amendments on April 14, sending this bill to a conference committee. Join the League of Women Voters of Indiana and ask lawmakers to vote NO! on HB1680.
🛑 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. The Senate concurred with the House version of the bill on April 17. View the vote sheet here.
🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1037: This bill would remove the ability for localities to require construction stormwater permits more stringent than IDEM’s general permit. This will prohibit permit requirements for sites under an acre. HB 1037 passed the Senate on April 15, and the House concurred with the Senate version on April 17.
⭐ Thank you for your impressive advocacy on this bill! Be sure to thank your legislators if they voted No: House final vote sheet / Senate vote sheet
🛑 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 signed by the Governor on April 16.
GOOD NEWS SATURDAY
👏 HB 1461, which drastically increased EV and hybrid registration fees by 200% or 300% respectively, was amended by Senator Liz Brown (R – Fort Wayne) this week to remove the fee increases and implement a study to determine an appropriate road funding formula. Thank you to everyone who took action!
UPCOMING EVENTS
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)
