ICV Legislative Update: Week of January 12, 2026
The second week of legislative session is behind us, and we testified on two big bills–one that’s designed to address utility affordability and one that would gut the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s regulatory authority, placing clean air and water across our state in jeopardy. You can read our testimony below.
ON THE BLOG
On Jan. 12, 2026, Indiana Conservation Voters Conservation Campaign Manager Desi Rybolt delivered testimony in opposition to Senate Bill 277 in the Senate Committee on Environmental Affairs. Please contact your State Senator and ask them to oppose SB 277!
On Jan. 13, 2026, Indiana Conservation Voters Director of Government Affairs Delaney Barber Kwon delivered testimony on House Bill 1002 in the House House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee.
WATER STEWARDSHIP DAY
Please join Indiana Conservation Voters and our partners on Monday, Feb. 9, for a day of water advocacy and action at the Statehouse.
During Water Stewardship Day, you’ll:
- Meet with lawmakers to share why water protection matters to you and your community
- Hear from scientists, conservation experts and local leaders who are working on real solutions
- Participate in hands-on activities to learn how policy and personal stewardship go hand in hand
A complimentary lunch will be provided, and everyone who cares about the future of clean water in our state is welcome! RSVP today!
BILL UPDATES
We’re still tracking a lot of legislation, which will continue until the mid-point of the session, when bills that don’t cross over to the other chamber are no longer viable. If you have questions on these bills, please reply to this email and let us know what’s on your mind.
PRIORITY BILLS
✅ SUPPORT: HB 1084/SB 74 Plug-In Solar. Enables Hoosiers to begin offsetting their energy with plug-in solar panels without unnecessary added utility costs that come with rooftop solar. Utah was the first state to pass legislation last year and we hope Indiana will be the second. Contact your legislators to support plug-in solar.
✅ SUPPORT: SB 196 Community Energy Facilities. Enables community energy, such as community solar, in Indiana which allows residents and businesses to benefit from small community energy projects directly on their utility bills. Contact your Senator and urge them to support community energy.
✅ SUPPORT: HB 1110 PFAS Chemicals. Requires IDEM to establish water quality standards for several PFAS chemicals, sets fines for permit violations, and establishes a mechanism where PFAS polluters would help pay for some mitigation and testing measures. Contact your legislators to support this polluter-pay approach.
🛑 OPPOSE: SB 277 Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Amends and makes changes to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, including permitting and rulemaking such as more “burdensome” requirements. It drastically reduces the responsibilities of IDEM, the commissioner and rule board. It gives the commissioner the option, rather than the obligation, to respond to the public and be held accountable for issues like water pollution. The Senate Environmental Affairs Committee passed the bill and reassigned it to the Committee on Appropriations. The deadline to make it out of committees is Monday, Jan. 26. Please contact your Senators and urge them to oppose SB 277.
ENERGY BILLS
✅ SUPPORT: SB 234 Energy Utility Matters. Bans utility rate recovery for lobbying, politics and public relations. Additionally it requires large load users, such as data centers to pay for all their allocable costs.
✅ SUPPORT: SB 152 Utilities Matters. Bans utility rate recovery for lobbying, politics and public relations. It also requires IURC approval before a public utility sale or merger and requires utilities to provide a breakdown of fees and charges of a customer’s bill.
✅ SUPPORT: SB 257 Electricity Rate Increases due to Data Centers. Prevents the IURC from approving rates or charges due to a data center.
✅ SUPPORT: SB 240 Surplus Interconnection Service. Requires utilities to consider surplus interconnection service in their plans. Sometimes there is extra space for more energy projects on our grid, surplus interconnection service opens opportunities for small projects to get online faster using existing connections. This could help clean energy get online faster.
😐 NEUTRAL: HB 1002 Electric Utility Affordability. Establishes a low income energy assistance program and prohibits shutoffs during extreme heat days to customers who qualify for energy assistance programs. The bill also includes language to change how utilities file for electric rate increases and sets three performance incentives for utilities to focus on affordability and resiliency. We still have some concerns about how certain elements of the bill as written may affect ratepayers, and we hope the bill will undergo changes from stakeholder feedback in order to strike a balance and ensure ratepayers see the relief they have requested. HB 1002 will be up for amendments and vote in the House Utilities Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 10:30 am in Room 156-A.
🛑 OPPOSE: SB 258 Nuclear Facility Permits. Eliminates public hearings on the environmental impact of nuclear facilities in Indiana and any additional IDEM rules authority on the environmental concerns of nuclear facilities. While federal commissions have full authority on nuclear energy and radioactive waste safety, states have the ability to require additional criteria for non-nuclear reasons.
WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES BILLS
✅ SUPPORT: HB 1062 Wake Boarding and Wake Surfing. Establishes responsible restrictions on wake boarding and wake surfing on public freshwater lakes. This could help protect the shorelines, wildlife, and plant life of our public lakes. HB1062 is likely to be heard on second reading next week.
✅ SUPPORT: HB 1190 Line of Duty Disability from PFAS Exposure. Determines that firefighters that develop health issues caused by PFAS use are considered to be disabled in the line of duty. This would allow some recourse for our servicemen and servicewomen injured by an occupational hazard.
✅ SUPPORT: HB 1043 Data Center Water Regulation. Requires a water consumption permit to be obtained from the Department of Natural Resources prior to any data center operations. Sets permit application requirements and procedures.
✅ SUPPORT: SB 6 Extension of Water Services. Requires a public water utility to provide additional public outreach opportunity before condemning land to extend a water or wastewater main.
✅ SUPPORT: SB 79 Data center development. Requires data centers to submit quarterly electricity usage reports for public review. Requires data centers to disclose energy and water usage to local authorities.
✅ SUPPORT: HB 1239 PFAS water safety standards. Requires the Department of Environmental Management to establish maximum PFAS contaminant levels for water that are protective of public health and no less stringent than the EPA’s.
✅ SUPPORT: HB 1204 Natural resource entrance fees. Allows counties to add up to a $1 surcharge to certain state park and recreation areas, which can be used for enhancing public safety and implementing water quality improvements. HB 1204 is likely to be heard on second reading next week.
✅ SUPPORT: SB 67 Studies relating to natural lands. Requires the Department of Natural Resources to conduct a study on the effects of public natural lands on public health, fee collection, and disaster mitigation plans. SB 67 will be heard on second reading next week.
🛑 OPPOSE: HB 1416 Preemption of Local Regulation. For the entirety of nine different titles (subject matters) in Indiana Code, bans municipalities or counties from adopting or operating local rules unless permitted by state law. This includes Title 14, which includes anything relating to Natural and Cultural Resources.
🛑 OPPOSE: SB 237 PFAS Chemicals. contains an industry-written definition of these harmful chemicals that would exclude many of the most commonly used PFAS chemicals from any future regulations, including testing, communication of risk, and more important tasks.
🛑 OPPOSE: HB 1003 Boards and Commissions. Sunsets the Natural Resources Commissions which reviews rules from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
DEMOCRACY BILLS
🛑 OPPOSE: SB 12 Prohibition of Ranked Choice Voting. Bans future lawmakers and local governments from adopting “ranked choice voting.” This is a style of election that allows voters to rank all of the potential candidates by order of preference, and many democracy advocates believe that it does a better job of producing winners that have broad popular support. While it would be a major change to Indiana elections, there has never been a serious attempt to pass this alternative voting system here. Still, SB 12 would pre-emptively bar future lawmakers from considering the option, even such a change had popular support. SB 12 will be heard on third reading in the Indiana Senate next week.
🛑 OPPOSE: HB 1096 Various Election Matters. Would require voters to declare a political affiliation in order to vote in Indiana’s primary election. Historically, Indiana has had open primaries allowing all eligible voters to select which party’s primary they will vote in. This allows independents and voters without a deep party affiliation to vote for the primary candidate that they feel best represents them. Because many Hoosiers live in districts that are “safe” for one party or another, the party primary is often their only real opportunity to vote for a candidate. HB 1096 has been assigned to the House Elections Committee.
🛑 OPPOSE: SB 267 Influence Campaign Reports. While we support the author’s intention of bringing transparency to legislative influence campaigns in Indiana, this misses the mark by being too broad and crossing the line into stifling activities that are protected by the First Amendment. It could subject ordinary citizen advocates to reporting requirements that exceed those of highly paid lobbyists, and creates a serious regulatory burden for the ILRC, who testified in opposition to it. Finally, ICV is concerned about the author’s use of conspiratorial language about paid protestors. If members of the general assembly have noticed large grassroots mobilizations at the statehouse, that is because there is real, organic interest among voters in the controversial proposals they continually take up. SB267 is likely to be heard on second reading in the Indiana Senate next week.
BILLS WE ARE WATCHING
At times, there may be bills we’re still learning about or that might be important later on in the session, but we haven’t determined yet whether to support, oppose or remain neutral on them. We’ll list that legislation here each week so you’re in the loop on what we’re watching:
SB 224: Department of Natural Resources. Amends and makes changes to the Department of Natural Resources. This is another large bill we are still working on fully analyzing.
HB 1333: Land Use and Development. This bill looks at local siting of development projects including data centers and battery storage. It ends the data center sales and use tax exemptions. Lastly, it allows any development of agricultural land considered of lesser soil quality. HB 1333 will be heard in the House Utilities Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 10:30 am in Room 156-A.
HB 1414: Forest Management. Requires the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to establish state forest entrance fees and investigate other revenue sources to fund management practices. Also sets requirements for maintaining populations of juvenile and old-growth trees.
GOOD NEWS SATURDAY
We are excited that nine of the eleven policies in our Help Hoosiers Now: Ratepayer Relief Plan with Citizens Action Coalition have officially moved from proposals to active legislation with the support of legislative sponsors. Now that the session is in full swing, we are closely monitoring every hearing and vote to support these protections.
Want to see where your bill stands? You can follow the progress of these key policies in real-time on our blog.
UPCOMING EVENTS
January 20: 2026 Renewable Energy Day at the Statehouse
January 28: Democracy Day (League Day at the Statehouse)
February 3: Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter Conservation Day at the Statehouse
February 6: Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference (ISRC)
February 8: Sierra Club Legislative Type-In at Indy Type Shop
February 9: 2026 Water Stewardship Day
Know of an upcoming event you think we should include in our weekly emails? Reply to this message with the details!
