2025 Legislative Breakfast Round 2
The second Legislative Breakfast sponsored by the Jasper Chamber of Commerce featured a surprise guest. As Chamber Director Nancy Eckerle began the event Saturday morning, 8th District Congressman Mark Messmer joined State Representative Steve Bartels, State Representative Shane Lindauer and State Senator Daryl Schmitt to discuss current legislation and take submitted questions from the audience.
Questions for the state legislators focused heavily on Senate Bill 1’s impact on property taxes, education funding concerns, and infrastructure maintenance.
Though local government units have expressed concerns about property tax cuts, Rep. Lindauer emphasized that proposed property tax changes would not result in actual cuts to local government funding but rather reductions in anticipated increases.
“According to their projections…there are no actual cuts to any local unit,” Lindauer explained while referencing the Indiana Legislative Services Agency report on the bill’s impact on local taxing units. “It’s a reduction in the increase. So there’s still an increase that can happen.”
The bill caps taxing units increases, or growth quotients, at 0 percent in 2025, 1 percent in 2026, and 2 percent in 2027. The growth quotient regulates how much a taxing unit’s levy can grow annually. It was set at about 4 percent for 2024.
Before taking questions from the audience, Kathy Tretter with Ferdinand News asked the legislators whether they were doing anything about the seasonal time changes. Senator Messmer said he had seen a bill moving through the Senate that would do away with time changes and he supported. Lindauer, who authored a bill to stay on standard time this year, also said they were being addressed.
Local officials expressed concern about what to expect after 2027 and how it would affect fiscal planning for public services as communities continue to grow.
Along with capping the growth quotient for taxing units over the next three years, the bill also provides targeted relief to first-time homebuyers with incomes under $75,000 purchasing homes valued at $250,000 or less, senior citizens, disabled veterans, and agricultural landowners.
Senator Schmitt explained that those relief strategies provided much of the first year’s property tax reductions, estimated to be between $200 million and $230 million statewide.
Other relief areas for seniors could come through an option for counties to enact an ordinance to offset $500 in property taxes for seniors annually until the sale of the home. Schmitt stressed that it is an optional mechanism in which counties could participate.
Speaking of the overall impact of the bill that passed out of the Senate, Schmitt explained it was a targeted relief action. “It’s not going to affect people making a lot of money that are in their prime and working,” he said.
As noted by Lindauer, Schmitt explained that the rest of the reduction will result in a loss of potential future revenue.
“It’s a lot easier to manage loss of future revenue than it is to take tax cuts,” he said.
Along those same lines, a question was asked about the anticipated impact SB 1 will have on school corporations. Property taxes fund facility maintenance, buses, and other operational expenses while direct funding from the state based on the number of students in a school district is used to pay teachers.
Representative Bartels doubled down on the growth quotient adjustment, which only limited future growth and did not cut revenue for the schools.
Bartels pointed to other issues impacting state school funding, mainly that the number of students in school has decreased as the birth rate has flatlined or decreased. “We have to at least accept the fact that’s a factor in the school board [sic] finances issues,” he said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Indiana’s birth rate was 1.78 percent in 2022, below the amount (2.1 children) necessary to maintain the population.
Representative Lindauer added that House Bill 1001 did increase state funding for school corporations by 4 percent over the next two years. He explained that the state carries about 64 percent of the school funding, local taxes contribute about 24 percent and the rest is federally funded.
Looking at the caps on revenue growth in SB 1, Lindauer said those will impact school corporations. “It is a significant reduction, I acknowledge that,” he said. “Is it at the right place right now? I don’t know. I think those are certainly difficult decisions to make. Though, at the state, we are looking at similar reductions in the increase going forward.”
A follow-up question asked how Gov. Braun could say he wants teacher raises while cutting property taxes.
Lindauer explained teachers weren’t paid through property taxes. “They’re paid through the school funding mechanism, essentially, so Senate Bill 1 theoretically would have [no impact on teacher pay].”
One attendee asked why the state would make such drastic cuts, hurting communities, counties, libraries, airports and schools if the state is in good financial standing. They also asked how much the state had in reserves.
Bartels said the state has about $2 billion in reserves and added that if there was a major catastrophe it was estimated to be enough for 45 days of operations. He explained that they want to keep that amount there but are also actively working to reduce the state’s debt.
“I think that once we pay off the teachers pension, there is an extra billion dollars in revenue that the state can use for other projects,” Bartels explained. “So I think we’re trying to reduce our debt and make sure we have that cash reserve, just like anybody would in case, you know, there’s rainy day kind of thing.”
Questions about infrastructure funding focused on the Community Crossings Grant program and its connection to wheel tax requirements. Legislators explained that the intent was to ensure local governments maximize available funding tools.
“I think the phrase there for locals was, I think, skin in the game,” Lindauer said. “Just making sure that locals were maximizing the tools that were available as a local control option if you were looking to increase your funding locally.”
The representatives noted they had already improved the initial proposal, which would have reduced grant funding proportionally for communities that didn’t fully implement available local taxes.
Before taking questions from the audience, Kathy Tretter with Ferdinand News asked whether they were doing anything about the seasonal time changes. Senator Messmer said he supported them and had seen a bill moving through the Senate. Lindauer, who authored a bill to stay on standard time this year, also said they were being addressed.
To a comment regarding the inability to contact the state legislators, each gave out their cellphone number.
Schmitt said he would prefer a text, and asked that anyone who contacts him, provide their name. His number is 812-631-3856. Lindauer’s number is 812-639-7547. Bartels can be reached at 317-446-1326.
Each state legislator spoke about bills they were connected to at the beginning of the meeting. Here are some of their comments.
State Senator Daryl Schmitt laid out his legislative priorities, focusing on several bills he’s working on in the Indiana State Senate.
Schmitt admitted the first half of the session was “pretty intense” and a learning experience for as he moved from the Dubois County Council to the state senate.
He highlighted Senate Bill 2, which aims to reform Medicaid. Schmitt stressed that the goal isn’t to cut services, but to boost efficiency and cut down on fraud.
Senate Bill 3 aims to lower health costs by addressing issues with pharmacy benefit managers. This ties in with Senate Bill 480, which aims to eliminate unnecessary prior authorizations for medical procedures.
Schmitt also discussed Senate Bill 4, which seeks to protect Indiana’s water resources. He noted, “We’re lucky in Indiana to have plenty of water. We’re trying to manage those resources properly.”
The senator then addressed Senate Bill 1, which he called “the monster in the room.” Initially proposing $1.4 billion in tax cuts, it’s been scaled back to $239 million in cuts for the first year.
“I urged them to be cautious,” Schmitt said about his talks with leadership. “Let’s not overreact. We need to take it slow and be measured.”
Schmitt emphasized the need to balance property tax relief with government efficiency. “We don’t want to hurt local services,” he said. “But we need to realize that some shrinking has to happen.”
The senator wrapped up by acknowledging the challenges ahead. “I’m not trying to be all doom and gloom, but we have some serious issues to tackle,” Schmitt said. “There are a lot of good things happening too.”
Indiana State Rep. Shane Lindauer highlighted the bipartisan cooperation in the state legislature. According to Lindauer, 93% of bills passed by the House in the first half of the session had support from both parties, with over half passing unanimously.
“Most of the bills we pass are bipartisan,” Lindauer said. “There’s not much arguing or tension at the state level.”
The House filed 689 bills, with 179 making it to the Senate—a 26% success rate. The Senate fared slightly better, passing 31% of its bills on to the House.
Lindauer is sponsoring Senate Bill 28, which addresses groundwater emergencies as usage from Indiana’s water-rich resources increases, and Senate Bill 143, a Parents’ Bill of Rights. This bill aims to give parents legal options if government agencies “unduly burden” their parental rights.
He spoke about the budget extensively, noting the issue with Medicaid spending increasing 64 percent in recent years.
“It’s a big issue,” Lindauer admitted. “We need to get a handle on it because that kind of growth just isn’t sustainable.”
He pointed out the challenges of making budget cuts, given that education and Medicaid account for 77% of the state budget, while general government and capital projects account for only 8%.
“When you start talking about cuts, things get tricky fast,” he said. “Where do you take the money from?”
Bartels’ comments were brief.
He continues looking at agency-level cuts, which might involve reducing staff and merging agencies.
He’s also backing House Bill 1002, which aims to cut red tape in K-12 education. Bartels said, “My goal in the House is to keep shrinking government.”
On healthcare, Bartels is pushing for more transparency and lower costs through House Bills 1003 and 1004. He suggests keeping an eye on initial costs to healthcare providers.
Several military-related bills are on the table. House Bill 1111 boosts benefits for National Guard members on state active duty. Bartels explained, “We’re relying on the National Guard more these days. This bill makes them state employees when they’re on state orders.” If they are injured or killed while doing so, they would receive benefits.
House Bill 1235 expands who can use the state’s veterans home and adds Space Command personnel to Indiana’s uniformed services recognition.
Bartels discussed school safety initiatives, cutting red tape for firefighter training, and tweaking construction project approvals. He also mentioned ongoing discussions about alkaline hydrolysis as an alternative to cremation.
Other items on the agenda include measures to help smaller police departments keep their officers and regulations for low THC products.
We’ve included Senator Messmer’s remarks as a separate story here.
The legislative session is scheduled to conclude by April 29, though legislators expressed hope they might finish a week early.
