State legislators take questions; rundown legislative priorities for this session

State Senator Daryl Schmitt and State Representative Shane Lindauer presented their legislative priorities to community members during the recent Jasper Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast last Saturday.

Schmitt, representing District 48, began by discussing Senate Bill 1, which targets waste and abuse in Indiana’s Medicaid system. The state’s Medicaid costs have ballooned from $5 billion in 2019 to over $10 billion in the most recent session.

“A lot of factors and a lot of things are involved in that, but what we’re working on is trying to make sure that the system stays viable and the programs stay for the people that need it,” Schmitt said.

The bill prohibits the use of SNAP benefits for candy and soft drinks, implements Medicaid verification to prevent individuals from receiving benefits in multiple states, and establishes work requirements for able-bodied, working-age adults receiving benefits. Those unable to work would be subject to volunteer requirements.

Senate Bill 2 gives judges more flexibility in denying bail for severe crimes like murder cases, while Senate Bill 3 would place this bail reform on the ballot for voter consideration.

Schmitt authored two election integrity bills that passed the Senate with bipartisan support. Senate Bill 112 streamlines the process for candidates who move and need to withdraw from elections, automatically updating their voter registration. Senate Bill 113 extends record-keeping requirements for election materials from 22 months to 60 months, aligning with federal statute of limitations for election fraud.

“There have been cases come to light where people are voting multiple times in different situations. The evidence was gone since we only keep it 22 months,” Schmitt explained.

The senator spent considerable time discussing property tax reform legislation from 2025, now Senate Enrolled Act 1, which shifts decision-making power from the state to the local levels. The implementation, originally scheduled for 2028, may be delayed to 2029 to allow for additional refinements.

“I think at the local level we can do a better job more efficiently managing it than being dictated from the state or the federal level,” Schmitt said.

Two new bills, Senate Bill 163 and Senate Bill 238, propose improvements to the property tax overhaul, including lowering the population threshold for municipalities to create their own local income tax from 3,500 to 2,000 residents.

Township government faces potential major changes through competing proposals. House Bill 1315 would eliminate townships with fewer than 6,700 people, affecting all four townships in Schmitt’s six-county district. However, Schmitt supports Senate Bill 270, backed by the Indiana Association of Townships and volunteer firefighters, which would merge rather than eliminate townships.

Senate Bill 270 uses a point system to identify underperforming townships based on factors such as failing to provide township assistance, failing to manage fire protection services, or missing required financial reports. Townships performing their statutory duties would avoid points and potential mergers.

“If you’re doing good work and your people are happy, then that’s what we want to do,” Schmitt said. “But if there’s any efficiencies, then we need to work on that.”

Representative Lindauer, serving his final session representing District 63, introduced five bills addressing various issues. House Bill 1225 deals with tech parks, specifically impacting Crane and Westgate facilities. The bill was cut last year due to projected budget shortfalls but returns this session with modifications to remove fiscal impact.

House Bill 1226, the Buy Indiana plan, strengthens preferences for Indiana-manufactured products in state purchasing. The bill addresses loopholes where Indiana businesses sell products manufactured elsewhere.

“We’re trying to make sure that we’re not just using an Indiana business, but we’re using products, whether it be furniture or electronics or steel, whatever it may be that’s manufactured here in the state of Indiana,” Lindauer said.

House Bill 1227 would make gold and silver more practical for everyday use by partnering with secure depositories and allowing debit card access to precious metal holdings. However, the bill faces challenges due to its fiscal impact.

Lindauer’s House Bill 1389 expands parental rights protections to adoptive and foster care parents, addressing concerns about discrimination against religious adoption agencies. The bill aims to address the 12,000 to 13,000 children waiting for adoptive placement in Indiana.

House Bill 1319 addresses eminent domain compensation, establishing 125% of fair market value across the board for taken property, and adds an easier path for property owners to seek recourse for diminished land values from nearby government projects.

The House has four priority bills this session, according to Lindauer. House Bill 1001 addresses affordable housing, as the average age of first-time homebuyers exceeds 40 years. House Bill 1002 addresses rising energy costs, while House Bill 1003 repeals hundreds of small boards and study groups for government efficiency.

House Bill 1004 removes education mandates from schools, eliminating requirements that schools could already implement voluntarily. Using a bill that mandated defibrillators in schools as an example, Lindauer explained he didn’t support that bill simply because it was a mandate of something that the school could do voluntarily. He said that these individual mandates add up.

“When we start stacking these little things up, it all adds up to hundreds of different, you know, sections of requirements that schools have to do,” he said.

The legislators emphasized that many bills remain works in progress, with ongoing discussions with local government associations to refine proposals before final passage.

After outlining their legislative agenda, the two legislators took questions from the audience, read by Chamber Director Nancy Eckerle

The first few questions addressed the Mid-States Corridor and INDOT’s cancellation of hundreds of projects due to budget constraints.

Regarding the announcement of cancelled projects, the legislators said they didn’t have a list of those cancelled projects but would have one available at the next legislative breakfast being held by the Chamber.

One resident asked why State Rep. Perry Hamilton’s proposal for a referendum on the Mid-States Corridor project was blocked.

Lindauer said Hamilton attempted to attach referendum language to a constitutional amendment dealing with judges, which he called “not the right place for any kind of language like that.”

“It was never going to happen because of the issue she was trying to attach it to,” he said. “I think she was more making a political point than anything else.”

He added that Indiana generally doesn’t use referendums for specific issues like this, except in cases that would create tax levies beyond statutory limits.

Regarding whether they supported the project or not, Lindauer, pointing to years of work to create a bypass, admitted he supported some type of bypass in Dubois County but was not a fan of the proposed configuration of the Mid-States Corridor project.

“I do think getting some traffic out of downtown is a good idea,” Lindauer said. “I don’t like a new-terrain, four-lane highway cut parallel to the existing (U.S.) 231 up into Martin County. I would prefer some scaled back version.”

Schmitt acknowledged the complexity of the corridor debate, saying residents aren’t simply for or against the project. Colloquially, he admitted that it was a mighty thin pancake that didn’t have two sides.

“I’ve been to a bunch of the meetings and talking to numerous people that are reaching out,” he said. “I represent 140,000 people in six counties. In the six counties that I represent, I’ve got obviously the people in Dubois County, there’s a lot of passion, not for it. Well, in other counties, there’s passionate (sic) for it.”

He said there were parts of the current plan he didn’t like and was working behind the scenes to see if he could have them modified.

The two state legislators told attendees that they’re constitutionally prohibited from voting on the controversial Midstate Corridor highway project, despite growing opposition from residents whose property would be affected. The corridor decision rests with the Indiana Department of Transportation and other state officials.

“We will never vote on this,” Lindauer said. “Whoever comes after me will never vote on the Mid-States Corridor. We’re specifically prohibited in the Indiana Constitution, Article 4, Section 22.”

He said he was prohibited from proposing an amendment to carve the project out of INDOT’s budget.

Both men stated they take all sides of the debate to those individuals who make the decisions on the Mid-States Corridor.

Another resident asked about the impact of solar projects, wind turbines, battery storage systems, and data centers and how the state was addressing these issues. And their impacts on utility rates.

“Utility companies, I don’t think, frankly, a lot of them are real excited about putting solar fields everywhere or wind farms everywhere—they’re made to do so by the federal government,” Lindauer said. “That’s part of what’s going on with some of the skyrocketing utility rates.”

The legislators said Indiana has largely left decisions about solar and wind projects to individual counties, giving local governments control over these developments.

Lindauer noted that projects currently underway in Dubois County have been planned for several years and didn’t appear suddenly. He said the way to stop such projects is to get involved early by attending commissioner and council meetings before contracts are signed.

“Once some of those things are signed, the current battery storage unit over by Holland, over in that area, there are contracts signed at this point, and those things are unfortunately in play,” Lindauer said. “For the county to back out on that now would put the county at grave risk of lawsuit.”

Regarding data centers, both legislators said the facilities consume significant energy and water. However, Lindauer said that new technology has made some data centers remarkably efficient in water use. He also explained that legislation passed last year requires large water users to register with the state for monitoring purposes.

“The data center conversation is a tough conversation,” Lindauer said. “Those things are, frankly, we need them…If we’re not doing this, I can assure you there are other places, other countries that are going to be doing this.”

Schmitt said potential data center sites in the region include the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, Petersburg, and Spencer County.

“This is also a national security issue,” Schmitt said. “Whoever controls the technology, look at what artificial intelligence and the information that we’re fed and the algorithms that are out there…it’s all tied together.”

Schmitt advocated for small modular nuclear reactors to power data centers, which would eliminate the need for grid connections and prevent ratepayers from bearing the cost.

The legislators also said Indiana’s shift away from coal-fired power plants toward cleaner energy sources has contributed to rising utility costs. Schmitt said three coal-fired power plants in his district are being shut down, making areas near existing transmission lines attractive for solar development.

Regarding the use of abandoned or reclaimed coal mine property for solar projects, he explained that it costs about $1 million per mile to deliver that energy to the existing grid.

“We have to decide how we want them and where we want them,” Schmitt said. “Right now putting solar next to energy transmission lines as coal-powered plants shut down, that’s the easy button.”

Both legislators said addressing rising utility rates is a top priority at the statehouse this session, with potential legislation to pause the sales tax on utilities under discussion.

The next Chamber Legislative Breakfast is scheduled for March 14, 2026, at 9 a.m. at VUJ.