INDIANAPOLIS – Moderate your expectations for the next legislative session say Indiana’s lawmaking leaders. There will be more tweaks and fine-tuning, and fewer overhauls.
They’re not taking on gambling expansions, water fights, or costly initiatives during the shorter non-budget session, which begins in January and must end by mid-March.
That could include some more action on truancy and reading after lawmakers last session mandated that schools teach the “science of reading” over other less-effective measures.
But don’t expect sweeping changes to career-focused education initiatives or housing after last year’s massive plan to “reinvent” high school and revolving loan fund for housing development infrastructure.
“We need to allow things to be able to be implemented,” GOP House Speaker Todd Huston said, although lawmakers could “fine-tune” some policies. Republican leadership will introduce fewer priority bills to signal that they’re of the “‘less is more’ opinion right now,” he added
Legislative leaders said they’re also not taking on new and controversial subjects like expanding gambling. Advocates have for several years wanted to legalize i-gaming but it’s unlikely to go anywhere this year.
Former Shelbyville Rep. Sean Eberhart agreed to plead guilty to a federal felony charge this month for supporting legislation benefiting Spectacle Entertainment in exchange for future employment. Another former senator and a casino executive were both sentenced in 2022 for gambling-related election finance schemes, per the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
GOP Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said Eberhart’s case “makes gaming hard to engage in” and indicated that it could limit legislation for several sessions.
“It taints the Statehouse, it diminishes the confidence that people have in the integrity of the Statehouse, it causes an awful lot of problems and it makes it particularly difficult to engage in that kind of policy,” Bray said.
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