The 2020 General Assembly
The 2020 Indiana General Assembly concluded on Wednesday, March 11, 2020; please be sure to view our Environmental Report Card for the 2020 Session.
The 2020 Indiana General Assembly concluded on Wednesday, March 11, 2020; please be sure to view our Environmental Report Card for the 2020 Session.
Update February 2020
SB 199 would allow a court to award attorney's fees to the opposing party in a civil action filed by a governmental body if the court finds that the government's case was frivolous or groundless. This would apply to all state agencies as well as local government bodies, and could have the effect of deterring IDEM or DNR - our state environmental and natural resource agencies - from fully enforcing environmental laws.
The bill passed the Indiana Senate and the House Judiciary Committee, but was recommitted to House Ways and Means Committee and never heard.
SB 46 started out as an exemption for churches and schools from stormwater fees, even though their roofs and parking lots contribute to stormwater problems. The bill has been changed to a summer study bill. To learn about the scale of the stormwater problem in our state, read the IndyStar's article Stormwater is no friend to the White River.
Learn more about HEC's Drinking Water, River & Lake Protection work.
Despite an outpouring of opposition, HB 1414 passed out of the Indiana General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor Holcomb.
Final Roll Call Votes: House, Senate - please contact your lawmakers and express your disappointment for those who voted in favor - and gratitude for those who voted against.
Coal-fired electricity has powered Indiana’s electricity for decades, but it remains dirty, generating millions of tons of toxic coal ash each year. Fellow Midwestern states like Iowa are leading the charge to a renewable-powered future, getting nearly 40% of its electricity from renewables. Iowa’s electricity is just as reliable and actually costs less than Indiana’s. HB 1414 adds an unnecessary regulatory roadblock to the transition from coal to clean energy – a roadblock that comes into play should the expiration date in HB 1414 be removed in a future legislative session. The roadblock could increase electricity bills for everyday Hoosiers and could lower clean energy investment in Indiana. Furthermore, the bill sends a bad message about Indiana – that Indiana is tied to outdated technologies and systems. Read our analysis of the bill, and our statement after Gov. Holcomb chose to sign HB 1414 into law.
HEC supports giving local governments additional options for funding their public transit systems. In 2014, the Indiana General Assembly provided new funding options for central Indiana. In response, Indianapolis-Marion County voters approved a modest new transit tax that is funding a substantial expansion of the IndyGo transit system, including three new bus rapid transit routes, one of which — the Red Line — is already in service. New legislation to give this same funding flexibility to other communities in Indiana -- SB 369 -- was introduced this session but was defeated on the Senate floor in a 22 to 27 vote. See how your senator voted.
Critics of IndyGo's Red Line BRT service, who helped defeat SB 369, have also added an anti-transit amendment to HB 1279, a bill concerning transit development districts in Northwest Indiana. This amendment would reduce Marion County's allocation of transit tax revenue, effectively preventing completion of the two additional planned BRT lines -- the Blue Line and the Purple Line. Learn more about IndyGo, its BRT routes, and how the system improvements are driving ridership growth. HEC opposes this anti-transit amendment in HB 1279.
Find more information about your local public transit system.
Learn more about HEC's vision for Sustainable Transportation in Indiana.
Rooftop solar suffered a serious setback in Indiana with the enactment of SEA 309 during the 2017 legislative session; this law made Indiana the first state in the nation to legislatively phase out "net metering," the principal incentive to promote rooftop solar. However, there is hope for Indiana to make forward progress on solar this legislative session! We support the bi-partisan HB 1228, which repeals SEA 309. We will also be making the case for public policies to make solar more affordable in Indiana, such as third-party financing and PACE financing.
Learn more about HEC's Sustainable Energy work.
Counties, cities and towns have authority to regulate land use in their jurisdiction, including mining and logging activities that occur on private lands. In the last two legislative sessions, a bill has been filed to eliminate this local government authority, and similar legislation is expected again in 2020. Poor logging practices and mining can increase sediment runoff into nearby streams and lakes. State government does not regulate timber harvesting on private lands, nor does it regulate mining in floodplains (other than coal mining) such as sand and gravel extraction. Thus local government provides the only protection against environmental harm from these activities. Read our 2019 fact sheet.
Update February 2020
In 2018, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the public trust doctrine that protects the Lake Michigan beach and shoreline — up to the ordinary high water mark — as publicly owned land and open to recreational uses.
Two competing Lake Michigan bills were introduced in the 2020 session in response to the Supreme Court decision:
HB 1031 would dramatically weaken this vital policy (i.e., the public trust doctrine) that protects coastlines and lakeshores all across America.
SB 325, a bill that we support, would codify the Supreme Court decision. Read the IndyStar's excellent overview of both bills.
Neither bill received final approval by their chamber of origin and it appeared Lake Michigan shoreline legislation would not proceed in this session.
But in recent weeks, efforts to revive the weakening language of HB 1031 surfaced in proposed amendments to an unrelated Senate bill being considered in the Indiana House. These harmful amendments were rebuffed. In a surprising turn, the positive language of SB 325 was amended into a different Senate bill, SB 433, described elsewhere in BillWatch. With the positive Lake Michigan amendment and revisions to the original language of SB 433 that reflect a compromise between the bill's sponsors and the Indiana DNR, HEC is now supporting SB 433 as amended.
Learn more about HEC's work toward Wilderness & Greenways Expansion and why public access to nature is important.
Despite an outpouring of calls to veto SB 229, Governor Holcomb signed the bill into law on March 25, 2020.
Final Roll Call Votes: Senate, House - please contact your lawmakers and express your disappointment for those who voted in favor - and gratitude for those who voted against.
Background: 24% of Indiana’s land used to be wetlands. Most of our wetlands were drained in the 1800’s to make way for farms and towns, so they are now closer to 3%. Wetlands provide water purification, flood reduction, and wildlife habitat. In 2003 the legislature recognized the value of preserving the remaining wetlands and wrote Indiana’s Isolated Wetlands Law.
SEA 229 creates a new exemption in that law for drain reconstruction. The legal definition of ‘drain reconstruction’ is “extensive repairs or changes” including widening, deepening, or “making any major change” - in other words, large-scale work that could destroy wetlands. Current law doesn’t prohibit reconstruction, it just requires projects to go through the permitting process to preserve as much wetland as possible, and replace what can’t be preserved.
According to Purdue scientists, Indiana now receives 6.5 inches more precipitation per year than it did when data were first recorded in the 1890’s, so we need the water storage function of our wetlands more than ever.
Read our fact sheet. Read Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette and KPC News editorials calling for a veto.
HEC's Statement:
Despite having his administration’s environmental agency (IDEM) openly oppose SEA 229 during the legislative session, today Governor Holcomb signed into law a bill that needlessly deregulates protection of the state’s wetlands. SEA 229 will exempt reconstruction of drains from the Indiana Isolated Wetlands Law. According to the Drainage Code, reconstruction of drains includes extensive work like enlarging, widening, and “making any major change”; such land-altering changes will damage or destroy any wetlands that are involved. SEA 229 has undefined terms that could lead to litigation. It exempts drain reconstruction as long as the reconstruction “does not substantially change the characteristics of the drain”. The phrase ‘substantially change’ is vague and subjective. The term ‘characteristics’ is not defined in the law. It is not certain whether ‘characteristics’ refers to the length, width, depth of the drain, the materials used to construct it, or to some other feature. If the state agency challenges a drain reconstruction project for making what it considers a substantial change, the case could well wind up in court where a judge would have to decide on the definition of the terms ‘substantially change’ and ‘characteristics’. The law also leads to increased federal involvement. SEA 229 creates an exemption that applies to state protected wetlands, but not to federally regulated wetlands. To use the exemption in SEA 229, surveyors will need determinations from the US Army Corps of Engineers as to whether wetlands are state or federal. The Governor’s action on SEA 229 was opposed by many. Dozens of organizations and hundreds of individuals around the state urged the Governor to veto SEA 229, and though not in the majority, a total 46 of the state’s legislators, including members of both parties, voted against it. “Indiana has less than 15% of its original wetlands left. In 2003, the Indiana legislature recognized the value of preserving the remaining wetlands and wrote the Isolated Wetlands Law. We are sorry to see this new exemption in that law because it will inevitably injure more wetlands that provide absolutely vital water purification, flood protection, and wildlife habitat. With our bipartisan legislative allies and many partners, we will work to find different means of protecting our precious remaining wetlands.” - Indra Frank, Director of Environmental Health and Water Policy, Hoosier Environmental Council.
Learn more about HEC's Drinking Water, River & Lake Protection work.
HEC supports efforts to safeguard our existing publicly-owned state forestland, which is less than one percent of Indiana’s total land area and only 3 percent of Indiana’s total forest area. The state has substantially increased the logging of this tiny footprint over the last decade. Learn about the ongoing quest to adopt a law that sets aside a portion of our state forests as wilderness that is untouched by logging.
SB 293 enables citizens to have access to the data and map-making software that lawmakers have via a dedicated website; this allows citizens to propose maps to their lawmakers (i.e., citizens-drawn maps). The bill also sets up public meetings both before the mapmaking process begins (to discuss topics such as “communities of interest”) and after initial maps have been drawn. Gerrymandering of legislative districts depresses voting, discourages civic activity, and favors the election of ideologues over problem solvers. Learn about why redistricting reform matters for environmental protection, and how you can get involved to enact redistricting reform.
Learn more about the importance of Democracy Reform.
HEC helps Hoosiers become successful advocates for environmental legislation in Indiana. Download the HEC Advocacy Guide