2025 Week 1 Statehouse Report
Governor Mike Braun revealed his legislative priorities for 2025 before he was inaugurated and before the legislative session convened. The word “energy” appeared 28 times in his agenda, indicating that energy policy is a top priority for the new Governor.
The absence of the word “climate” in the Braun agenda is extremely troubling. Equally troubling is a deliberate focus on making Indiana a leader in the development of high-cost and high-risk nuclear power. Taken together, it’s clear that this will be a challenging legislative session.
The General Assembly’s first day of session was January 8th. The legislative priorities for each caucus were presented this week, save for the House Republicans, scheduled to be revealed this coming Tuesday. Each of those rundowns can be found here:
Throughout the session, we will track legislation impacting Hoosier utility bills, our environment, and our democracy. We will be on the ground at the Statehouse talking with legislators and testifying in committee. And we will remain vigilant in keeping you updated about important legislation, how it impacts you, and what you can do to help us protect our communities and our environment.
In addition to Gov. Braun’s nuclear agenda, we fully expect the legislative conversation around energy and utilities will be driven in large part by the recent data center boom and Big Tech’s voracious appetite for energy, land, and water. Conversations are also looming on the wisdom of coal plant retirements, the siting of energy and water infrastructure, and state incentives for nuclear energy, primarily SMRS, or small modular reactors.
If you haven’t already, please visit act.citact.org/wxtu8jv to contact your legislators and urge them to make sure that Hoosiers aren’t forced to pick up the tab for data centers’ energy costs on our electric bills!
While this week's few committee meetings were unrelated to our subject matter, this coming week will be busier for CAC, as the House Utilities Committee is scheduled for Tuesday. Meetings will also be held of the Senate Natural Resources Committee and both the House and Senate Elections Committees. Since this is a budget year, the legislative session will be lengthier, concluding by April 29th as opposed to last year’s March 14th statutory end date.
By the end of Week One, CAC was tracking about 50 bills, but legislation is still populating on the General Assembly website. Be sure to frequently check the CAC 2025 Indiana General Assembly webpage for the bills we’re tracking, Statehouse Reports, and action items.
Once again, our primary on-the-ground staff in the Statehouse will be our Executive Director Kerwin Olson and our Program Organizer, Lindsay Haake.
We’ll be updating on the regular throughout Week 2 of the Legislature. Follow us on social media for an up-to-date detailing of our work at the Indiana State Capitol: Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerwin Olson & Lindsay Haake
