The anticipated conclusion of the 2026 session of Indiana’s legislature is February 27th, due to an unusually early start; the statutory deadline is March 14th.
Let’s hope they meet the target date of February 27 th. The end can’t come soon enough…
Every year, the intrusions of Indiana’s legislative overlords into local decision-making makes me wonder why Hoosiers even bother electing Mayors and city councilors. This session is no different. At this point in the session, some of the more egregious measures have–thankfully–been deep-sixed (I’m thinking especially of an outrageous bill that would have overruled local zoning affecting billboards–undoubtedly a bill near and dear to the hearts of lobbyists for the billboard industry). But plenty of the intrusions remain viable, and look likely to pass.
Mirror Indy has reported on a bill that aims to forbid county councils from using state road funding for projects picked by individual councilors. While the measure would apply statewide, the proposal probably targets Marion County, where reports emerged last year asserting that a few city-county councilors had used their share of a $25 million pot of money to fix roads in front of their homes or near their workplaces.
Assuming those reports were accurate, the appropriate response in a small-d democratic system would come from the voters. Inappropriate decisions about where to spend public monies are a time-tested political issue, and in a properly functioning system, would become campaign issues the next time those accused of self-dealing were up for re-election. In other words, local voters would decide whether the accusations were accurate and if so, whether the behavior of these particular councilors–when considered alongside other performance by those councilors–required their replacement.
Instead, the legislature has moved to restrict all counselors statewide from having a say in the way these funds would be spent.
This example is hardly a one-off. Just this session, Indiana’s legislature has moved to preempt local rental regulations. HB 1210
would block local governments from adopting or enforcing rules that limit homeowners’ ability to rent out their property,
overriding existing local ordinances in cities like Carmel and Fishers that limit short-term or unit rental caps.
Cities and towns would no longer have the ability to tailor rental housing rules to the specific needs of their communities or to respond to the particularities of their local housing markets.
HB 1001 is even more egregious. It would impose statewide standards on local zoning and permitting–usurping the historic prerogatives of local officials to respond to neighborhood desires and other specific situations in their communities The measure is presumably prompted by a not-unreasonable desire to increase housing supply, although how that goal would be furthered by the imposition of statewide criteria for lot sizes, parking and density, or by the removal of local control over design requirements, is–to be charitable–difficult to understand.
Even worse, SB 176 would prevent local governments from using zoning/land-use powers to restrict or ban shooting ranges. (I wasn’t aware that Second Amendment rights extended to zoning…)
There’s more, but the overall picture reinforces the obvious belief of the GOP super-majority that Indiana legislators are elected to supervise all lawmaking within the Hoosier State, not simply matters that are usually and properly considered state issues. The 2026 session continues a longtime trend in Indiana, where state lawmakers believe they know more than local officials and feel free to preempt lawmakers who’ve been elected to exert local control. In previous sessions, the legislature has overruled local lawmakers on issues ranging from puppy mills to the use of plastic bags.
There are numerous problems with this legislative arrogance. Local government officials are closer to the people they represent, and more accessible. In areas that still have local media covering local governments (another problem, granted), it’s easier for voters to monitor their performance. Political theorists since Alexis de Tocqueville have pointed out that robust local governance strengthens democratic habits and builds civic competence. It also allows for what political scientists call “better policy fit and contextual sensitivity.”
There can certainly be differences of opinion about when standardization is desirable, but that sort of thoughtful discussion has generally been absent from the rulemaking in Indiana’s General Assembly, where far too many legislators are unfamiliar both with accountability and with the virtues of an appropriate humility.
Aaron Freeman was an Indianapolis city councilman and in the Republican minority who grew frustrated at trying to “own the libs”, so he got elected as a state representative. His latest move is to insert amendments into state laws about condo HOAs to require that all expenditures must be spelled out in the HOA governing documents. The means that every planned or unplanned financial transaction is going to require an amendment to our condo HOA bylaws. That is a steep ask. Most condo owners don’t want to care about the details of the HOAs operation. That also means we will most likely need to reach a quorum of property owners at least every month AND get them to vote in favor of every proposal. The alternative may be to amend our bylaws to make changing the bylaws trivial, which I am sure will not fix whatever perceived problem Freeman thought he was “fixing”.
Welp..
Thanks to Indiana State Treasurer Daniel Elliot, Indiana has 110 milllion investment of Israeli bonds. I wonder if Daniel Elliot is among the Epstein files?
The movement for state control of local land use is a corruption of the analysis of the widespread housing shortage in the United States put forward in last year’s hot public policy book, “Abundance.” The authors pointed to a cozy collaboration between conservationists who oppose overdevelopment of green space and affluent homeowners who don’t want nearby neighbors. That unlikely partnership, the authors say, produced local ordinances that inhibited construction of new housing. They say local communities should be forward-looking for growth. Taking that lesson as a directive to remove land use from the control of local governments could turn local barriers for growth to a statewide barrier. An organization called Strong Towns calls that approach “top-down muscle”. Strong Towns calls for a “bottom-up revolution” grounded in the understanding local residents have in their own towns.
Having lived in the same very rural Indiana county my entire life, I am well aware of county commissioners and county council members that have managed to ensure that their personal preferences/gains are satisfied. Many of them run for office only for the perks and power. They consistently use that power to initiate projects that use tax dollars to enrich themselves with personal real estate improvements.
Rural counties and cities are probably more infested with abuses of power than the urban areas. Commissioners and Council members are almost always self-employed people and they hold their meetings at 9:00am on a Monday or Tuesday. This ensures that they very rarely have residents attend those meetings. We residents never know what has been going on until it affects us personally and financially. The ‘good old boy’ system is alive and well in rural Indiana.
Every accusation is a confession. Braun’s continued maneuvering to push through the Mid-state Corridor running from his home town Jaspar (where his business also just happens to be located) to I69, at an eventual cost close to a $1B for 23 miles of interstate, makes legislation restricting local officials’ favoritism in road repair an outrageous over-reach and power/money grab. Funny that there was little the GOP had to say when Goldsmith favored his street.
I also wonder if Braun’s neighbors were consulted about having helicopters flying in and out of his property. FYI, he took 11 flights in 6 months in 2025 from April to August costing taxpayers $28K+ all while directing Hoosiers to “tighten their belts.” The flights are written off as pilot training exercises.
The HOA amendment bill will really start to affect individuals personally very quickly. Just as road repair and maintenance have been cut and childcare facilities close statewide all in the name of efficiency and fraud prevention. When local official have to tell their constituents that their hands are tied by the General Assembly super-majority over-reach, people the those voters put in office, what will the result be?
All of the chaos, corruption and violence going on at the national and international level is intended to burn it all down. The GA is dancing around the fire in gasoline soaked shoes, hoping that someone with an extinguisher is near at hand to save their sorry butts. Unfortunately, the rest of us will feel the heat if not the flames as the corruption disenfranchises local voters by fiat.
RESIST.
You have to give the Republicans credit. They are making life easy for developers. Florida’s legislature is doing the same thing. When they claim to be draining the swamp, what they mean is clearing land for a new gated community. Of course, as soon as the first bear or panther is seen in one of those brand new back yards, we’ll have to organize a hunt to kill as many as we can get away with.
Just another example that MAGA is not comprised of conservatives or Libertarianians, but they love to tell their cult members that Democrats are “big government rulers.”
Trump would call that “communism” or part of the “radical lefties woke mind virus” or “Marxists.”
As for Braun, if you’re not building something than there is nothing to grift upon. You’ve got to spend taxpayer money to make money. 😉
It’s once again a combination of ignorance and incompetence. Dr Oz just recently told an interviewer, “If American workers would start working one year earlier and work one year later, they could generate an additional $3 trillion which is more than enough to pay off our national debt.”
#kakistocracy #ignorance #MAGA
How very Hoosier.
Read today’s post from Heather Cox Richardson about the shenanigans of our “Hoosier President,” Benjamin Harrison. Not much has changed in 135 years!
Sorry!
But, then we have GarbageSantis to deal with, and his hopes to install his wife into the governorship.
Sounds as if you have lots of problems your state. Wish I could be as connected.
As for local government, my county local government is as bad as state. See local campaigns won by people not talking about local needs, but about anti trans campaigning! The whole country is a mess. Independent thinking is best. Bad demos
exist. But looks like will have to vote straight Dem ticket, just to get rid of Trump.