Welcome to the 2023 legislative session! Here we will be tracking bills moving through the legislature and informing you how to take action.
We are working with partners to protect our air, water, wild spaces, and people. Because we all deserve the ability to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth - here in Indiana and beyond.
TAKE ACTION!
Contact your legislators about the issues below. (Find your legislators on the Indiana General Assembly’s website.)
TOP ACTION:
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Contact your state senator and ask them to support conservation funding in the biennial budget. Read more below. |
SUPPORT
- Support Funding for Conservation in the State Budget (HB 1001)
- We support increased state investment in land, water and wildlife conservation and are encouraging the legislature to support Governor Holcomb's proposed conservation funding in the biennial budget, which includes $25 million in land conservation and $50 million in trails funding. The House recently dropped the amount for the Harrison Conservation Trust to $15 million for 2023 only - we are encouraging restoring the Governor's proposed $12.5 million/year.
- See the Indiana Conservation Alliance's one-pager with lots of great info and talking points here: INCA fact sheet 2023 v3.pdf1.33 MB
- Has passed out of the House and is in Senate Appropriations. Contact your legislator if they sit on this committee (see below) and also encourage the Chair, Ryan Mishler, to support the above recommendations.
- Senate Appropriations members:
- HB 1304: Watercraft registration renewal fee
- Increase funds for DNR's Lake and River Enhancement grants through increased renewal fees.
- Now in the full Senate. Contact your Senator and encourage them to support this bill.
- HB 1138: Preschool & child care facility drinking water
- Requires testing of drinking water in preschool and child care facilities.
- Passed the House and is now assigned to Senate Environmental Affairs - contact your legislator if they sit on this committee (see below) and also encourage the Chair, Rick Niemeyer, to support this bill.
- Senate Environmental Affairs members:
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Sen. Rick Niemeyer Sen. Jack Sandlin Sen. Mike Gaskill Sen. Andy Zay Sen. Scott Baldwin Sen. Shelli Yoder Sen. Eric Bassler Sen. David Niezgodski Sen. James Buck Sen. Greg Taylor Sen. Dan Dernulc
- HB 1219: PFAS biomonitoring
- This bill will track exposure to PFAS chemicals among firefighters.
- Passed out of the House. Now in Senate Appropriations. Contact your senator and encourage them to support this bill.
- Senate Appropriations members:
OPPOSE
- SB 242: DNR best floodplain mapping data
- This bill could interfere with efforts to reduce flood risk. Read the full text of SB 242.
- Ready for third reading in the House - contact your representative and urge them to oppose this bill.
- SB 414: Onsite sewage systems and holding tanks.
- A surprise amendment aimed at further reducing the protection of wetlands in Indiana was added to Senate Bill 414 on March 22. Please urge your legislator to remove the wetlands language or OPPOSE SB 414.
- SB 472: "Advanced" recycling
- This bill would deregulate polluting facilities by exempting false recycling from Indiana's solid waste laws.
- On its way to the Governor - contact Governor Holcomb and urge him to veto this bill.
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- THE DIRTY TRIFECTA: HB 1417, HB 1420, & HB 1421
- HB 1417: Utility deferred costs and accounting practices
- Would reduce public oversight of utility spending on regulatory assets.
- Moved to full Senate - contact your Senator and urge them to vote no.
- HB 1420: Electric transmission facilities
- Would provide right of refusal which effectively blocks competition in bidding for transmission projects.
- Being heard in Senate Utilities. If your senator sits on this committee (see below), please contact them and urge them - along with Chair, to oppose these bills.
- HB 1417: Utility deferred costs and accounting practices
- HB 1421: Electric generating facility construction
- Would grant Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) for expensive, dirty fossil gas plants to the electric utilities. CWIP allows utilities to charge customers for power plants before they produce ANY electricity, and even if they NEVER produce any electricity.
- Has moved back to the House for concurrence. Contact your representative and urge them to oppose this biill.
- HB 1623: Administrative rulemaking.
- Would increase the burden on the Indiana Department of Environmental Management by requiring them to jump through more hoops in order to pass & maintain rules to protect the environment. Additionally, an amendment to this bill was passed that would not allow the state to have protections more stringent than those at the federal level regarding the disposal of dangerous coal ash.
- Being heard by Senate Judiciary. Contact your senator and ask them to oppose this bill.
POSITIVE BILLS THAT DIED IN THE FIRST HALF OF SESSION:
- SB 335: Climate Solutions Task Force
- Would have established the climate solutions task force to review issues related to sustainable and clean energy solutions.
- HB 1453: Climate Solutions Task Force
- Would have established the climate solutions task force to review issues related to sustainable and clean energy solutions.
- HB 1190: Coal combustion residuals surface impoundments
- Would have required that coal ash be disposed of in a landfill that meets certain requirements or that it be put to an encapsulated beneficial use and sets standards for the process of removal of coal ash from current surface impoundments.
- HB 1218: Environmental scrutiny before property transfer
- Would have helped reduce the number of failing septic systems by requiring inspections before the sale of properties.
- SB 91: CFO inspections
- Would have required inspections of large animal feeding operations every year, improving oversight and regulation.
- HB 1193: GHG Emissions Inventory Grant Program
- Would have created a program to administer grants to towns, cities, and counties to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
Interested in more? Below are two tables of all the bills that the Hoosier Chapter is tracking in 2023 - the first on environmental and energy-related legislation and the second on democracy, justice, and education focused legislation.