The State of the State is unsurprising
Big night Wednesday for Gov. Mike Braun: His first State of the State address. You guessed it, the state of the state is... "STRONG."
This was a speech with no surprises, apart from some ad-libs. It was a recitation of his kitchen-table-issue campaign agenda, steering clear of most of the divisive culture wars of our time, apart from a brief mention of his rebuke of DEI. (Read his full speech with our annotations here, and our takeaways here.)
Because of that last point, most of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus (all but two: Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, and Rep. Alex Burton, D-Evansville) skipped his speech and held a "Unity Rally" on the fourth floor instead.
-Kayla
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THE MAIN EVENT: Immigration takes center stage
First came President Donald Trump's executive orders out the gate, then this week came a symbolic one from Gov. Mike Braun ― essentially pledging Indiana law enforcement will do what state law already compels them to do.
But there are also a flurry of bills impacting those state laws. At least 15 bills were filed in the legislature this year, by our count, doing everything from increasing information sharing with the feds to increasing penalties on local agencies that don't comply with the feds' requests.
Tensions are high. Brittany and our colleague Noe Padilla examined the unprecedented number of bills.
UNDER THE DOME: Digging into DEI
Since this was the reason why the Black caucus boycotted the State of the State for the first time in at least decades, it's worth exploring the nuances of the DEI debate.
The reasons behind the DEI purge are strikingly similar to that of the Critical Race Theory panic of yesteryear: A reaction to "woke ideology" and notions of white guilt or privilege. But the target this year, and the impacts to schools, workplaces and society writ-large, are far, far broader.
We even almost had another "neutral on Nazism" moment. Read Kayla's deep dive.
IN SCHOOLS: What the IPS dissolution bill is really about
There's been a lot of noise made so far this year about a bill to dissolve Indianapolis Public Schools. But that's relatively unlikely - the House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, hasn't even scheduled the controversial bill for a hearing. So what is this really about? Sharing tax revenue between traditional districts and charter schools. We have more here.
UNDER THE DOME: Other bills we're watching
We're drinking from a firehose over here. (Us right now). Here's a few other bills of note that advanced this week:
📱House Bill 1432, which would legalize gambling on your phone, passed out of the House Public Policy committee by a 9-2 vote.
💵 Senate Bill 451, which would decrease the income tax, unanimously passed out of the Senate.
👪 Senate Bill 143, which prohibits government units from denying parents information about their children, passed out of the Senate by a 44-5 vote.
Every Monday morning we also post a recap of where significant bills stand at IndyStar.com.
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
What's going on with that Illinois secession talk?
On Tuesday, a Illinois Republican Rep. Brad Halbrook filed a companion bill in his legislature. Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston said our House Bill 1008 will get a hearing soon.
Asked whether he had anything to do with setting that in motion in Illinois, Huston smirked and demurred.
"I think they just thought it was a good idea," he said. "You'll have to ask them."
TLDR
Allen County Democratic Party Chair Derek Camp officially joined the race for state party chair on Monday. He joins former state Sen. Karen Tallian , former attorney general candidate Destiny Wells and former gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick .
officially joined the race for state party chair on Monday. He joins former state Sen. , former attorney general candidate and former gubernatorial candidate . Among the platter of tools state lawmakers want to give local governments to tackle road funding (rather than allocating more state dollars)? A tax on DoorDash-like deliveries.
President Donald Trump criticized former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg during a press briefing on the deadly plane crash, saying the former South Bend mayor, "was a disaster as a mayor."
TAKE OF THE WEEK
Not everyone is unhappy with Braun's DEI orders. Ball State University business professor Mike Hicks praised Braun for eliminating DEI programs because, Hicks argued, they are unconstitutional.
WHAT WE'RE READING
Indiana Capital Chronicle: A bill to move a casino license from Rising Sun in the southeast to New Haven in the northeast pitted neighbor against neighbor at an intense hearing Wednesday. A committee chair killed the bill ― for now.
TICKER
Sen. Todd Young questioned Tulsi Gabbard during her confirmation hearing for national intelligence director Thursday about some of her past pro-Edward Snowden statements. | Buttigieg is exploring a U.S. Senate run in Michigan in 2026. | An IndyStar investigation from 2023 spurred a bill this session to empower the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission to shut down problem bars quickly. | A bill bringing back A-F letter grades passed out of the House Committee on Education this week. | The House unanimously passed a bill requiring the expungement of certain red flag law records if the person is deemed no longer dangerous.
SEEN ON SOCIAL
Social media proof that bipartisan friendships and praise remain in these divisive times:
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Checks and Balances is compiled and written by Brittany Carloni, Hayleigh Colombo, Kayla Dwyer and Kaitlin Lange on the IndyStar politics and government team. Send us tips or let us know what you think of the newsletter by emailing IndyStarPolitics@gannett.com.
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