7 bills Indiana lawmakers approved in the final hours of the 2025 legislative session

Indianapolis Star

25-04-2025

Indiana lawmakers closed the books on the 2025 legislative session in the early hours of April 25, approving some of the most controversial bills of the session and the state budget on the last day.
It's also the time of year where lawmakers in the House and the Senate make last-minute adds and eliminations to some bills and resurrect once-dead language in others before the final versions of legislation head to the governor's desk.
The biggest lift was the two-year state budget. Lawmakers and Gov. Mike Braun on April 23 announced a deal on a slimmed down version of the bill following a dismal forecast last week that required more than $2 billion in cuts from what was originally proposed.
But bills making school board elections partisan and reining in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in government entities saw tense debate before lawmakers gave their final approvals.
Here are some of the efforts state lawmakers squeezed into the last day of the session.
State budget passes primarily along party lines
A tight budget year got even tighter with a surprise $2 billion revenue shortfall unveiled last week. The version of House Bill 1001, the two-year budget, that the House passed 66-27 and the Senate passed 39-1, was only a little more than a day old when those votes happened.
In that time span, lawmakers added a cigarette tax hike, cut public health and public media funding, and enacted a litany of policies affecting universities and faculty that never saw the light of public testimony. Some of the most tense debate toward the early morning hours of April 25 centered around that process.
Now Gov. Mike Braun will get to sign his first budget as governor.
Partisan school boards narrowly approved
Senate Bill 287, a controversial plan to make school board elections partisan races narrowly passed the Indiana Senate by a vote of 26-24 on April 24. It's now on the way to Braun's desk.
It was a rare close vote for the chamber with a Republican supermajority. Fourteen Senate Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill, with some GOP senators pleading with their colleagues to reject it
Some Senate Democrats appeared surprised SB 287 squeaked through and following the vote said they expected the bill to fail. Sen. JD Ford, D-Indianapolis, urged Republicans who voted against SB 287 to call on Braun to veto the legislation.
Opponents of SB 287 throughout the legislative session said they worried partisan school board races would continue to politicize the offices, while supporters said that's already the case. House lawmakers made it optional for school board members to disclose their affiliation, not mandatory, when running for office.
Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, who authored the bill said partisan identifiers provide increased transparency for Hoosiers at the ballot box.
"If we think the work of the sheriff, the judges, the coroners is partisan," Byrne said on the Senate floor on April 24. "Than I would say school boards are more partisan than that."
Anti-DEI bill
After executive orders in January from President Donald Trump and Braun, Indiana lawmakers on April 24 signed off on a bill aiming to rein in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, known as DEI. The House voted 64-26 and the Senate voted 34-16 to send the bill to Braun.
Senate Bill 289, prohibits publicly-funded entities from taking actions based on a person's "personal characteristics," such as race, religion and sex. It also allows individuals to bring legal actions over alleged violations, but plaintiffs would only be able to receive court and attorney fees and actual damages if a court rules in their favor.
More: Lawmakers send anti-DEI bill to Gov. Braun. Here's what it does
The version of SB 289 on its way to Braun is a slimmed down version of the bill that passed the Senate earlier this year. The session's landmark DEI bill began as a blanket ban on DEI concepts, trainings and even offices within state institutions, including colleges. Earlier this year, some state colleges began shutting down DEI-related offices and trainings due to what was proposed in the Senate.
Nonprofit hospital pricing
The key piece of legislation that attempts to add some controls on the prices nonprofit hospitals charge is now on its way to Braun, for whom the cost of health care is a top issue.
House Bill 1004 passed the House 67-23 and the Senate 37-13.
HB 1004 came out swinging at the start of the session, but was watered down significantly as it traveled through the Senate. What started as financial penalties and the revocation of their nonprofit status if hospitals charge prices above a certain threshold, ended as a bill asking for a study of these hospitals' average prices, and then have the nonprofit-status threat take effect in 2029.
It also restructures the hospital assessment fee to allow hospitals to draw down more federal dollars, and requires insurance agents to publicize their commissions in quotes they give customers as well as the all payer claims database.
Pharmacy benefit managers
Senate Bill 140, the main bill taking a crack at the powerful pharmacy benefit manager industry ― the middlemen between drug manufacturers and pharmacies ― is now heading to Braun. The House voted 84-1 and the Senate voted 39-10 on the final version of the bill.
The bill requires PBMs to provide adequate coverage networks, prohibits them from steering business to their own affiliated pharmacies, and requires PBMs to reimburse independent pharmacies at cost, plus a dispensing fee. (The dispensing fee is what the PBMs liken to a "pill tax.") The final version of the bill exempted out Medicaid, managed care and state employee health plan from the provisions.
Marijuana advertising ban
When lawmakers approved a House bill with directions for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles on April 24, they also signed off on a ban on advertising of marijuana products 'by any medium' within the state.
The language hopped around in different bills in the final weeks of April before landing in House Bill 1390. The ban applies to signs on the interstate and flyers sent to mailboxes, which had started appearing in Indiana as companies in neighboring states try to entice Hoosiers to spend their money across state lines. (All of the states bordering Indiana have some form of legalized marijuana.)
Advertising bill proposals appeared in three different bills at the start of the legislative session, which all died without receiving a hearing in legislative committees.
"Obscene" performance ban
Other controversial language lawmakers approved after it bill-hopped in the final days: a ban on local governments hosting or funding 'obscene' performances and the ability for 'anyone' to sue a local entity they believe violates the language. Democrats and LGBTQ advocates said the provision targets drag shows and other performances someone might not like.
The original language was added in the House to Senate Bill 326, a bill clarifying language about 'child sex abuse materials.' It was removed in a conference committee and then added to House Bill 1014 on April 24, a bill about the terms of imprisonment for misdemeanors.
The bill passed the House 78-13 and the Senate 42-8. It now heads to Braun's desk.