Inside the Legislature's wild session on tax breaks, hospitals, IEDC and more

In the early hours of Friday, April 25, Indiana legislators passed a $46.2 billion budget for state expenses over the next two years—specifically, from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027. Legislators knew going in that state revenue to fund the budget would be tight, and they got a nasty revenue forecast with about a week to go in the session. The last week of a budget-writing session is usually pretty hectic, and this one had plenty of surprises as lawmakers tried to find ways to generate more tax revenue while simultaneously reducing funding for agencies and departments.

Fledgling Gov. Mike Braun jumped headfirst into his first legislative session and made progress on his campaign promise of providing property tax relief. The Republican-led General Assembly also passed legislation aimed at lowering health care costs for Hoosiers with an approach that focused on hospitals. In both of those cases, of course, the bills passed were the product of much debate, lobbying, negotiation and compromise. Lawmakers also entered the session knowing that reforms would be proposed for the Indiana Economic Development Corp., the state agency charged with helping attract businesses to Indiana and helping businesses currently in the state grow. Its fate wasn’t entirely decided until very late in the session.

To take stock of the latest budget-writing session and how it will affect Hoosiers, we’ve invited a panel of reporters who covered some or all of the General Assembly to share their insights on fiscal issues and a few surprises. From the Indianapolis Business Journal, we have Cate Charron and Daniel Lee. And they’re joined by Casey Smith of Indiana Capital Chronicle.