About
Policy Happenings
With so many bills proposed every legislative session, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed—especially when it comes to protecting Indiana’s water supply. We work to gather the key water-related legislation from the Statehouse every year as well as provide updates after the session. Read on to find out how you can make your voice heard to safeguard Indiana’s water future.
State and local policies can dramatically impact the protection or degradation of water resources. Learn more about some of the primary issues from experts through:
- our Collective Tap Podcast episodes,
- our Science & Policy Forums, and
- of course, attend the annual Indiana Water Summit
Bills
HB 1265 Natural Resource Entrance Fees
Bill: HB 1265 Natural Resource Entrance Fees
Author: Rep. Tim Yocum
Referred To: House Committee on Natural Resources
HB 1265 allows certain counties to add a $2 surcharge to the entrance fee for state park and recreation areas within the county. The surcharge cannot be assessed on seniors, veterans, active-duty military personnel, or holders of annual state park passes. Counties may use the additional revenue from the surcharge for first-responder equipment or compensation, or for infrastructure improvements including water quality improvements.
Stance: Support
HB 1297 Water Intensive Facilities
Bill: HB 1297 Water Intensive Facilities
Author: Rep. Alex Burton
Referred To: House Committee on Utilities, Energy, and Telecommunications
HB 1297 prohibits the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), Indiana Finance Authority (IFA), and local governments from approving an economic development project that would consume at least 500,000 gallons of water per day unless the IEDC, IFA, or local government (1) notifies the water utility that provides water service to the location, (2) receives from the water utility a plan for providing water service to that location, and (3) determines that the water utility’s plan is physically and financially feasible.
Stance: Support
HB 1326 Indiana Emergency Efficiency & Resilience Task Force
Bill: HB 1326 Indiana Emergency Efficiency & Resilience Task Force
Author: Rep. Beau Baird
Referred To: House Committee on Veteran Affairs and Public Safety
HB 1326 creates a 15-member task force, charged with completing a report to the Legislative Council by December 31, 2026 with specific findings and recommendations regarding Indiana’s disaster coordination and resilience. The task force is directed to conduct a gap analysis that includes a review of past and current disaster resilience activities, and an analysis of data gaps including data on precipitation patterns, stream flows, and flood risks. The task force shall consider and make a recommendation about whether Indiana should have a principal disaster resilience officer. HB 1326 also directs the task force to assess the water management roles and responsibilities of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) for possible improved alignment or consolidation in the interest of improved efficiency. The task force’s report shall include findings and recommendations on “how best to consolidate water responsibilities within state agencies to increase efficiencies.”
Stance: Support
HB 1348 Regulation of Grease Control Equipment
Bill: HB 1348 Regulation of Grease Control Equipment
Author: Rep. Jim Pressel
Referred To: House Committee on Environmental Affairs
HB 1348 requires commercial facilities and food establishments that discharge fats, oils, and grease (FOGs) to wastewater systems to install and maintain grease intercepting equipment capable of preventing FOGs from entering the flow of wastewater into a sewer system or a nonresidential onsite sewage system. The bill authorizes wastewater utilities to impose higher rates or surcharges on commercial facilities or food establishments that repeatedly fail to intercept and prevent their FOGs from discharging to the utility’s wastewater system. HB 1348 also requires any unit of local government that issues permits for residential or nonresidential sewage systems to allow the septage from those systems to be disposed of at a wastewater treatment facility within that local unit or in a neighboring unit, and requires wastewater treatment facilities to accept septage from a bordering unit.
Stance: Support
HB 1356 Conservation of Agricultural Land
Bill: HB 1356 Conservation of Agricultural Land
Author: Rep. Kendell Culp
Referred To: House Committee on Local Government
Among other things, HB 1356 contains the provision in last year’s HB 1234 that would allow the Indiana Department of Agriculture to receive and hold agricultural conservation easements by gift or bequest.
Stance: Support
HB 1379 Ground Water
Bill: HB 1379 Ground Water
Author: Rep. Chris Campbell
Referred To: House Committee on Natural Resources
HB 1379 would establish a 13-member Ground Water and Aquifer Preservation Task Force as a task force of the Indiana General Assembly to meet during 2026 and 2027 and produce a report to the Legislative Council by December 1, 2027. The task force is directed to study (1) ways to protect the public from excessive ground water withdrawals, (2) strategies for improving ground water monitoring and how to pay for them, (3) interstate coordination regarding cross-border aquifers, (4) the adequacy of the state’s current categorization of water uses as significant or nonsignificant, and (5) how to balance the opportunity for water-related economic development with the need for stewardship and conservation of the state’s water resources. In addition, HB 1379 would add a Chapter 4.5 to Indiana Code 14-25 to declare a moratorium on new major ground water withdrawals from the Wabash River Basin through June 30, 2028.
Stance: Support
HB 1416 Preemption of Local Regulation
Bill: HB 1416 Preemption of Local Regulation
Author: Rep. Doug Miller
Referred To: House Judiciary Committee
HB 1416 would bar municipalities and counties from adopting, maintaining, or enforcing ordinances or regulations on a subject that is provided for in the Indiana Code, unless otherwise and expressly authorized by another statute.
Stance: Oppose
HB 1433 Election of IURC Commissioners
Bill: HB 1433 Election of IURC Commissioners
Author: Rep. Justin Moed
Referred To: House Committee on Utilities, Energy, and Telecommunications
HB 1433 provides for the nonpartisan election of the five commissioners of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
Stance: None at this time
SB 114 Election of IURC Commissioners
Bill: SB 114 Election of IURC Commissioners
Author: Sen. James Tomes
Referred To: Senate Committee on Utilities
SB 114 would change from gubernatorial appointment to nonpartisan election of the five members of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, and require that two commissioners represent and reside in northern Indiana, two represent and reside in southern Indiana, and one represent and reside in central Indiana.
Stance: Neutral
SB 237 PFAS Chemicals
Bill: SB 237 PFAS Chemicals
Author: Sen. Scott Baldwin
Referred To: Senate Committee on Environmental Affairs
SB 237 would create a category of “state prioritized PFAS chemicals” and, among other things, specifies that the category be limited to PFAS that are regulated by US EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The bill also prohibits the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) from basin any decision (standards, permits, enforcement or clean-up actions) “primarily” on federal risk values that “have not been promulgated through federal rulemaking.” It directs IDEM to “focus on state prioritized PFAS chemicals” when carrying out research, outreach, testing, or risk communication regarding PFAS.
Stance: Oppose
SB 241 Utility Service Enhancement Improvement Costs
Bill: SB 241 Utility Service Enhancement Improvement Costs
Author: Sen. Eric Koch
Referred To: Senate Committee on Utilities
SB 241 allows adjustments to account for utilities’ chemical and power costs when those costs have increased or decreased by 3% or more over the past two years. Utilities are allowed but not required to seek such adjustments. This applies only to water or wastewater utilities that are eligible to recover costs for “service enhancement improvements.”
Stance: Neutral
SB 277 Indiana Department of Environmental Management
Bill: SB 277 Indiana Department of Environmental Management
Author: Sen. Rick Niemeyer
Referred To: Senate Committee on Environmental Affairs
Primarily makes technical corrections and updates references to Indiana Code and Indiana Administrative Code sections. Repeals the IDEM Groundwater Quality Clearinghouse.
Stance: Neutral
HB 1239 PFAS Water Safety Standards
Bill: HB 1239 PFAS Water Safety Standards
Author: Rep. Ryan Dvorak
Referred To: House Committee on Environmental Affairs
HB 1239 requires the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) to establish state maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for PFAS in water provided by public water systems, and that those state MCLs must be protective of public health (including the health of vulnerable subpopulations) and no less stringent than federal MCLs or health advisories.
Stance: Support
HB 1204 Natural Resource Entrance Fees
Bill: HB 1204 Natural Resource Entrance Fees
Author: Rep. Dave Hall
Referred To: House Committee on Natural Resources
HB 1204 allows certain counties to add a $1 surcharge to the entrance fee for certain state park and recreation areas, provided the additional revenue is used for public safety or drinking water quality protection and improvement.
Stance: Support
HB 1190 Line of Duty Disability from PFAS Exposure
Bill: HB 1190 Line of Duty Disability from PFAS Exposure
Author: Rep. Randy Novak
Referred To: House Committee on Veteran Affairs and Public Safety
HB 1190 identifies firefighters’ health conditions caused by PFAS exposure as presumptively line-of-duty disabilities.
Stance: Support
HB 1185 Department of Agriculture
Bill: HB 1185 Department of Agriculture
Author: Rep. Mike Aylesworth
Referred To: House Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
In addition to other, non-water-related provisions, HB 1185: (a) requires the Division of Soil Conservation in the Indiana Department of Agriculture to collaborate with state and federal agencies and research institutions in the installation and maintenance of mesonet sites, and (b) allows money in the Clean Water Indiana fund to be used for the installation and maintenance of mesonet sites and for modeling and analysis of data from mesonet sites for the benefit of agricultural decision making.
Stance: Support
HB 1124 Testing Drinking Water for Lead in School Buildings
Bill: HB 1124 Testing Drinking Water for Lead in School Buildings
Author: Rep. Carolyn Jackson
Referred To: House Committee on Public Health
Requires anyone with authority over a public or charter school building to test the drinking water in the building for lead. Sets testing protocols, deadlines, and unacceptable levels of lead. Directs school officials to follow remediation procedures if unacceptable levels of lead are present.
Stance: Support
HB 1110 PFAS Chemicals
Bill: HB 1110 PFAS Chemicals
Author: Rep. Becky Cash
Referred To: House Committee on Environmental Affairs
Subjects wastewater dischargers holding NPDES permits (and permit applicants) to effluent limitation standards for the maximum amount of PFAS they can discharge under the federal Clean Water Act. Defines “indirect dischargers” as those who introduce industrial wastewater containing PFAS into publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and subjects indirect dischargers to the PFAS effluent limitation standards. Includes monitoring and reporting requirements. Incorporates a definition of “waters of the state.” Requires the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to establish drinking water standards and effluent limitation standards for PFAS by July 1, 2027 and to update them every 4 years. Identifies six types of PFAS for which such limitations must be set. Dischargers and publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) must meet those standards by July 1, 2029. Creates a PFAS Chemical Testing and Remediation Fund to receive proceeds of penalties imposed for violations of effluent limitation standards. Money from the PFAS Chemical Testing and Remediation Fund may be used to offset remediation costs incurred by treatment providers or testing costs incurred by landlords and tenants.
Stance: Support
SB 83 Various Utility Matters
Bill: SB 83 Various Utility Matters
Author: Sen. Fady Qaddoura
Referred To: Senate Committee on Utilities
SB 83 deals mostly with electric utilities. (Energy generation is a major water use category, however, so policies affecting electric power can have water resource implications.) Among other things, it exempts consumers’ utility bills from state sales tax. It also removes the sales tax exemption for data centers that the General Assembly passed earlier in 2025.
Stance: .
SB 79 Data Center Development
Bill: SB 79 Data Center Development
Author: Sen. J.D. Ford
Referred To: Senate Committee on Utilities
SB 79 deals mostly with electric utilities. (Energy generation is a major water use category, however, so policies affecting electric power can have water resource implications.) Among other things, it requires the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) to establish a working group to estimate future electricity needs of data centers and report by October 31, 2026.
Stance: .
HB 1043 Data Center Water Regulation
Bill: HB 1043 Data Center Water Regulation
Author: Rep. Alex Burton
Referred To: House Committee on Natural Resources
Link to the bill: IGA | House Bill 1043 – Data center water regulation
HB 1043 would require a water consumption permit to be issued by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) before any person/company could operate a data center that would use 10 million gallons or more of water per month. It contains a definition of “data center.” The bill specifies the information that must be submitted with the permit application and established the process for DNR to follow in approving or denying the application. HB 1043 allows a person/company to consult DNR prior to applying, to assess the viability of a proposed data center with respect to water consumption. It also authorizes the Natural Resources Commission to adopt any needed rules to implement the bill’s permit requirement and/or application process.
Stance: Support