The LEAP District water questions signaled to lawmakers last year that they could no longer take a backseat on water mgmt policy. This session, two Repub. senators plan to file legislation to add more oversight to a traditionally lightly regulated process.

Property tax reform, Medicaid adjustments and water withdrawals are among the top priorities of the Indiana Senate Republicans’ 2025 platform, party leaders announced Wednesday.

A highly anticipated state water study focused on a region prime for utility-intensive economic development concludes enough water exists for current and future demand, but coordinated management is needed to ensure demand does not outweigh supply.

After two years of study committee debate and campaign promises, lawmakers have started providing a glimpse of how tax reform conversations have developed into legislation for the 2025 session. Here's what's been filed:

Indiana budget leaders are cautiously optimistic about the state’s fiscal position after they received revenue, economic and Medicaid forecasts Tuesday afternoon. The primary fear, still, is the significant growth of Medicaid costs.

State budget officials on Tuesday approved the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s plans to use $60 million to close on land deals and build infrastructure for a Meta data center and Eli Lilly and Co.’s planned medicine foundry at the LEAP District.

The state’s public retirement oversight committee plans to remove BlackRock Inc. from its investment portfolio after a state review found the firm has participated in environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, practices.

1/ Here’s a story about how journalism works. Spoiler Alert: This is how we decide *not* to publish. We were recently looking at Pete Hegseth’s different statements over the years about West Point, where he has said he was admitted. First stop: West Point.

Lawmakers are holding their collective breath in anticipation of Dec. 17 forecasts for tax receipts and Medicaid needs that will determine how they’ll proceed with writing the state’s next two-year budget and funding priorities like education. New for IBJ:

After unveiling his pick for secretary of commerce as well as a policy agenda this week, Gov.-elect Mike Braun has given Hoosiers a better sense of how he is seeking to use economic development to improve the state’s outcomes.

my dog is a cat

EXCLUSIVE: David Adams, a fmr state workforce development commissioner, will be Indiana’s next secretary of commerce under Gov.-elect Mike Braun. And, current ed Sec. Katie Jenner will continue in a broader role as well. More @ibjnews https://www.ibj.com/articles/gov-elect-braun-announces-leader…

Gov.-elect Mike Braun announced a dozen panels of 147 people to vet state agencies and develop policy recs. We made a spreadsheet to grasp who he selected. We found one in three are business leaders and two in three have not worked in state gov.