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Yes: 465 • No: 665
IndianaSB 277Second Regular Session 124th General Assembly (2026)Senate
Indiana department of environmental management.
Sponsored By: Rick Niemeyer (Republican)
Signed by Governor
Summary
Amends, repeals, or adds certain terms. Makes certain changes concerning the purpose, structure, and powers of the department of environmental management (department) or the environmental rules board. Prohibits the department from basing a decision solely on federal risk values that have not been promulgated through federal rulemaking. Instructs the department to avoid the use of federal risk values that are at or below background concentrations in air, water, soil, or sediment. Makes certain changes to various boards or funds. Eliminates or amends rulemaking provisions. Makes certain changes to hearing and permitting processes. Changes or eliminates certain reporting requirements. Makes various changes to the water pollution statutes. Makes various changes to the solid waste and hazardous waste management statutes. Repeals or amends various sections regarding: (1) hazardous substances; (2) the voluntary remediation programs; (3) regional water districts; and (4) citizen lawsuits. Amends provisions concerning the establishment of certain fees and the use of fee schedules. Repeals the division of pollution prevention and the office of voluntary compliance. Makes conforming, stylistic, and technical changes.
environmental affairsappropriationsthe house
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
72 provisions identified: 26 benefits, 17 costs, 29 mixed.
Property owners lose cleanup lien protections
Beginning July 1, 2026, Indiana's environmental department keeps its power to place liens on property for hazardous cleanup costs. The change applies to property undergoing a response under the hazardous-substance or petroleum cleanup laws. Owners lose the statutory advance notice and chance to request a hearing before the lien is placed. The law also removes the bar on placing a lien while that hearing is pending.
Electronics makers must meet recycling targets
Beginning July 1, 2026, manufacturers must recycle or arrange collection and recycling of covered electronics from covered entities each program year. The required weight is at least 60% of their registered weight of video display devices sold to households. Manufacturers must check contracted collectors and recyclers, keep compliance records for three years, and give IDEM a contact person.
New discharge limits and lake flexibility
General permits cannot authorize discharges into designated outstanding national or state resource waters. Temporary stormwater discharges are an exception only when the commissioner finds no significant drop in downstream water quality. Beginning July 1, 2026, Lake Michigan permits must allow mixing zones when applicants show no harm to people or aquatic life. For chemicals of concern that build up in living things, water quality standards apply to the undiluted discharge.
Sewer systems get wet-weather rules
The law creates a special water-use category for waters affected by combined sewer overflows during wet weather. It requires federal approval and an approved control plan included in a permit or order and put into practice. The plan sets wet-weather water-quality requirements; existing recreation standards otherwise apply. Permit holders must monitor discharges and streams, report results, and check whether the water-use analysis remains valid. Beginning July 1, 2026, general permit rules for sewer collection, lift station, and force main plans become optional rather than required.
Water permits face new quality reviews
Beginning July 1, 2026, Indiana’s board has a broader duty to make rules against water pollution. The board may also create a limited-use water designation process, but the law does not designate any waters. IDEM must review all general water discharge permits for water-quality protections and may change them; covered activities need no repeat review. Applicants proposing discharges that significantly lower water quality must compare alternatives and, when alternatives are impractical, explain the discharge’s social or economic importance. The commissioner must consider the listed factors and give substantial weight to applicable government findings.
Landowners get notice before well restrictions
Beginning July 1, 2026, well-field protection zones cannot restrict landowners or recorded mineral-interest holders without written notice and a chance to be heard. This covers establishment of the zone and the community water system behind it. Applicants seeking the construction permit or protection zone must meet the board's notice requirements.
More rule guidance for small businesses
State agencies must assign a knowledgeable coordinator for each rulemaking and final rule to guide small businesses and record concerns. Agency directors must report annually on those records, outcomes, staffing, costs, and planned budgets. Rule notices and final rules must identify the coordinator, ombudsman, and resources, including applicable environmental help. The ombudsman must coordinate services, share information, help train coordinators, and try to resolve compliance matters; agencies must cooperate. State revenue and workforce departments must share service information with small businesses required to file returns or information with them.
Onsite environmental help for small businesses
Beginning July 1, 2026, Indiana's environmental assistance program can offer limited onsite help to small businesses and small municipalities. It can use the environmental management special fund to provide compliance information and technical help. The program can limit yearly inspections and restrict help to specific programs. Assistance remains subject to the law's confidentiality rules.
Agency faces limits on risk standards
Beginning July 1, 2026, the department cannot base a decision solely on federal risk values not adopted through federal rulemaking. It must also avoid federal risk values at or below background concentrations in air, water, soil, or sediment. For this decision-making provision, decisions include standards, permits, enforcement actions, and cleanup levels.
Agency policies expire without renewed approval
Covered nonrule policies and statements put into effect after July 1, 2026, face an automatic expiration date. They expire on January 1 of the fifth year after the year they take effect unless reauthorized. They can end sooner if otherwise repealed or expired.
Air pollution groups get agency cooperation
Beginning July 1, 2026, the commissioner must make best efforts to help and work with interested and affected air pollution groups. The law does not promise a specific service, funding amount, or household payment.
Appeal rights for permits and licenses
Beginning July 1, 2026, people may appeal initial federal air operating permits within 30 days after receiving notice. The law removes the former restriction to permits issued after April 30, 1999. Asbestos contractors may also appeal license suspensions or revocations through Indiana's administrative appeal process.
Fewer notices for environmental lawsuit filers
Beginning July 1, 2026, people and entities bringing covered environmental actions no longer need to notify Natural Resources. They must still send written notice to Indiana's environmental department and attorney general by registered or certified mail.
Limits on vehicle emissions testing rules
Beginning July 1, 2026, the board cannot require periodic vehicle emissions testing in counties meeting national air quality standards. The ban also covers counties classified below moderate ozone nonattainment. The environmental department must develop pollution-reduction or regulatory-relief strategies for areas that fail federal standards, coordinating with the federal environmental agency. This work includes emissions goals and eventual phaseout of light-duty vehicle inspections, but does not itself end existing testing duties.
More authority to study hazardous emissions
Beginning July 1, 2026, the board may adopt rules allowing the environmental department to request hazardous air pollution data. Requests must support studies of emissions or their effects at a specific site. The law authorizes these rules but does not require their adoption.
Property owners get timely inspection reports
Beginning July 1, 2026, inspectors must report suspected violations orally before finishing an inspection when a facility representative is available. The department must also send the property owner a written inspection summary within 45 days.
Some air violations leave misdemeanor coverage
The law removes knowing violations under IC 13-17-7 from this specific Class C misdemeanor offense. This includes the chapter’s requirements, permit conditions, fees, and filing requirements. The offense still covers specified violations under the other listed chapters; this is not a blanket exemption from enforcement.
Air facilities gain possible permit flexibility
Beginning July 1, 2026, the board may allow some facility changes without revising an operating permit. Facilities must have a permit or a timely, complete operating-permit application. Changes cannot qualify as Title I Clean Air Act modifications or exceed the permit’s allowed emissions. Written notice is generally due at least 7 days before changes, unless emergency rules set another period. The board is not required to adopt this flexibility.
Businesses gain audit penalty-relief policy planning
Beginning July 1, 2026, IDEM must propose a civil penalty-relief policy for voluntary disclosures from internal environmental audits. It must consider similar federal policies and policies in states bordering Indiana. The law does not set relief amounts or final policy terms.
Environmental benefits guide special permit priority
Beginning July 1, 2026, IDEM must try to prioritize applications for the specified alternative environmental permits. It considers potential environmental benefits, innovative technology or methods, and other board-set criteria. This replaces the requirement to provide priority through rules; it does not guarantee a faster decision.
Environmental plan notices no longer required
Beginning July 1, 2026, the law repeals the chapter requiring notices to IDEM about plans and programs affecting the environment. Entities covered by that chapter no longer have to send those notices. This repeal concerns that chapter’s notices, not all environmental reporting.
Fewer permit barriers for covered businesses
Being on the latest tax warrant list no longer blocks an environmental permit or license for that reason alone. Beginning July 1, 2026, qualifying industrial dischargers avoid the specified additional state water-facility permit. They must hold an active industrial surface-water discharge permit or an active industrial pretreatment permit issued outside IDEM. The pretreatment permit must cover discharge to a public treatment works. Also beginning July 1, 2026, covered construction, installation, and modification permits cannot be required for equipment or facilities within a permitted surface coal mine.
Help replacing aging petroleum storage tanks
Beginning July 1, 2026, the state tank fund may pay 50% of eligible decommissioning or replacement costs. The administrator must find the work necessary for health and environmental protection, considering tank age, obsolescence, and deterioration. Costs must be reasonable and cost effective; replacement may use a new aboveground or underground tank. Annual funding caps by ownership group are $10 million for applicants owning 12 or fewer tanks, $7.5 million for 13–100, and $2.5 million for more than 100. These are category-wide caps, not individual awards; unused money rolls into the next state fiscal year for the same group.
Landfill cover materials avoid disposal fees
Material used as alternate daily landfill cover under a department permit or board rule is exempt from the state disposal or incineration fee. Beginning July 1, 2026, waste districts also cannot charge disposal fees on cover used under permits issued under board rules. Existing district fee limits and other fee requirements remain in place.
Less permit review after temporary rules
Beginning July 1, 2026, the environmental board no longer must review approvals after certain temporary rules expire. This covers permits and licenses issued under provisional or interim rules adopted to meet federal deadlines or dates. Those rules must still include a process for requesting exceptions, called variances.
Less state review for utility plans
Beginning July 1, 2026, qualifying sewer and public water-main plans are exempt from specified state permits, permissions, and reviews. A registered professional engineer must prepare the plans, and the local unit must provide qualified-engineer review and approval. Subdivision sewer extensions also qualify when prepared by the registered professional surveyor who laid out the subdivision. Those extensions need local engineering review and approval, and all projects must meet applicable board-rule requirements.
Permit powers drop noise and radiation
Beginning July 1, 2026, the specified air permit powers no longer cover noise or atomic radiation. Atomic radiation is also removed from the specified waste permit powers. Waste permits cover solid and hazardous waste storage, treatment, processing, transfer, transportation, and disposal. These changes do not eliminate requirements imposed under other authorities.
Qualifying foundry sand avoids reuse permits
Foundry sand meeting Type III criteria is exempt from permitting for the uses listed in the law. These include specified landfill cover, embankments, land application, soil amendments, structural fill, and product manufacturing. Both the sand quality and the intended use must qualify.
Tire transporters lose annual reporting duty
Beginning July 1, 2026, waste tire transporters no longer submit annual passenger-tire-equivalent counts to IDEM. They must still keep those counts and provide records on request. The board also no longer must adopt waste and used tire rules under this section. Any rules it adopts must cover registration, operations, storage, processing, contingency plans, records, transport, reporting, storage-site financial assurance, and fees sufficient for specified program costs.
Waste operators gain broader regulatory exemptions
The state board must adopt all federal waste exemptions and exclusions, not just those adopted since January 1, 2022. Beginning July 1, 2026, the department also loses a specific classification power over mixed-input digestion and gasification facilities. The removed authority allowed it to treat facilities using both biomass and solid waste as solid waste processing facilities.
Cleanup applicants gain notice, cost-rule changes
Beginning July 1, 2026, applicants must receive formal administrative notice when the commissioner finds an approved voluntary cleanup plan was not successfully completed. The board also no longer must adopt rules to recover staff and administrative costs for reviewing cleanup-related property restriction changes. This removes a rulemaking duty, not a specified fee, so no particular applicant savings are guaranteed.
Part-time hearing officers lose payment entitlement
Beginning July 1, 2026, hearing officers who are not full-time state employees lose a statutory payment entitlement. It covered reasonable expenses and per diem for hearing work. The law does not state prior amounts or whether another payment source remains available.
Hazardous cleanup sites lose priority guarantee
Beginning July 1, 2026, the board may set rules for choosing hazardous-substance response sites, but no longer must do so. The law also removes the default priority for sites posing significant health and environmental threats while rules are pending. Nearby communities lose that statutory priority guarantee.
Residents face stricter rule proposal requirements
Beginning July 1, 2026, written proposals to adopt, change, or repeal environmental rules must explain the reasons and include suggested text. They also need a petition signed by at least 200 Indiana residents. A majority of voting board members may authorize notice and a hearing after finding the proposal worthwhile and legally authorized. A hearing is not guaranteed.
State groundwater information clearinghouse ends
The law ends the environmental department's groundwater quality clearinghouse. Its duties included screening contamination reports, ensuring investigations, sharing public information, and coordinating groundwater data with other agencies. Residents and agencies lose that central resource; the provision does not identify a replacement.
Waste assistance and chemical rulemaking become optional
Beginning July 1, 2026, IDEM no longer must provide certain waste-reduction information, public education help, and related activities. The agency retains authority to provide them. The board also may, rather than must, adopt rules under the PCB chemical chapter. That rulemaking change does not itself repeal existing rules.
Waste law drops atomic radiation references
The law removes atomic radiation from the board's listed duty to regulate solid and hazardous waste. Beginning July 1, 2026, the covered waste-permit facility definition also excludes atomic radiation. That definition covers structures or land used to dispose of, treat, store, recover, process, or transfer solid or hazardous waste.
Businesses lose required waste-reduction support
Beginning July 1, 2026, the state office no longer has to collect waste-reduction information or advise businesses about it. The duty to gather information about using secondary materials also ends. The pollution prevention division no longer has to sponsor clean manufacturing pilot projects or publish their results for public use.
Electronics recyclers face registration and reporting
Beginning July 1, 2026, covered electronics collectors and recyclers must register by March 1 for the program year. Registration takes effect when received, and the department can revoke it for violations of the law or board rules. Recycler annual certifications refer to applicable regulations rather than one named state regulation. Manufacturers must report pounds of covered devices they arranged to collect and recycle without converting them to recycling credits. Those reports are due March 1 for the program year ending the previous December 31.
Environmental reports can require sworn statements
Beginning July 1, 2026, IDEM may require an affidavit with reports covered by the applicable reporting section. The sworn statement must come from the responsible officer or person in charge. It is required only when IDEM asks for it.
Extra fee for incomplete cleanup applications
Beginning July 1, 2026, voluntary remediation applicants must pay another application fee after an application is rejected as incomplete. The fee applies when they submit a completed application. The law does not specify the fee amount.
Permit applicants lose mandatory mitigating review
For specified permit denials, the commissioner no longer has to consider mitigating factors before deciding. These include cooperation, responsibility, self-policing, pending appeals, the public interest, and good citizenship. The commissioner can still issue permits, licenses, orders, and variances when a law or board rule authorizes them. That authority does not guarantee approval.
Permit holders risk daily contamination fines
Beginning July 1, 2026, permit holders can face fines for failing to correct or prevent water-supply contamination. This applies when they knew or should have known action was needed. The commissioner may assess up to $1,000 for each day of violation; the actual fine may be lower.
Recyclers face reporting rules and grant limits
Recyclers must use the reporting format the commissioner sets through the department's website. The law removes the separate requirement for a uniform statutory form and its listed reporting details. The recycling market development board no longer has to make second-round grants. Its grant awards cannot total more than $2 million.
Tank claim payment transfers need approval
Beginning July 1, 2026, eligible claimants need administrator approval to transfer their right to receive state petroleum tank fund payments. The administrator must find the transfer appropriate. This limits claimants' ability to arrange payment or financing through another party.
Tire transporters face stronger registration enforcement
Beginning July 1, 2026, state officials can change or revoke a waste tire transporter's registration for uncorrected violations. This applies to registration conditions, the governing law, and board rules when the transporter misses the department's correction deadline. Officials must send written notice.
Small business air assistance changes
Beginning July 1, 2026, Indiana replaces its separate small business air assistance program with a required stationary source assistance program. The new program serves small businesses that own or operate fixed sources of air pollution under the federal Clean Air Act. The repeal removes the separate program's required education, application materials, and ombudsman duties. The law sets no funding amount or level of help for the new program.
Agency confidentiality agreements become optional
Beginning July 1, 2026, the environmental department may make confidentiality agreements with employees, contractors, and subcontractors. Indiana and the person or entity submitting information can enforce those agreements. The department no longer has to adopt rules requiring the agreements.
Board gains discretion over environmental standards
Beginning July 1, 2026, environmental rules may consider background, out-of-state, and international pollution. This replaces language allowing rules to apply to outside sources that contribute to Indiana pollution. The board may consider local conditions, land uses, zoning, environmental quality, technical feasibility, costs, and environmental protection. Considering those listed factors is no longer mandatory.
Environmental appeals expand, notice protections shrink
Beginning July 1, 2026, specified environmental actions are subject to administrative review, and written communications must explain the review process. Covered actions include permit decisions, emergency orders, and denials of petroleum tank excess liability fund claims. An order or determination remains valid despite missing notice, even when that substantially harms an affected person. The law also removes the express appeal provision for findings that animal feeding operations violate specified water pollution laws or rules.
More public involvement, narrower local outreach
Beginning July 1, 2026, the department must run programs to increase public awareness and participation in state environmental programs. It must still advise local governments on pollution control, water treatment, water resources, and solid waste facilities or standards. However, the law removes its duty to encourage those local activities.
Owner responses and cleanup plans online
Beginning July 1, 2026, the environmental department must add owners' written inspection responses to the public inspection file. This covers responses to inspection reports, summaries, or questions raised during inspections. Proposed voluntary cleanup work plans must appear on the department's website before approval or rejection. Online posting replaces the required copy in at least one county public library.
Permit hearings and public input change
Beginning July 1, 2026, public notice and comments become optional for permits under the specified alternative-permit rules. A hearing is required upon the commissioner's determination for original or renewal hazardous-waste disposal permits and original regulated solid-waste disposal or incinerator permits. When a qualifying petition requests a location in an affected county, the department must try—but need not succeed—to use it. Based on comments, the commissioner may choose a hearing within 10 days after comments close, before approving or denying a permit. This process no longer allows a meeting; selected hearings require notice to the applicant and hearing details for interested people.
Septic systems exempt from groundwater limits
Beginning July 1, 2026, the health department's executive board cannot apply groundwater nitrate and nitrite numeric limits to onsite sewage systems. Any rule applying those criteria is void to that extent. This limits regulation of septic systems while removing those groundwater protections from this rulemaking route.
State waste pond oversight faces limits
Indiana no longer requires the board to adopt construction and monitoring rules for nonhazardous waste and wastewater impoundments. This removes that rulemaking duty for pits, ponds, and lagoons, including its application to specified state agencies. State coal-ash rules cannot be stricter or more burdensome than the matching federal rule. They also cannot add requirements absent from that federal rule.
Stricter environmental rules face legislative delay
Beginning July 1, 2026, rulemaking notices must identify options that impose more burdensome requirements than federal law and provide supporting information. This applies when the department announces a public comment period in the Indiana Register. Covered rules cannot take effect until the next regular legislative session that begins after notice has ended. This gives lawmakers time to act and delays both compliance duties and the rule's protections.
Tank cleanup reviews and public notices
Beginning July 1, 2026, specified cleanup or closure steps require site information when reportable petroleum amounts remain or may remain underground. The commissioner must review an initial site study, or an alternative evaluation must be prepared for submission. A separate review of possible cleanup work is required except at Indiana Finance Authority sites; urgent threats allow earlier action without the reviewed initial study. For federally covered tank discoveries, spills, or overfills, the department must notify the county health officer within seven days of receiving a report. The officer then has seven days to make a reasonable effort to publish notice in local media.
Waste facility safeguards rely on optional rules
Beginning July 1, 2026, the board may—but need not—require containment structures and spill-response plans where hazardous materials are handled. Those rules must follow applicable safety and fire-code laws. The law also removes the express duty to adopt incinerator construction and operating rules; any adopted rules must include relevant air pollution rules. Financial-responsibility rules for hazardous-waste closure, postclosure monitoring, and required corrective work also become optional. Any financial rules adopted must follow the chapter's required financial-responsibility provisions.
Automakers lose required recurring plan reviews
The commissioner no longer has to review approved motor vehicle manufacturer plans three years after approval and every three years afterward. The duty to work with manufacturers to agree on plan changes also ends. The law removes the related provision saying manufacturers need not resubmit those changes for approval.
Biomass facilities face approvals and exemptions
Beginning July 1, 2026, qualifying processors are excluded from the solid waste processing facility classification. They must handle only biomass, appropriate feedstock, recyclables, or mixtures, at a permitted beneficial-use, anaerobic digestion, or gasification facility. State approval is required before digestion or gasification construction or expansion started after June 30, 2011; projects at confined feeding operations use that approval process. For facilities using biomass or appropriate feedstock, IDEM has 90 days after receiving a complete application and required supplemental information, unless both sides agree to more time. After a missed deadline, applicants may request an application-fee refund, and review must continue.
Cleanup applicants gain time, face revisions
Beginning July 1, 2026, voluntary cleanup applicants have one year after signing an agreement to submit a work plan, up from 180 days. After receiving a cleanup report, the commissioner can require plan changes when project goals are not being met. If the parties cannot agree on changes within 180 days, either can withdraw the project from the voluntary program. The project can then be referred to the state cleanup program.
Delayed applicants keep refunds, lose self-drafting
Beginning July 1, 2026, applicants can consult with the commissioner after a missed deadline or while an existing permit continues pending replacement. After agreement, or 30 days of consultation without agreement, they can seek a fee refund while review continues or hire a consultant. Applicants can no longer prepare and submit the draft permit themselves. The consultant process allows 15 business days for selection and authorization, then 35 business days to submit the draft and technical support. The commissioner has 25 business days to decide, or 55 when public participation is required, and must follow public participation rules.
Faster stormwater reviews with stop-work safeguards
Beginning July 1, 2026, preliminary stormwater-plan completeness reviews have deadlines of 10 business days for small or very small sites. Large-site reviews have 14 business days. After a favorable preliminary finding or no timely notice, owners can file a notice of intent and start work 48 hours later. A timely finding that the plan is incomplete blocks that filing until a final favorable finding. Land-disturbing work must stop when the owner receives a final unfavorable finding.
More reuse options for industrial waste
The department and board can allow nonhazardous industrial waste on land or in materials applied to land. The waste must provide a useful benefit, and the finished material must have a beneficial use and meet board standards. Applicants must describe each waste at its source before mixing waste streams and pay a permit fee. That fee cannot exceed the department's cost to issue the permit. The department cannot reject a product for lacking biological carbon or require a particular economic value.
Permit clocks change and sometimes pause
Board rules set air permit decision deadlines, while the 90-day waste-permit deadline covers only the specified minor modifications. A public hearing adds 30 days unless another law or rule controls; the specified 365-day and 270-day categories are excluded. Beginning July 1, 2026, the commissioner may pause the state clock for required federal review. The pause can last until federal concurrence, objection, or the objection period ends without objection. Also beginning July 1, 2026, IDEM must notify applicants within 30 business days when their response leaves identified application problems unresolved.
Septic waste services need state permits
The department must run a permit program for people offering or performing septic waste management services. Merely owning or operating a qualifying residential or commercial holding tank does not require this permit. The tank must hold waste until service vehicles remove and transport it from the site. The board can adopt rules for permits, transport, storage, treatment, disposal, and land-application sites through the state rulemaking process. It can also authorize county or city health agencies to approve those sites.
State air permit compliance program ends
Beginning July 1, 2026, Indiana repeals its Clean Air Act Permit Compliance Program. This removes that state program for covered entities; the provision names no replacement requirements. A related definition includes the program's chapter within air pollution control laws, subject to a stated statutory exception.
Underground tank rulemaking becomes optional
Beginning July 1, 2026, the environmental board no longer has an express duty to adopt underground storage tank program rules. Any rules it adopts must remain at least as strict as federal rules. They must cover leak detection, records, release reports, cleanup, closure, financial responsibility, notification, and bans on tank deliveries.
Waste handling exceptions and planning change
Beginning July 1, 2026, rules allowing small incidental amounts of whole tires at landfills or transfer stations become optional. Any adopted rules may allow procedures instead of numeric limits; other disposal rules and the statutory landfill exception still apply. Transfer stations otherwise must remove whole tires, and the statewide waste plan may omit listed reduction goals and disposal criteria while retaining its 20-year scope. Separately, discarded materials treated for land application and specified biomass or feedstock cannot use the stated nonhazardous product-use exception. The solid-waste definition also identifies waste tires under the relevant tire laws.
Wastewater definitions and stormwater responsibility change
Beginning July 1, 2026, the department must identify who is responsible for construction stormwater permit violations, without the former listed decision factors. Industrial pretreatment permits for discharges to public treatment plants refer to applicable rules rather than specific administrative-code provisions. Land application includes spraying, spreading, soil incorporation, or subsurface injection of qualifying sludge, waste, or wastewater from industrial, municipal, or semipublic facilities. That definition excludes underground injection wells, landfills, and open dumps. A shared sewage-system definition also replaces a separate definition across the specified sewage and waste laws.
Water permit holders face transition deadlines
Indiana's environmental department can issue general water-discharge permits without putting their terms in a rule. Existing terms remain binding until the permit holder files a notice of intent for a department-developed permit. To keep coverage, holders must file within 90 days after the form becomes available or apply for an individual permit. Beginning July 1, 2026, specified state references to the Clean Water Act include applicable federal regulations. The federal definition of navigable waters also applies without its former limit to one state-law chapter.
Waste operators may face certification rules
Beginning July 1, 2026, the board may create a state-run training and certification program for specified facility operators. It may include certification requirements, mandatory testing, retraining, recognition of other programs, and an interim certification period. Neither the program nor those features are required by this provision.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Rick Niemeyer
Republican • Senate
Cosponsors
Beau Baird
Republican • House
Doug Miller
Republican • House
Justin Busch
Republican • Senate
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 2/25/2026
Senate concurred with House amendments
Yes: 26 • No: 21
House vote • 2/24/2026
Third reading: passed
Yes: 53 • No: 45
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #17 (Jackson C) failed
Yes: 30 • No: 63
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #6 (Novak) failed
Yes: 39 • No: 55
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #14 (Jackson C) failed
Yes: 35 • No: 58
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #5 (Bauer) prevailed
Yes: 50 • No: 44
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #2 (Bauer) failed
Yes: 29 • No: 62
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #10 (Errington) failed
Yes: 34 • No: 56
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #15 (Jackson C) failed
Yes: 29 • No: 67
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #9 (Errington) failed
Yes: 29 • No: 66
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #8 (Errington) failed
Yes: 34 • No: 60
House vote • 2/23/2026
Amendment #3 (Bauer) failed
Yes: 48 • No: 49
Senate vote • 1/29/2026
Third reading: passed
Yes: 29 • No: 19
Actions Timeline
Signed by the Governor
3/5/2026SenatePublic Law 135
3/5/2026SenateSigned by the President Pro Tempore
2/27/2026SenateSigned by the President of the Senate
2/27/2026SenateSigned by the Speaker
2/27/2026HouseSenate concurred with House amendments; Roll Call 296: yeas 26, nays 21
2/25/2026SenateMotion to concur filed
2/25/2026SenateReturned to the Senate with amendments
2/25/2026HouseThird reading: passed; Roll Call 356: yeas 53, nays 45
2/24/2026HouseAmendment #6 (Novak) failed; Roll Call 323: yeas 39, nays 55
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #14 (Jackson C) failed; Roll Call 324: yeas 35, nays 58
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #12 (Errington) failed; Division of the House: yeas 37, nays 54
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #22 (Cash) prevailed; voice vote
2/23/2026HouseSecond reading: amended, ordered engrossed
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #9 (Errington) failed; Roll Call 332: yeas 29, nays 66
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #15 (Jackson C) failed; Roll Call 331: yeas 29, nays 67
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #10 (Errington) failed; Roll Call 330: yeas 34, nays 56
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #2 (Bauer) failed; Roll Call 329: yeas 29, nays 62
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #5 (Bauer) prevailed; Roll Call 328: yeas 50, nays 44
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #17 (Jackson C) failed; Roll Call 327: yeas 30, nays 63
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #3 (Bauer) failed; Roll Call 326: yeas 48, nays 49
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #8 (Errington) failed; Roll Call 325: yeas 34, nays 60
2/23/2026HouseAmendment #27 (Baird) prevailed; voice vote
2/23/2026HouseCommittee report: amend do pass, adopted
2/16/2026HouseFirst reading: referred to Committee on Environmental Affairs
2/2/2026House
Bill Text
Engrossed Senate Bill (H)
Engrossed Senate Bill (S)
Enrolled Senate Bill (S)
Introduced Senate Bill (S)
Senate Bill (H)
Senate Bill (S)
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Requires the department of education (department) to: (1) compile a list of business and industry partners that provide guaranteed incentives to high school students who earn the honors employment plus seal; and (2) publish the list on the department's website. Provides that, in addition to conditions established in current law to convert an existing public elementary or secondary school, an existing public elementary or secondary school may be converted into a charter school if certain other conditions apply. Allows, if the conditions are met, the governing body of a school corporation to: (1) convert more than one existing public elementary or secondary school within the school corporation; and (2) operate two or more conversion charter schools under a single charter. Allows participating innovation network charter schools to enter into an agreement with more than one school corporation. Establishes the following for or with regard to participating innovation network charter schools that entered into an agreement with more than one school corporation: (1) Requirements regarding the location of a participating innovation network charter school. (2) Terms of a participating innovation network charter school agreement. (3) Duties of the department. Amends certain requirements and procedures that apply to the closure and transfer of covered school buildings. Provides that a lease or sale of a covered school building to a charter school or state educational institution includes certain assets. Requires parental notification if a school determines a student is at risk of not achieving grade level proficiency in mathematics.
SB 204, Various education matters.
Provides that an individual who has obtained a license to teach in a charter school may be eligible to obtain an initial practitioner professional educator license under certain conditions. Removes a requirement that an individual must hold a bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics as a component of certain pathways to receive an initial practitioner license. Provides that academic needs based salary increases may not: (1) apply to all eligible teachers in a bargaining unit uniformly; or (2) be based on certain other factors. Repeals the: (1) state educational institution (institution) annual report to the legislative council (council) and commission for higher education (commission) concerning financial aid; (2) commission report to the general assembly concerning certain institution information; (3) student athlete cardiac arrest provisions; and (4) Ivy Tech Community College report to the budget committee concerning campus information. Expires certain physical facilities reporting requirements on June 30, 2029. Provides that a state educational institution that has been denied approval to continue a degree program may: (1) permit students to enroll in the degree program until June 1 of the year following the denial; and (2) provide students enrolled in the degree program with the opportunity to finish their degree prior to the degree program's closure. Requires the commission to submit an annual report concerning degree program closures to the general assembly. Changes the reporting of disclosable gifts to January 31 and July 31 of a given year (current law requires disclosure on January 1 and July 1 of a given year). Changes certain amounts concerning construction, land purchases, and repair and rehabilitation by an institution to $3,000,000. Voids a provision in the Indiana Administrative Code. Requires each institution to submit a report annually to the budget committee and the commission for higher education listing certain capital projects for the immediately preceding full calendar year that did not receive review by the commission. Specifies the contents of the report. Provides that a student enrolled in a health profession education program may not be required to receive an immunization as a condition of: (1) participating in; or (2) obtaining; clinical training or clinical experience required by the program if a parent of the student or student objects on religious grounds. Adds requirements regarding the principles of the core transfer library.
SB 179, Indiana department of transportation.
Allows the Indiana department of transportation (department) to assume the responsibilities and duties of the United States Department of Transportation with respect to certain federal environmental laws. Provides that the department waives its civil immunity and consents to the jurisdiction of the federal courts for responsibilities and duties assumed under certain federal environmental laws. Amends language regarding a local unit's eligibility for: (1) a grant from the local road and bridge matching grant fund (fund); and (2) a distribution from the fund based on the local unit's share of total lane mileage. Provides limitations for an overweight truck permit that is issued for a single trip. Provides for the use of the Indiana Plane Coordinate System as a means to describe real property. Provides that the department may give preference in awarding grants from the fund to local units that have adopted an enhanced asset management plan. Provides that a county may impose a vehicle excise tax or wheel tax on a vehicle that is registered in the county and not registered in a municipality in the county where a vehicle excise tax or wheel tax went into effect after December 31, 2026. Amends certain requirements for township capital improvement plans.
SB 185, Alcohol and tobacco matters.
Specifies, with respect to a tobacco sales certificate (certificate), that a permitted premises may not include sleeping or living quarters. Provides that a person may not sell a tobacco product or electronic cigarette at wholesale without a certificate. Adds additional information an applicant must provide to the alcohol and tobacco commission (commission) when applying for a certificate. Provides, with one exception, that the commission shall not issue a certificate to a retail location where a certificate was revoked within one year prior to the application. Specifies the circumstances under which the commission must either suspend or revoke a certificate if the certificate holder's employees violate employee identification requirements three or more times in one year. Makes it a Class C infraction for a certificate holder or employee to violate particular identification requirements. Modifies the application of certain statutes concerning vapor pens and e-liquid. Establishes various requirements and penalties applicable to e-liquid, e-liquid products, and vapor devices, including restrictions on the manufacture, sourcing, possession, sale, and distribution of foreign adversary products. Specifies that certain provisions concerning vapor pens and e-liquid do not authorize the manufacturing, sale, possession, or use of a controlled substance or any product containing a controlled substance. Amends the requirements for an initial and renewal application to manufacture e-liquids or e-liquid products. Requires, in a provision concerning the sale of cigarettes, that a buydown be considered in determining the cost to the retailer or cost to the distributor. Specifies an exception. Adds the sale of alcohol without a permit to the violations which may constitute racketeering activity. Changes the infraction of the habitual illegal sale of tobacco products from six violations in a year to three violations in a year. Changes the infraction of the habitual illegal entrance by a minor from six violations to three violations in a year. Specifies that a prohibition on the sale, use, or distribution of flavored nitrous oxide does not apply to a law enforcement agency disposing of flavored nitrous oxide by donation to a nonprofit organization.
SB 80, Code publication.
Addresses unresolved amend-repeal conflicts created during the 2025 legislative session. Repeals and relocates the specific definitions chapters for organization of defined terms by alphabetical order and to provide for future expansion of those chapters. Makes conforming cross-reference updates. Resolves technical conflicts between SB 80-2025 and HB 1088-2025 (the annual Technical Corrections bill) and technical conflicts between various enrolled acts passed during the 2026 legislative session. Makes no substantive change to law.
HB 1424, Farm and homestead food sales.
Allows the executive board of the Indiana department of health to adopt rules concerning time temperature control for food safety, but provides that the rules may not be applied to a homestead vendor or small farm vendor. Provides that homestead vendors and small farm vendors are exempt from specified health regulations applicable to food establishments. Provides that the Indiana department of health, a local unit of government, the health and hospital corporation of Marion County, or a local health department may not impose any rules, regulations, certifications, or licensing requirements on a homestead vendor or small farm vendor that are not required under federal law, but may investigate complaints against a homestead vendor or small farm vendor regarding a foodborne illness derived from the homestead vendor's or small farm vendor's food products. Permits homestead vendors and small farm vendors to sell specified meat products and other foods from: (1) the property of the homestead vendor or small farm vendor; or (2) a farmers market. Requires a homestead vendor or small farm vendor to provide consumers with specified information regarding the homestead vendor's or small farm vendor's food products through signage or labeling. Provides for conditions under which a homestead vendor or small farm vendor may ship or deliver a food product directly to a consumer. Imposes handling, refrigeration, transportation, and storage requirements for homestead vendor and small farm vendor food products. Provides that public buildings used by homestead vendors and small farm vendors are exempt from certain public building and safety regulations. Provides that buildings, structures, or stands used for sale of homestead vendor or small farm vendor food products are subject to specified fire safety, building, and equipment laws.