On February 12, 2025, I wrote an Indiana Lawyer article regarding environmental bills that had been introduced during the 2025 legislative session. Now, as we prepare for the beginning of the regular 2026 legislative session, it is important to look back to see what happened to the environmental bills introduced in 2025.

House Bills 1465 and 1466: 

House Bill 1465 would have made technical corrections and amendments to the act that just last year eliminated the Office of Environmental Adjudication and brought the Indiana Department of Environmental Management administrative review process under the Office of Administrative Law Proceedings. The bill, however, did not make it out of the Judiciary Committee.

House Bill 1466, which also affects the Office of Administrative Law Proceedings, did make it out of committee and was passed by the House. Senators Carrasco (R) and Pol (D) co-sponsored the bill in the Senate where it passed with amendments. The House agreed with the Senate’s amendments, and the bill was signed into law by Governor Braun as Public Law 92 on April 16, 2025. This law became effective on July 1, 2025. Among other changes, the law brought the Department of Natural Resources administrative review process into the Office of Administrative Law Proceedings.

Senate Bill 178: 

Senate Bill 178 passed through the Senate and House without amendment. The bill was signed into law by Governor Braun as Public Law 46 on April 10, 2025, and became effective on July 1, 2025. The main thrust of the law is to recognize natural gas and propane as “clean energy” or “green energy” for funding or incentive purposes. Senator Lonnie Randolph was the only Democrat out of the bill’s 9 authors, and Representative Alex Burton was the only Democrat out of 4 sponsors for the bill. This partisan split is evidence of the debate that exists regarding these types of bills, which I discussed in my earlier article.

Senate Bill 538 and House Bills 1286, 1366, and 1553: 

These four bills addressing PFAS chemicals were an interesting mix, as some were backed by industry groups while others were more protective of the environment.

Senate Bill 538, which was supported by the Indiana Manufacturers Association because of its industry-friendly “PFAS chemicals” definition, did not make it out of committee. Neither did the other three bills, which aimed to track the discharge of PFAS chemicals (House Bill 1286), to require the Indiana Department of Health to establish maximum PFAS levels in public water systems that are not less stringent than those established by the EPA (House Bill 1366), and to prohibit the application of material containing more than 100 parts per billion PFAS chemicals to land (House Bill 1553).

Senate Bill 426, however, did become law and affects PFAS. It created a new Indiana Code section (13-18-16-13.5), which bars a complaint against a public supply if the water supplied by the utility met applicable regulatory standards under specified federal and state law. 

Senate Bill 28: 

Senate Bill 28 was signed into law as Public Law 71 on April 16, 2025. This new law allows an owner or operator to file a complaint with the Department of Natural Resources if they are unable to pull a normal supply of water from their well. Once a complaint is filed, the DNR director is required to launch an investigation within the time limits enumerated in the law. The law also exempts farmers from having to pay a utility if the utility fails to provide the normal supply of water. Finally, the law provides that the owner of a significant groundwater withdrawal facility that is responsible for a substantial impairment of a well must provide compensation to an impacted groundwater withdrawal facility.

Before we know it, it will be January 2026, and the Indiana General Assembly will convene again to consider a whole new slate of bills that will impact Indiana’s environment. The attorneys at Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP are here to help you understand these and other laws impacting you and/or your business.

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Tagged In: Environmental, Environmental Law, Indiana