Episode 64: Indiana General Assembly 2025 - The Majority's Priorities
Guest: MADVoters Director of Advocacy, Kaitie Rector
https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com/
https://www.madvoters.org/
Welcome to the HoosLeft Podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from the unapologetic perspective of the social democratic left. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers and I’m recording from Bloomington. We are back and, forged in the fires of a year from hell, ready for what looks to be an incredibly difficult 2025.
Also back for 2025 is the General Assembly, not even a week into the new session and already beginning to test Hoosiers’ tolerance for pain. Try as they might, and they put up some incredible candidates - many of whom we spoke with here, Indiana Democrats were unable to break the GOP supermajority. Republicans have now held an insurmountable trifecta - the state House and Senate, as well as the Governor’s office, for 15 years.
With little ability for the opposition party - or the public - to push back, Indiana’s far-right Republicans have once again offered Hoosiers an all-you-can-eat buffet of shit with the slate of bills they’ve introduced. Only about ten percent of the legislation put forward at the beginning of the session will make it through, so I needed someone to come in and help me dig through this mess, to point out what is nuts, and highlight the occasional golden kernel. That’s right, Indiana, we keep things classy around here - starting 2025 off with a poop joke.
With sincerest apologies for introducing my guest immediately after that gem, joining me today is Kaitie Rector, the Director of Advocacy for MADVoters, a nonprofit focused on advancing equity in Indiana. Created in 2022 by a small group of Hoosier moms who wanted to support efforts to create a better Indiana for all families, MADVoters educates Hoosiers on voting, legislation, elections, and civics so that they feel empowered to advocate for themselves at the ballot box and beyond.
In this conversation, we’ll do a quick review of how a bill becomes a law in Indiana, before taking a high-level look at some of the main areas of focus for the supermajority. Kaitie will introduce some of the most egregious bills on MADVoters’ radar this session and spotlight a few pieces of legislation that actually don’t suck. We’ll talk about how to contact your legislators and what to say when you do.
Before we turn to the interview, PLEASE consider supporting HoosLeft with a paid subscription. I currently work as an independent craftsman during the day and work on this project whenever I can. There are so many more things I want to do here at HoosLeft - more campaign finance research, more live hangouts, and a daily episode if we can get there -but I need your help. If you can, visit scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level. For five dollars a month or $50 a year, you can help me push our state in a better direction, and maybe if we reach critical mass, I can put down my tool belt and devote my full time to you, to this project, and to Indiana’s future. So, if you have the means, pause right now, go to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level.
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Now here’s MADVoters’ Kaitie Rector.
Cited in the Interview
MADVoters Bill Tracker: https://www.madvoters.org/bill-tracker
HB 1136 School Corporation Reorganization: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1136/details
History of Charter Schools: https://democracyjournal.org/arguments/the-untold-history-of-charter-schools/
One Third of Indianapolis Charter Schools Have Closed: https://www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2023/11/30/charter-school-closures-point-to-questions-about-authorizer-oversight
Fraud & Embezzlement in Indiana Charters: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/indiana-virtual-school-fraud-thomas-stoughton-foreclosure-case
Districts Effected by HB 1136: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/indiana-house-bill-1136-disband-ips-gary-union-cannelton-tri-township-schools
Ten Commandments Bill: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1231/details
Similar Louisiana Bill Struck Down: https://apnews.com/article/ten-commandments-law-blocked-public-schools-louisiana-87b3dde94e583fdbb9ecb26db42b0206
Non-accredited Schools Issuing Diplomas: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1348/details
Partisan School Board Elections: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1230/details
Abortion Pill Ban: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/245/details
Prohibiting Abortion Sanctuaries: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/170/details
Medication Abortion Safety Facts: https://www.cnn.com/health/abortion-pill-safety-dg/index.html
Closed Primaries: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/201/details
Criminalizing Homelessness via “Property Rights”: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/157/details
Attack on Local Control of Public Transit: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/160/details
“Parental Rights” Excluding Certain Medical Decisions: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/143/details
Bathroom Bill: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1342/details
Anti-Trans Sports Bill: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1041/details
Supermajority Overrides Holcomb’s Veto of Anti-Trans Bill: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2022/05/24/transgender-girls-school-sports-bill-law-despite-governor-holcombs-veto/9794587002/
How Gerrymandered is Indiana? https://planscore.org/indiana/#!2022-plan-ushouse-eg
Bill to Reduce Early Voting From 28 to 7 Days: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/284/details
Several Bills on Teacher Compensation:
Indiana Teacher Pay: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/11/01/indianas-annual-average-teacher-pay-tops-60k-but-many-still-make-less-per-new-report
Multiple Test Strip Bills:
Among Others, This One on Firearms Storage: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/248/details
Rape Kits: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1291/details
A Legal Cannabis Bill: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/113/details
Indiana Missing Out on Potential Cannabis Revenue: https://www.wishtv.com/news/i-team-8/missing-millions-indiana-falls-behind-as-neighboring-states-rake-in-revenue-from-legal-pot/
Indiana Budget Picture: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/indiana-ends-fiscal-year-with-25-billion-in-reserves-after-covering-part-of-medicaid-shortfall
Republican Bills Extending Collective Bargaining Rights: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/229/details, https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/230/details
Charter School Accountability: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/403/details
Limiting PAC Spending on School Board Races: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/228/details
Repeal “Right to Work” Bill: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1374/details
Out-of-State Landlords: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/senate/232/details
The Ol’ Compliment Sandwich: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compliment_sandwich
Apologies for the abrupt ending. That was Kaitie Rector, Director of Advocacy for MADVoters Indiana.
Don’t wait for permission. Great closing words. The most wonderful thing about democracy is also its biggest weakness - we don’t need permission to participate. In fact, it demands we take part. And our participation does not end on Election Day. Maybe those you preferred to represent you did not win - but those who did emerge victorious are still your representatives. What power they have is exercised in your name. Their decisions affect your day-to-day life. You pay their salaries. And even though we may have lost in November, all is not lost.
Yes, Indiana’s Republican supermajority have drawn themselves into seats they cannot lose. They may have escaped our wrath at the ballot box, so now they must face our wrath in their inbox, in their voicemail, in their comments sections, and under a mountain of letters. Voting may not have produced wins, but public pressure - the sheer power of shame and embarrassment - might prevent losses. The legislative process presents several important chokepoints, and our last best chances - when faced with their worst - to gum up the works.
Know your State Rep. Know your State Senator. Never forget you’re their boss. Pick one piece of legislation that affects you, your family, your community, and tell them how you feel. You don’t have to stalk them, but follow up - and most importantly, talk to your neighbors and encourage them to speak up, too. I’ve got links to all the legislation we talked about here today in the show notes and of course I’ll link to MADVoters, who make it easy for you to track these bills, to talk to your representatives, and to exercise your right to Mutually Assured Democracy.
Thank you for listening, and thanks again to my guest today, Kaitie Rector. Visit MADVoters.org to access all of the resources we talked about today. While you’re there, click on that “donate” button and help them keep cultivating civic engagement in Indiana. Finally, If you’re feeling extra generous, if you’ve got a little left over, head over to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and help support this project with a paid subscription. Thats’s where you’ll find everything I publish, but you can also find me on Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube and TikTok at hoosleft and on most other social media sites at scottrog78. Look out for a breakdown of HB 1136, perhaps the worst of all the bills highlighted today, coming up later this week with our public education expert, Dr. Michael Shaffer. If you need me before then, my DMs are open for feedback, tips, ideas, and concerns. You can also email me at scottrog78@gmail.com. Forward the show to a friend and have them to forward it to another friend. Let’s keep building this project - and more democratic state. Until next time, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
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