State lawmakers representing parts of Bartholomew County have started filing bills for the 2026 legislative session, covering topics ranging from firing squads and birth control for low-income Hoosiers to changes to food stamp benefits and barring mid-decade redistricting.
Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus; Rep. Ryan Lauer, R-Columbus; Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour; and Rep. Jennifer Meltzer, R-Shelbyville, have collectively authored or co-authored 12 bills so far, according to legislative records.
Lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene on Monday. Some bills have been filed but have not yet posted online, lawmakers said.
Walker’s filings
Walker and Sen. Susan Glick, R-LaGrange, have authored a bill that would strip the Indiana governor of the power to appoint Indiana University’s Board of Trustees. The measure, SB 110, would instead authorize IU alumni to select the board.
Currently, the governor appoints all nine trustees to three-year terms, as well as a student trustee who serves a one-year term, according to the university’s website.
The bill comes several months after Gov. Mike Braun removed three elected members of the IU Board of Trustees, roughly a month after indicating he wouldn’t, The Indiana Capital Chronicle reported. Braun instead tapped three new members — two notable conservatives — along with reappointing a sitting trustee.
SB 110 was referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development.
Walker is also a co-author of a bill that would make doxxing a crime in Indiana.
Doxxing is when somebody collects and publishes private or identifying information about another person online — often their address — to harass, intimidate, threaten or seek reference.
The bill, SB 140, would generally make doxxing a Class A misdemeanor. However, it would become a Level 6 felony if the targeted person or a person closely connected to them suffers serious bodily injury or a Level 5 felony if it results in catastrophic injury or death.
SB 140 defines “person closely connected to the targeted person” as the targeted person’s spouse, child or stepchild, parent or stepparent, sibling, grandparent, household member, romantic partner or coworker.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law.
Walker was one of several Indiana lawmakers who were targeted in swatting incidents last month following the Senate’s announcement that it would reject Trump’s push for early redistricting.
Swatting involves making false reports of criminal incidents in an attempt attempting to create a dangerous SWAT response to the residence.
Walker also has been added as an author for a bill that would outlaw early redistricting in Indiana.
The bill, SB 53, would bar the Indiana General Assembly from redrawing legislative or congressional district maps outside of the first regular session immediately following the U.S. Census, according to the text of the bill.
Walker was added as second author on Wednesday. Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, is the first author of the bill, while Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, is listed as a co-author.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Elections. Walker is ranking member of the committee, while Ford is the committee’s ranking minority member and Qaddoura is a minority member.
The bill comes after Indiana Senate Republicans voted against redrawing the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections amid pressure from President Donald Trump and his administration.
Braun, a staunch Trump ally, had convened state lawmakers for a special session this month to consider redrawing the map. Trump and his were seeking to redraw congressional districts in ways that could flip Democratic-held seats and help preserve the GOP’s narrow national majority in the U.S. House.
Redistricting is a process that is normally done once a decade after the census, not mid-decade at the request of a president seeking a partisan advantage for his party in a midterm election. Republicans currently hold seven of Indiana’s nine U.S. House seats.
The proposed map would have placed all of Bartholomew County within Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District, eliminating the current split between the Sixth and Ninth districts in the county. A total of 5,964 registered Bartholomew County voters currently reside in the Ninth District, according to the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office.
Walker has been a vocal critic of early redistricting. He has also been critical of the White House’s efforts to pressure state lawmakers and was one of 21 Senate Republicans who voted against redistricting.
Bills from Lucas
Lucas has introduced three bills that would allow executions via firing squads or nitrogen hypoxia, expand access to birth control and prevent the government from requiring anyone to take a substance — including vaccines — if the manufacturer is protected from civil lawsuits.
Lucas has authored a bill that would allow the death penalty to be carried out by firing squad or nitrogen hypoxia if the Indiana Department of Correction commissioner determines that it “is advisable in light of availability considerations” or requested by the inmate sentenced to death.
The bill, HB 1119, has been referred to the House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code. A similar bill, SB 11, has been filed in the Senate.
The two other bills authored by Lucas, HB 1013 and HB 1020, were introduced earlier this month, according to state records. Both were referred to the Committee on Public Health.
HB 1013 would prohibit requiring people to receive an injection, take or inhale a substance or otherwise put it into their body if a company or person is legally protected from being sued under state or federal law for actions connected to producing, distributing, administering or storing the substance, according to a copy of the bill.
“It’s aimed at vaccines,” Lucas told The Republic previously. “…I don’t believe it’s right to force people to take something that one, was unproven, or two, that’s made by a manufacturer that has no liability. There’s no recourse in a situation like that. That’s not right.”
HB 1020 would establish an access to birth control program administered by the Indiana Department of Health to increase access to birth control among low-income Hoosiers, according to a copy of the bill.
The program would seek to “develop effective ways to distribute birth control to Indiana residents” who have household incomes of no more than 185% of the federal poverty level. The methods of birth control would include condoms, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs and contraceptive devices.
Meltzer bills
Meltzer has filed a bill that would allow any city or town in Indiana to pass an ordinance that moves municipal elections to even-numbered years.
The bill, HB 1055, was referred to the House Committee on Elections and Apportionment on Dec. 5. Rep. Alex Zimmerman, R-North Vernon, and Rep. Ethan Lawson, R-Greenfield, are listed as co-authors.
The bill could have implications for Columbus. Municipal elections in Columbus are currently held on odd-numbered years. The most recent municipal election was in 2023.
Under current law, only towns and cities with populations under 3,500 can adopt ordinances to move municipal elections to even-numbered years, according to state records. Should this bill become state law, Columbus could consider moving its municipal elections to an even-numbered year.
Local election officials and experts have said in the past that voter turnout is often much lower for municipal elections than in presidential elections or midterm elections because there are no national or state races on the ballot.
Turnout in the 2023 general election in Columbus was 23%, while turnout in the 2024 presidential election was 66.5% and 42.6% in the 2022 midterms, according to the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office.
Offices up for grabs in municipal elections include Columbus mayor, Columbus City Council, Columbus City Clerk, among others.
Lauer filings
Lauer said he plans to file several bills this session.
One bill that he said will be filed would bar people from using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to buy “junk food,” candy and sodas.
He also said he will be bringing back a bill he filed last session that seeks to improve the transparency and timeliness of the state’s child fatality reports due to abuse and neglect. It would require the state to publish public reports on the deaths within 90 days and include some details about the fatalities to raise awareness.
Currently, the state publicly reports these cases annually, usually about a year and half after the incident, Lauer said.
“I think it’s incumbent on the state to provide and be transparent with the public in a timely fashion when these tragedies occur,” Lauer said.
Lauer also said he will be filing a bill that would allow Hoosiers to perform a free Social Security number check along with their credit report.
Lauer said the bill seeks to help Hoosiers identify cases of “synthetic identify theft,” which is a type of financial fraud where a criminal uses real personal data — such as a Social Security number or date of birth — and mixes it with fabricated details to create a new, fake identity.
“Fraudsters can use your Social Security number (and) build their own credit files with a different name and a fake address and everything else that does not show up on your credit report, but they’re using your Social Security number,” Lauer said.
