WIBC/Network Indiana Statehouse Bureau Chief Eric Berman believes the chances the General Assembly reconvenes for a special session are “slightly above 50-50.” He says in his more than two decades covering the Statehouse, he has not experienced another session that ended like it did Wednesday with multiple bills dying when the House and Senate missed the midnight deadline. “One of the remarkable things about the mayhem with which the session ended was how placid it was up until that point,” Berman told Inside INdiana Business. “With the exception of the Gary/Muncie school takeover, which was one of the casualties of the time running out at the end, there really was not even a big partisan issue where Republicans and Democrats drew their lines in the sand, it was a very amicable session right up until the very end and then all of a sudden, some of these disagreements spilled out into the open.”
The Indiana Chamber contends the bodies failing to get House Bill 1316 to a final vote, alone, could drive legislators to return. The proposed legislation involved syncing Indiana taxes with federal taxes following reforms championed by the Trump Administration. Chamber President Kevin Brinegar will be a guest on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick this weekend to talk about how the session finished. The organization described the final hours leading up to the deadline as “marked with chaos and confusion – the likes of which we had never seen before.”
Governor Eric Holcomb still has multiple bills awaiting his decision to sign. Following the end of the session, he issued a statement saying he met with House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-88) and Senate President Pro Tem David Long (R-16) and he’ll use any authority he can to “complete unfinished business,” adding “there’s still work to be done.”