Braun’s second legislative session — MIA or covert success?

Gov. Mike Braun appears to have had a quiet legislative session — his second since taking office — but his cabinet leaders were working behind the scenes on several key bills.

He certainly wasn’t as active in public as some former governors. For instance, Govs. Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence laid out ambitious, specific agenda items — from leasing the Indiana Toll Road and embracing daylight-saving time to expanding Medicaid and passing a 10-year roads plan.

Braun, meanwhile, shouted out a few key bills introduced by legislators during his January State of the State address and issued a high-level list of policy goals as his agenda.

They included affordable housing, lowering electric rates and getting tough on crime.

“I’m not in a lot of those meetings, but it doesn’t feel like he was very involved,” House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta said after the legislative session adjourned Friday. “I don’t know if he just thought it was a short session, not a budget year, maybe he didn’t think he would have to be. But I did not necessarily see where he was involved too much this session.”

Former Republican state lawmaker Mike Murphy, who served under multiple governors, theorized that Braun’s push for a new congressional map that failed in December took his focus off the short session.

“Maybe he didn’t have time to put together a cohesive agenda, because generally, I think his philosophy and his vision is not far removed at all. I think it’s kind of pretty closely in line with the General Assembly,” Murphy said.

But Murphy acknowledged every governor has their own approach and the end results are what matters.

Top GOP legislative leaders say Braun had weekly meetings with key lawmakers and his cabinet secretaries were active on dozens of agency bills.

Mitch Roob, head of the Family and Social Services Administration, regularly appeared on bills impacting Medicaid; Education Secretary Katie Jenner pushed to limit cellphone and social media distractions; and State Business Affairs Secretary Mike Speedy supported an immigration crackdown bill.

“I think they kind of laid out in the State of the State his priorities, like House Bill 1001 and other bills that we worked on this session, 1002 and Senate Bill 1,” House Speaker Todd Huston said. “He keeps track and makes sure things cross the finish line.”

House Bill 1001 targeted ways to reduce housing costs by limiting local regulatory and zoning rules, while House Bill 1002 established a new way of ratemaking for utilities that includes performance metrics on affordability. Senate Bill 1 tightened eligibility for Medicaid and SNAP programs.

But Braun Chief of Staff Josh Kelley said there was much more to the governor’s legislative focus.

He said the office was working with lawmakers going back to last summer to find lawmakers to carry key policy efforts.

He pointed to dozens of successes — 19 of 23 associated agenda bills and 32 of 35 agency bills. One of those was a bill deregulating the Indiana Department of Environmental Management that environmentalists decried.

“Our agency bills were pretty robust. I mean, obviously the IDEM bill is going to be one of the most substantial kind of deregulatory bills that we’ve seen in a long time,” Kelley said.

Other successes included:

• House Bill 1003 – a reduction in state boards and commissions
• Senate Bill 179 – a move to have the Indiana Department of Transportation take over environmental reviews for projects.
• Senate Joint Resolution 1 – a constitutional amendment allowing judges to deny bail for public safety reasons.
• House Bill 1343 – a National Guard agency bill that included changes to the military relief fund and the additional of a military policing unit.

A number of issues rose to the forefront during the session, as well — namely a move to lure the Chicago Bears, and Braun took a lead role on that effort.

There were a few failures on the list too — allowing the Hoosier Lottery to offer tickets and interactive games online; further regulating nonprofit hospitals and tort reform.

Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, said leaders within Braun’s administration were “very helpful in trying to figure out how” they would implement her ambitious immigration proposal, Senate Enrolled Act 76.

Provisions involving federal immigration detainer requests were developed with input from Department of Correction Commissioner Lloyd Arnold, for instance, while Speedy weighed in on a crackdown on businesses with unauthorized workers. Mitch Roob helped work though reporting requirements targeting non-citizen use of social safety nets.

“It was a great collaborative process with the executive branch,” Brown said. “And, you know, I give kudos to Governor Braun and his team, because, you know, they didn’t bring this bill to me — I started it almost a year ago — but they … put their people out there to help if they could.”

She said she was “really impressed with how responsive” administration leaders were, noting, “I don’t expect the head of the department, you know, the secretary or the commissioner, to … be the one responding. But they are more than willing to answer your questions, or make sure they get you to the person who can.”

House Education Committee Chair Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, said the governor’s office has been regularly engaged with his panel this session and that his primary contact within Braun’s administration has been Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner, “who I meet with once a week, maybe more.”

Behning, who has served in the General Assembly since 1992, said that level of contact isn’t new compared to past administrations. Under former Gov. Eric Holcomb, such meetings were “consistent, too.” He emphasized a long‑standing pattern of working through a liaison from the governor’s team when crafting key education measures.

On recent policy priorities, Behning highlighted social media legislation as a top focus for Braun’s team.

“Social media has been something that he was at least very supportive of. Definitely want to get [it] across,” he said, adding that two agency bills — Senate Bill 199 and House Bill 1266 — were “definitely big priorities” for the administration.

Language to restrict social media access for Hoosiers under age 16 was ultimately moved and approved in House Bill 1408.

House Republican Floor Leader Matt Lehman, of Berne, called the entire session odd.

“I mean, you hit the ground in January the first day you’re here … having multiple committee hearings. And so, I think we’ve all just kind of been almost a little bit of running from behind playing catch up. So, I think that’s probably true, too, of all the input coming from stakeholders, including probably the governor’s office,” he said. “I think overall, it’s not been a typical year by any means, but it’s been probably a typical year in how much we’ve kind of engaged with the second floor.”

ICC reporters Tom Davies, Casey Smith and Leslie Bonilla Muñiz contributed to this report.