Legislative Update with President and CEO Kristin Craig
January 23, 2025
Advocating for our members and the business community is one of the central tenets of the Chamber’s mission. As such, we closely monitor and stay engaged with each state legislative session, helping educate our legislators and guide their efforts as they work tirelessly to carefully craft legislation to move our state forward.
The 2025 session marks the 124th General Assembly of our state legislators and has already been a busy start to the new year. The easiest way to access information about this session is via the General Assembly website. This includes hearing schedules, video links, complete bill details and information on all legislators. It’s an easy way to keep updated through the quickly-changing session.
Late last year, the Chamber’s Advocacy Committee and Board of Directors came together to finalize a list of legislative priorities to help guide our efforts. The full document can be found here. These priorities are broad enough to allow additional issues to be discussed, but also focus on the key aspects of the Chamber agenda, advancing the needs of the business community and ensuring the Terre Haute/Vigo County/West Central region are well-positioned for success. We work closely with the Vigo County Commissioners, the Mayor of Terre Haute, and many other elected officials to help represent and advocate for our community when needed.
A few bills we are currently tracking include the following:
SB 377: Funding for regional economic development (Goode) - We applaud Senator Greg Goode for this bill which continues to advance regional funding mechanisms while keeping appropriate guardrails in place for transparency and focused efforts.
HB 1087: Lane extension of I-70 (Pfaff) - As the Chamber continues to push the Indiana Department of Transportation to consider lane expansions and other safety improvements along the I-70 corridor, we support Representative Tonya Pfaff’s bill which continues to push the issue from the statehouse perspective. This is the second year she has introduced this bill and we will continue to closely follow its progress.
HB 1008: Indiana-Illinois boundary adjustment commission (Huston) - In one of the more interesting bills of the session, Speaker Todd Huston has introduced a priority bill that would take a close look at our border with Illinois. As a border community, we will follow this closely.
I will provide regular updates throughout the session via this blog and newsletter. In addition, we host Advocacy Forums throughout the session, an exclusive chance for Chamber members to connect with our state legislators and learn more about specific bills. If you are interested in joining these events, please contact me at kcraig@terrehautechamber.com.
