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Indiana General Assembly: How the state legislature works
The Indiana General Assembly is a bicameral legislature that meets annually to pass laws. Here’s a closer look at what state lawmakers do.
Just as quickly as the idea to move the Chicago Bears team to northwest Indiana came to light in a surprise open letter from the team’s president, Indiana state lawmakers got busy drafting the infrastructure to make it happen.
A bill was drafted and has thus far sailed through the process, passing the Senate Jan. 28 by a 46-2 vote and enabling a new authority to bond and build an NFL stadium in the region. The bill still needs to pass the House and be signed by Gov. Mike Braun before it goes into law.
“We don’t get an opportunity like this every day,” Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, told his fellow senators on the floor. “The more support we show for this bill, the better chance the reality could occur.”
The Chicago Bears encouraged this development when the bill was first posted in mid-January, calling it a “significant milestone” in its discussions about developing a stadium in northwest Indiana.
This all started when Bears President and CFO Kevin Warren penned an open letter Dec. 17 saying that the team wants to expand its search for a new stadium site to the wider Chicagoland region, including northwest Indiana. This launched a flurry of enthusiasm from community leaders and Braun, who specifically called out the possibility in his State of the State address.
Lawmakers weren’t completely starting from scratch ― they worked from an existing template from 2005, when Indiana lawmakers created an authority to finance the construction of Lucas Oil stadium in downtown Indianapolis.
Indiana already had some existing planning infrastructure to support this: Lawmakers passed a law last year creating a new “Northwest Indiana professional sports development commission,” whose task is to figure out how to build the infrastructure necessary to attract a professional sports team ― be it football, baseball, basketball or even hockey ― to the region.
This year’s bill, Senate Bill 27, lays out all the abilities granted to the authority in relation to issuing bonds and making financial decisions to acquire land, build a stadium and enter into contracts. The authority can only issue bonds if it has a written agreement with a National Football League team that includes an at-least 35-year lease for the stadium.
The board overseeing the authority would only comprise three members: the director of the office of management and budget or a designee, the public finance director and another member appointed by the OMB director.
Bill author Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka, said this is just the start ― for example, he said local representatives should be added to this board.
“This bill just creates the framework,” he said. “There’s a lot of other details that will need to be added as well.”
Contact IndyStar Statehouse reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on X @kayla_dwyer17.