Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Some new Indiana laws don't take effect for months

The eastern exterior of the Indiana Statehouse. There is a tall crane next to the limestone building. There is scaffolding surrounding the Statehouse dome. The front of the building is four tall columns above a set of wooden doors. There is a statute of former governor Oliver Morton in front of the building.
Abigail Ruhman
/
IPB News
The Indiana General Assembly passed more than 240 new laws in 2025, all of them signed into law by Gov. Mike Braun. Some of them take effect in January 2026 and beyond.

While the vast majority of new laws passed each year take effect on July 1, some measures go into effect much later.

SEA 140: Pharmacy benefits

Pharmacy benefit managers must ensure pharmacy benefits are “reasonably adequate and accessible” under a law that takes effect in January, in a move meant to help lower prescription drug costs. But SEA 140 also allows certain independent pharmacies to charge a dispensing fee in a bid to help keep them in business — driving fears of increased costs for Hoosiers.

HEA 1001: State budget

Almost all of the new state budget, HEA 1001, took effect July 1, 2025. But there are provisions that don’t go into effect the same time, including a new sales tax exemption.

Companies building quantum computing research, advanced computing, and defense infrastructure network facilities in Indiana won’t have to pay sales tax on their equipment beginning in January. How much revenue that might cost the state is unknown, since lawmakers don’t know how many such facilities will be located here.

READ MORE: Vast majority of new laws passed by Indiana General Assembly take effect July 1

Join the conversation and sign up for our weekly text group: the Indiana Two-Way. Your comments and questions help us find the answers you need on statewide issues, including our project Civically, Indiana.

HEA 1001: State budget

And there will no longer be any income limits on Indiana’s school voucher program beginning in late June 2026.

Language in Indiana's two-year budget opens the state’s wealthiest families to thousands in taxpayer dollars for their children in private schools. That cost is estimated at more than $100 million.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

Tags
Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.