Rep. Bascom, Sen. Maxwell Share Legislative Experience at Annual Luncheon

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 at 1:37 PM

By Travis Thayer @eagle993

The Post Legislative Luncheon was held on Wednesday at Ivy Tech.

Randy Maxwell (left) and Garrett Bascom (right) spoke at the 2025 Post Legislative Luncheon on Wednesday. Photo by Travis Thayer, Eagle Country 99.3.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - State Senator Randy Maxwell and State Representative Garrett Bascom were in Lawrenceburg on Wednesday to speak about their experience at the 2025 Legislative Session.

The annual Post Legislative Luncheon, presented by Duke Energy, was hosted by the Dearborn County Chamber of Commerce at Ivy Tech Community College's Riverfront Campus.

This year was Senator Maxwell's second legislative session, but first budget year, while State Rep. Bascom is in his rookie year as the second youngest member of the Indiana Legislature.

Indiana's next two-year budget, which totals $44 billion, had a $2.4 billion shortfall due to a bleak revenue forecast. That included five percent cuts to public higher education institutions and most state agencies, a 25 percent cut to the state's economic development, and a 60 percent cut to public health funding.

Under the new budget, funding for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library was also nixed.

One of the big talking points of the legislative session included lowering property taxes for Hoosiers. Under Senate Bill 1, which was signed into law, a combination of credits and reforms will reportedly save Hoosiers $1.1 billion in property taxes over the next three years. However, the bill impacts the amount of property tax revenue that goes toward public schools and will require traditional public schools to share local referendum dollars with certain charter schools. The table below shows have Dearborn County school corporations will be impacted.

District	CY 2026	Percent Change	CY 2027	Percent Change	CY 2028	Percent Change
South Dearborn	-491,110	-5.8%	-497,480	-5.7%	-477,990	-5.4%
Lawrenceburg	-267,610	-3.9%	-295,330	-4.3%	-317,900	-4.5%
Sunman-Dearborn	-1,165,150	-7.1%	-1,199,740	-7.1%	-1.244,620	-7.2%

"Sunman-Dearborn School District is the most residential dependent school district in the state of Indiana, and I learned that because they were the most affected," said Senator Maxwell. "There is not a lot of commercial development in the Sunman-Dearborn School District, so they have lost the most money. In school district's such as Lawrenceburg and South Dearborn, there is more commercial base to absorb so it all nets out in the credit."

Sen. Maxwell said he spoke to school board members at Sunman-Dearborn that have ensured him that the school corporation will be "fine" due to strong financials.

State Rep. Bascom highlighted the bills he worked on during the legislative session which included multiple that were signed into law.

Immigration Bill - Jail or detention center officials are required to notify the county sheriff if there is probable cause to suspect an arrestee is in the country illegally. The sheriff would then be required to notify federal authorities. The bill only applies to individuals arrested for a misdemeanor or felony offense.
Driving with Lifetime Suspension - Specifies that the penalty for a operating a motor vehicle while under a lifetime forfeiture of driving privileges is: (1) a Level 6 felony, if the forfeiture occurred before July 1, 2015; and (2) a Level 5 felony, if the forfeiture occurred after June 30, 2015.
Healthcare Exception - Provides an exception to one of the disqualifying conditions for a nurse aide or other unlicensed employee.
Red Flag Laws - Requires a court to expunge certain records related to the red flag law if the court finds that an individual is not dangerous, and permits a court to expunge certain records related to the red flag law if the court finds that an individual previously found dangerous is no longer dangerous.

Bascom said the bill that he was most proud of was Senate Bill 234, which he sponsored. The bill, which was signed into law, increases the penalty levels of crimes related to fentanyl.

"We struck the right balance, and I'm proud to be the person who kind of amended this bill and helped work this language into two separate bills," said Bascom.

Under the legislation, when a person deals to three or more people and the prosecutor can prove that at a sentencing hearing, it can be used as an enhancement to try and capture the real dealers. If someone is charged with possession or dealing and they have a substance use disorder and they are seeking treatment, the judges can use that as a mitigating circumstance.

Among the other topics at Wednesday's event was Rising Star Casino, Community Crossing Grants, and School Board Elections.

Regarding Rising Star Casino, parent company Full House Resorts, Inc. issued a proposal last August that would see the casino's gaming license be moved to the City of New Haven in the Fort Wayne area. Sen. Maxwell said a summer study has been proposed to see if, when, and where there will be a new casino in Indiana. That effort is being led by the casino operators, so for the time being the issue appears to be on the back burner.

The threshold for Community Crossing Grants has been reduced by the governor from $150 million to $100 million. One big change to the program is the introduction of a Wheel Tax.

Rep. Bascom explained that the Community Crossing Grants that area communities have always been eligible for, will still be there. Communities that want to access additional lane miles-based funding that will come in through the gas tax will go into a separate pot. The first portion goes to Marion County, the second portion goes into a bigger pot that is split up proportionately to counties with a Wheel Tax based on the number of lane miles they have.

In other road news, Sen. Maxwell said he would support tolling in Indiana to support funding for infrastructure improvements, considering many other states do toll. Currently, the state's road funding only comes from the gas tax, which will continue to go up without other fundraising means. Maxwell said I-70 could be a spot for tolling as plans have been proposed to expand the interstate. He said tolling on that road would not impact motorists in southeast Indiana and would benefit the state as a whole.

Lastly, a bill was signed to allow party affiliation in school board elections. The bill was originally drafted to be mandatory, but was amended to be optional. Our state legislators played a role in making the party affiliation optional.

To conclude Wednesday's event, attendees applauded Maxwell and Bascom for being open and available to hear comments and concerns from community members throughout the legislative session and beyond.

For information on how to contact your legislator, visit https://iga.in.gov/information/find-legislators