Rep. Bascom, Sen. Maxwell Speak at Post Legislative Session

The state legislators touched on some hot topics impacting southeast Indiana.

State Rep. Garrett Bascom (standing right) and State Sen. Randy Maxwell (seated left) speaking at the Post Legislative Luncheon. Photo by Travis Thayer, Eagle Country 99.3.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - State Rep. Garrett Bascom (R-Lawrenceburg) and State Sen. Randy Maxwell (R-Guilford) spoke Thursday at the annual Post Legislative Luncheon. 

The event, hosted by the Dearborn County Chamber Commerce and sponsored by Duke Energy, was held at Ivy Tech Community College's Riverfront Campus. 

Several topics were touched upon, including redistricting, Rising Star Casino, solar energy systems, and the closure of the ICU at St. Elizabeth Dearborn. 

Redistricting 

Mid-decade redistricting efforts was a hot button issue in the state of Indiana prior to the start of the legislative session. 

A proposal, advanced by House Republicans last fall, would have reshaped several districts in attempt to give Republicans an advantage in all nine of the state's congressional districts. 

The measure failed in the Senate by a vote of 31-19.

State Sen. Randy Maxwell announced his support for redistricting last October. 

On Thursday Maxwell said, "it was an easy vote for me. My job is to represent the people."

He elaborated by saying Indiana is a conservative state and redistricting would help level the playing field with liberal states that have successfully gerrymandered their congressional districts. 

While congressional districts are typically redrawn every 10 years, Maxwell said "the constitution does not say you can't redraw them any year." 

Rising Star Casino

Rising Star Casino has been a topic at the statehouse for the last few years. Both Bascom and Maxwell have worked to support Ohio County throughout the process. 

Eagle Country 99.3 reported on February 27 that Rising Star Casino is expected to stay in Rising Sun for the foreseeable future after efforts to relocate the casino's gaming license. 

Relocations bills were filed in 2025 and 2026. Fort Wayne, downtown Indianapolis, and counties such as Allen, DeKalb, Steuben and Wayne were mentioned as possible locations. 

Near the end of the 2026 session, a bill was passed that creates a new gaming license for northeast Indiana. The bill also keeps Rising Star Casino in Rising Sun. 

As protection for the community, the bill includes the creation of a $50 million "Shuttered Riverboat Fund" which will be administered by the Indiana Gaming Commission and may be used to assist local units that could be impacted by the closure of a casino in the future. 

Solar Energy

While solar energy systems were not part of discussion at the statehouse, the topic did come up at Thursday's Post Legislative Luncheon. During the Q&A session, an attendee asked, "how will you protect us from solar, data center, and other unwanted development?"

The answer was simple, local control. 

Locally, Dearborn County Commissioners recently put a one-year moratorium on the processing of applications for commercial solar farms and battery storage facilities in Dearborn County. 

Franklin County Commissioners did the same on data centers. 

The year-long moratoriums allow each country more time to get county ordinances in line. 

Sen. Maxwell stated that he helped kill a bill that would have eliminated local control on issued like this one. 

St. Elizabeth ICU

St. Elizabeth Dearborn announced in late February that ICU services and overnight surgeries at St. Elizabeth Dearborn will be consolidated to Edgewood and Florence. 

While ICU services will no longer be available as of this spring, area residents who need emergency care will still be taken to St. Elizabeth Dearborn. Once stable, those patients will be transferred to a nearby ICU. 

State Rep. Bascom said that he plans to advocate for dollars from the Big Beautiful Bill to be distributed to southeast Indiana to be used for better rural access to care. 

Other discussion

This session, 164 of the 682 bills filed were passed into law. Those bills were looked over, discussed, voted on and signed into law within a two-month period. Some of the bills that became law were discussed on Thursday. 

State Rep. Bascom authored House Bill 1296, which deals with mental health services. The law requires the owner of a recovery residence to register with the division of mental health and addiction. 

He also sponsored a bill that became law that requires local law enforcement and county jails to comply with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests. Agencies would also need to notify judges overseeing bail decisions and record the detainer in case files.

Bascom co-authored House Bill 1052, which aims to eliminate sweepstakes games from phones. 

Another bill passed into law, protects Hoosier technology, intellectual property and land from foreign advisories.