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Indiana Lawmakers had a little slumber party at the Statehouse last night as they decided on what to do with Hoosier taxpayer money.
Under the cover of darkness and behind closed doors in an overnight legislative session, the Indiana legislature passed a whopping $44.5B budget. Shortly after 1:30 a.m. eastern time, the House voted 70-27 to pass the two-year spending plan. Less than an hour later, the Senate followed suit in a 39-10 vote to send it to Gov. Eric Holcomb, who “gladly” signed off on it.
“The budget that was just passed and the budget that I will gladly sign is not just your average, ordinary, typical, two-year budget,” said Gov. Eric Holcomb at around 3:00 a.m. “It is a generational impact budget.”
The “generational impact budget” includes a massive boost to education funding. Lawmakers even added more education funding to the budget at the last minute which pushed the total to around $1.5 billion, making up over half of the overall budget.
Gas taxes will also keep going up under the new budget. The annual 1-cent gas tax increase set to expire in 2024 was extended three more years to 2027. That particular gas tax currently sits at 33-cents for every gallon you buy.
In addition, lawmakers also added provisions to give themselves raises. Holcomb will especially benefit from this as his salary will increase by 50 percent to nearly $200,000 a year.
