FOX59/CBS4’s IN Focus Town Hall: Lawmakers discuss redistricting, property taxes

INDIANAPOLIS – Later this month, state lawmakers will return to the Indiana Statehouse for organization day, the first official day of the 2026 session of the Indiana General Assembly. 

Just days after the session’s official start, lawmakers are expected to return to the statehouse to talk about redistricting as well as federal and state tax compliance in the first two weeks of December.  

This comes after Indiana Gov. Mike Braun’s first year in office led to the passage of Senate Bill 1, a law centered around property tax reform in the state of Indiana. 

Ahead of all the developments that the 2026 session of the Indiana General Assembly is expected to bring, Braun, along with state lawmakers and local mayors, participated in FOX59/CBS4’s IN Focus Town Hall centered on redistricting, property tax reform and how both impact Hoosiers across the state. 

Redistricting

The federal government can impact the state government in many ways. Recently, that relationship between the entities has been front-of-mind as lawmakers consider a push for redistricting the state mid-decade. 

Right now, the state of Indiana has nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives, seven of whom are Republicans. However, as Republicans at the federal level aim to continue their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Lawmakers in the Indiana General Assembly are expected to discuss Indiana’s redistricting starting on Dec. 1. Redistricting most frequently occurs every 10 years following the U.S. Census, allowing lawmakers to draw maps that determine the state legislative and congressional district boundaries within the state. 

According to previous reports, Vice President J.D. Vance traveled to Indianapolis twice to encourage lawmakers in their discussions surrounding redistricting. Indiana state Republicans also traveled to Washington, D.C. to talk about the topic, and President Donald Trump also joined in the redistricting conversation via a phone call. 

However, this push has been met with some pushback from Democrats, some Republicans in the Indiana Senate, as well as some Hoosiers as a whole. 

According to previous reports, officials with the Indiana Senate Republicans told FOX59/CBS4 on multiple occasions, including after Braun announced a special session, that “the votes aren’t there for redistricting.” 

A poll commissioned by Independent Indiana also showed that the majority of Hoosiers oppose the federal calls for redistricting. According to previous reports, 53% of Indiana voters who responded to the poll oppose the redistricting effort, while 34% support the idea. 

During Tuesday’s town hall, Braun told FOX59/CBS4 that the polls surrounding the support for redistricting have given him pause. However, Braun said he is confident that now that there has been enough time for Republicans to make their case, more people are in support of the efforts. 

“I’m going to say that could have been maybe in the neighborhood of 60-40, probably for it. Now, I think it’s north of 80%, approaching 85% amongst Republicans,” Braun said. 

When asked why the push for redistricting was occurring now, Braun stressed that Republicans have been “playing at a disadvantage,” stressing that Democrats have decided to gerrymander their respective states. 

“Democrats have done it to the point where the playing field is so uneven,” Braun said. 

Once the conversation starts surrounding redistricting, Braun said he does not expect it to take long. 

As of the time of the recorded conversation with Braun, he told FOX59/CBS4 that 14 Indiana Senate Republicans are publicly for the effort, while another eight are “privately” for it if it comes up to a vote. Braun said that they are “real close” and that the White House is also keeping track. 

“I’ve told the Senate it’s going to be an organic process,” he said. “You’ll have plenty of time.” 

State Lawmakers on Redistricting

Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder and House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta also weighed in on Gov. Braun’s announcement of a special session and discussed whether they think he will have the necessary votes by December 1, when lawmakers reconvene to tackle the issue. 

Yoder called the push for redistricting a “power grab,” stating that Hoosiers do not want it to take place.

“I only know that there are Hoosiers that are calling, emailing, writing, everywhere I go, it’s what Hoosiers are talking about. They do not want this,” Yoder said. “Over 50% of Hoosiers are saying, ‘do not rig our maps mid-decade.’”

GiaQuinta also weighed in on California lawmakers voting on a redistricting plan that could help Democrats counter what has transpired in Texas and what could happen in Indiana. 

“I am more concerned with what Hoosiers are telling us,” GiaQuinta said. “Poll after poll after poll will tell you that they do not want the Indiana legislature to redistrict these maps during the middle of the decade.”

GiaQuinta added that those in Washington are concerned with losing votes next year and that is the reason behind the push for redistricting. 

“They know that they are in deep trouble because their policies coming out of Washington, D.C., they want to kick folks off healthcare, cut taxes for billionaires, it’s very simple,” GiaQuinta said.

Yoder emphasized that they are working to serve Hoosiers as legal challenges continue to mount against the redistricting push. 

“We are elected to serve Hoosiers and Hoosiers right now are facing unprecedented grocery bills, childcare costs, healthcare costs, housing costs, the list goes on and on,” she said.

When questioned by a viewer about which goals he believes should be prioritized when creating a Congressional map, GiaQuinta said he supports the creation of an independent commission to draw the maps. 

“It’s something that House Democrats have put up on the board via amendment; we have filed bills,” GiaQuinta said. “We think it is high time that an independent commission should be formed and should be the ones to draw the maps instead of elected officials drawing their own districts.”

Property Taxes

During the town hall, Braun was also asked multiple questions surrounding the impact of Senate Bill 1 during the 2025 session of the Indiana General Assembly. 

During his gubernatorial campaign, Braun spent a lot of time talking about property tax relief. According to previous reports, the campaign’s plan going into the election in November 2024 included cutting homeowner property taxes, capping property tax bills and reforming the state’s referendum process. 

In April, Senate Bill 1 was signed by Braun into law. The law allowed homeowners to claim a tax credit worth 10% of their property tax bill, up to $300. The bill also allows municipalities to impose a “local income tax” that meets a certain threshold.

At the time, Braun said that the new law “cuts property taxes for most Hoosier homeowners, farms and businesses, limits future tax hikes and makes the tax system fairer, more transparent and easier to understand.”

However, following the bill’s passage, cities have reported that their budgets have had to be shrunken. Previous reports state that the bill did not feature many mechanisms to help government agencies recoup the funds that will be lost as property taxes decrease.

When asked about the impact of SB 1, Braun said that many entities were inundated with higher costs because of inflation. Braun stressed that SB 1 gave “historic relief “to Hoosiers and helped “put a lid on” growing the government over growing the state’s economy. 

Braun said that he would maybe support some small tweaks on the bill, but thought that some municipalities had overextended their budgets, putting some of the blame on some of the local entities. 

“I’m going to always be for healthy school systems and local governments, but not at the expense of the taxpayer to pay for it,” Braun said. “If you want more, do a referendum, use other forms of revenue, but don’t automatically think you can get it behind an opaque system, which occurred in many jurisdictions.

“I think you’re going to see over time more concern about property taxes being a way to finance government,” Braun continued, “because a home is the main thing we want everyone to own, and it shouldn’t be burdened with undue costs, especially if you paid off your mortgage.” 

Impact of SB 1 on local municipalities

During Tuesday’s town hall, several mayors across Central Indiana spoke about the impact that SB 1 has had on funding local municipalities. Many of the cities, including Greenwood, Zionsville, Beech Grove and Kokomo, are facing millions in losses of property tax revenue. 

Because of the implementation of SB 1, many cities, including the city of Greenwood, have had to go back to the drawing board with their respective budgets. Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said that cuts have had to occur in pretty much every department this year and next year. 

“We froze most salaries. We did give a 1% increase to public safety, and we’ll always focus on public safety to make sure that we keep our citizens safe,” Myers said. “…We’re going to see some cuts to where we’ll have a hiring freeze that’ll have to go on over the next couple of years. We’re looking at even more losses in 2028.” 

For Zionsville, John Stehr, the town’s mayor, said SB 1 is expected to have a big impact on his town’s funding, stressing that the town’s short-term outlook is going to be “very, very hard.” 

“I understand where the governor is coming from,” Stehr said. “He’s looking at the big picture, and not every town is situated the same way our towns are. I get that. But for us, I’m looking at the micro version. I’m looking at Zionsville, and it’s a huge impact on us. It’s 3% of our budget.” 

Deb Whitfield, the mayor of Lawrence, said that the bill is leading her to encourage department heads to “start thinking outside the box” in regards to funding. 

“Start thinking about creative ways of funding or resources that we can go after,” she said. “That’s one of the things that we’re concentrating on: funds, grants, you know, with different organizations.” 

Multiple mayors encouraged state lawmakers to travel to local municipalities, look at the budget and help them with further cuts. Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore said that he does not know if there’s a way to continue the cut of property tax revenue any further without city budgets having to shoulder the burden. 

“Nobody wants to pay more taxes. Nobody wants to pay additional fees,” Moore said. “Those are the tools that the governor mentioned that we, as mayors, now have to work with… We now have to make the tougher decisions that may not have been made at the state level before.” 

James Coffman, the mayor of Beech Grove, said that state lawmakers should not make changes just to make them, but have the conversations on how to best provide for the municipality’s residents. 

“We were told that there is still some work to be done with this bill, and that’s what we were told when it was passed earlier this year,” Coffman said. “I hope they take the time to listen to us.” 

Many of the mayors spoke about how they believe it is necessary for state lawmakers to rope in local municipalities when talking about the impacts of SB 1. Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson sees this as a bipartisan issue, bringing together the resources that municipalities need for their respective residents. 

“I’ve heard from several lawmakers that they didn’t really anticipate the full impact of (SB 1),” Thomson said, “so I think really focusing on what changes can be made before this gets fully implemented in the coming years and really harm cities and school systems.” 

In the view of Marion Mayor Ronald Morrell, adjustments are necessary for SB 1, stressing that it’s “not just one swipe of a pen, fix everything for every city.” 

“I think this bill is just bad. I’m a Republican and I’m proud to be that. But this bill is bad no matter what angle you come at it from,” Morrell said. “So, I think there needs to be some adjustments, and I’m hoping that our state legislature will listen to that and be able to make those appropriate adjustments to do what’s best for all of us in the state of Indiana.

“We’re open,” he continued. “We invite anybody to come and look over the budget to see what is available to cut because there’s really nothing left.” 

The full IN Focus town hall can be viewed in the video player above.