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The Indiana Economic Development Corp., the state’s job-creation agency, is a key negotiator that has brought billions in private capital investments to Indiana. It’s received major federal grants and broken ground on an innovation park believed to be Indiana’s next economic frontier.
However, criticism has ramped up in recent years over whether the agency, which receives hundreds of millions in tax dollars a year, has been transparent and fiscally responsible enough.
That unease culminated in at least four transparency-focused bills this session—all filed by Republicans—seeking to add more guardrails for the IEDC. However, not one received a hearing in committee, and the slate of legislation is effectively dead as the Legislature approaches its first-half deadline next Thursday.
The bills stipulated a range of measures, such as board member requirements, a transparency dashboard, rural spending benchmarks and no more confidentiality agreements. Other bills were a bit more in the weeds over IEDC’s authority in regional development.
When asked why none of the bills moved forward this session, House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, said IEDC is already required to submit several reports and all of its requests to the State Budget Committee are publicly available.
“We’ve had this conversation before with our caucus and with others, is that IEDC produces a ton of reports,” he said. “If you want to go find out what IEDC has done, you can go back to their reports.”
And President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, said those bills have encouraged conversations with the Braun administration and Secretary of Commerce David Adams.
“Those conversations kind of helped move that along and has probably had some impact on the way that the IEDC and the Secretary of Commerce will govern itself,” Bray said. “We will continue to give them opportunities to do great things for Indiana and continue these conversations if they need more legislative oversight in the future.”
Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, concurred, but told IBJ he still wants to see accountability and transparency measures codified. He’s disappointed those weren’t enacted this year but said he will be pushing for similar measures in the future.
This session, he filed Senate Bill 251, which would have required a designated state employee to investigate and resolve complaints related to the IEDC. It also would have mandated a new transparency and compliance dashboard and for two nonvoting legislative members to sit on its board.
Deery told IBJ that Adams and his staff have brought a new mindset and are already making changes. Through conversations with them, he said they appear open to a number of reforms to restore public trust. But they need a bit of time, he said, to assess what measures would be most impactful.
“[Adams has] already started to shift the IEDC into an entity that’s more transparent and focused on growing Indiana businesses,” he said. “They’re also seeking to do that on their own. They’re not waiting for us to act.”
Deery has been a staunch advocate for more water withdrawal regulations and IEDC oversight after his district would have been impacted by a proposed pipeline funneling water to the LEAP Lebanon Research and Innovation District in Boone County. (LEAP stands for Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace.)
Improving trust between Hoosiers and IEDC remains one of his top goals, he said.
In sessions past, bills filed to add more oversight of the IEDC have also failed to make it over the finish line. Deery said the reason for that seems to be different this year. The newness of administration made for poor timing, he said.
“There’s probably a recognition that there have been errors in the past,” he said, “and now it’s just a desire to figure out what the right actions are to respond to that.”
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