In no way am I intending this to be political in nature, so mods please don't move or delete. This is merely informational regarding the topic of utilities and state/local authority.
District 22 (Warsaw area) Rep Craig Snow authored Indiana HB 1628

The text of the bill reads as follows:

Defines a "multi-jurisdictional infrastructure project" as a project that: (1) involves the siting, construction, or deployment of facilities, equipment, or infrastructure used in the generation, transmission, distribution, or storage of electricity, gases or fluids, or water; and (2) will have specified impacts on residents, businesses, or political subdivisions in more than one county in Indiana. Provides that the state is the sole regulator of the following with respect to a multi-jurisdictional infrastructure project, to the extent not preempted by federal law or otherwise under the jurisdiction of a federal agency or authority: (1) The siting and construction of any electric generation facility with a capacity of at least 50 megawatts that generates electricity to be directly or indirectly used for the furnishing of public utility service. (2) The siting, construction, and deployment of all facilities, equipment, and infrastructure used in the transmission, distribution, or storage of electricity, gases or fluids, or water. Provides for the preemption of all other regulation by a political subdivision or a local authority of the siting, construction, or deployment of any facilities, equipment, or infrastructure with respect to a multi-jurisdictional infrastructure project. Prohibits a political subdivision from taking specified actions concerning the siting, construction, or deployment of facilities, equipment, and infrastructure in connection with a multi-jurisdictional infrastructure project. Provides that a person that seeks to locate, construct, or deploy any facilities, equipment, or infrastructure in connection with a multi-jurisdictional infrastructure project is not required to obtain from a local authority a permit, or any other land use or zoning approval, with respect to the siting, construction, or deployment. Requires a unit to use data from: (1) the unit's 100 year flood map; and (2) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Atlas 14; to calculate and regulate storm water runoff from a developed or undeveloped plat. Requires a plat committee to take action on a plat application, including meeting with all necessary individuals, not later than 30 days after receiving the application. Provides that if a plan commission or plat committee fails to make written findings and a decision granting or denying primary approval to a plat not later than 60 days after a public hearing, then the plat is considered to have received primary approval. Provides the following: (1) Requires an applicant for a permit or approval (applicant) to be given an extension of time if the applicant's failure to meet the application deadline was caused by unforeseen circumstances beyond the applicant's control. (2) Provides a deadline in an ordinance for commencing or completing a permitted use is tolled until two years after the conclusion of any litigation regarding the granting of the permit. (3) Establishes a timeline for review of permit applications. (4) Establishes requirements for development agreements. (5) With certain exceptions, requires the ordinances, regulations, and statutes (legal restrictions) in effect at the time a permit is entered into to continue to apply unless the development is not completed within 10 years. (6) With certain exceptions, requires the legal restrictions in effect at the time a development agreement is entered into to apply for the agreement's duration. Repeals a statute requiring the ordinances, regulations, and statutes in effect at the time a zoning permit or approval is issued to govern a development for at least three years. Moves parts of the repealed statute to other locations.

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1628/details



Now, I don't particularly care about your personal feelings about solar, it's neither here nor there for this post. But the way I interpret this bill is that these projects are getting killed at the county level and the solar lobbyists have pushed for state control over the regulations of solar projects, removing any power from the local level over large scale utilities.

Regardless of your feelings over solar, wind, nuclear, etc, I recommend my fellow Hoosiers to reach out to their representatives to kill this bill asap. This will have long-term negative effects for generations if the state takes more control over local matters. To me this is simply a power grab for the state to further remove the voices of their constituents.