Legislators introduced 1259 bills during the 2025 Indiana General Assembly.
That is a number our small Quaker group can’t follow thoroughly, so we work with other groups that lobby for issues that match our priorities. We are grateful for the resources and interactions from others who represent environmental, educational, justice, elections and a variety of other challenges that affect Hoosiers who may not be able to lobby on their own behalf.
We often hear your specific concerns about predatory lending, homelessness and affordable housing, so we always follow those bills, but that is often difficult. For example, language from a bill introduced at the start of the session to criminalize homelessness was still alive the last week of the session, added to other bills after the original bill was defeated. Additional contacts with legislators and with other advocates for fair housing had to be made to put this inhumane legislation down for another year.
We wish we could spend less time trying to alter or stop bills that aren’t helpful to our fellow Hoosiers and more time on positive legislation that makes Indiana a state that supports everyone. In Indiana, playing defense is important on the basketball court and in the General Assembly. But going on offense and scoring at least occasionally can be most gratifying.
To that end, we discovered as a new version of a predatory loan was introduced this session, that there are companies that provide grants or no-to low-interest loans for emergency situations their employees may encounter. This might present us with an opportunity to push for positive change! I encourage anyone who has more information about such services to contact me with sources we might be able to use in a proactive effort to provide safety nets for the financially vulnerable. Offering some alternatives in rebuttal to the argument predatory lenders so often make that their loans with high interest rates are “products” that people “need” would be a real win.
I look forward to hearing from you as we explore forward-facing solutions for this and issues. We are planning a meeting at Indianapolis First Friends Saturday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. to discuss issues and plans for future efforts. More information will be provided as the date approaches.