Republican Gov. Mike Braun signs a slew of new executive orders on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at the Indiana Statehouse. Photo by Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Among nine executive orders released Wednesday, Jan. 15 by Gov. Mike Braun are directives to cut a quarter of government regulations and reduce qualifications for state jobs and professional licenses, along with a mandate for state employees to return to their offices by July 1.

Braun, a Republican, detailed the new orders on his third day in office, summing up the actions as a means to make Indiana “more efficient, transparent and accountable.”

Also included in the governor’s orders is a promise to “increase transparency” by creating a new public-facing dashboard to better organize “active” executive orders. Braun gave his team a July 1 deadline to create the webpage on the state’s website, with at least quarterly updates thereafter.

Braun maintained that the move to reduce regulation will improve Hoosiers’ investments into state government without reducing the quality of services.

In all, Braun has signed 19 executive orders, including ones that create his new cabinet structure.

Changes For State Employees

While Braun’s “return to work” order acknowledges that remote work for state employees “was appropriate” during the COVID-19 pandemic, “its continued scale must be reevaluated to align with the fundamental mission of public service: ensuring accountability, responsiveness, and efficient service delivery to Hoosiers.”

Former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s public health emergency first issued in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic was ended in March 2022. Braun’s order emphasized that “the conditions necessitating non-traditional work environments” have since “significantly improved.”

The order stipulates that by July 1, “all state agencies will require all full-time employees to work in the office, facility, or field location assigned by their agency, and not from a remote location.”

That’s a departure from current willingness throughout many state offices to allow workers to log some or all paid hours from home. In 2024, Indiana agencies reported that nearly 10,600 employees worked more than 7.3 million hours remotely, according to Braun’s order.

p style=”text-align: left;”>The governor said “limited exceptions” can be made for some employees to work on hybrid or remote schedules, as long as they’re located “within the geographical boundaries of Indiana.” Any such exceptions will have to be approved by the state’s personnel department.

Employees “who have not yet demonstrated satisfactory performance in their job functions” or who “are not currently demonstrating satisfactory performance”

Gov. Mike Braun holds a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, at the Indiana Statehouse. Photo by Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

are not eligible for remote work, though.

A separate order directs the state personnel department to remove postsecondary or graduate degree requirements if not deemed “necessary to perform the job duties” of any current or future state job openings.

Instead, hiring managers “are encouraged to prioritize skills-based hiring practices, emphasizing relevant experience and competencies,” including workforce experience, apprenticeships, career and technical certification, and military services — rather than degree requirements, except where legally mandated.

Another of Braun’s directives additionally calls for all state agencies to review their occupational licensing rules and remove degree requirements “that are not demonstrably related to job performance.”

Background check requirements, character and fitness interviews, and exclusions based on criminal offenses “without a clear relationship to the job responsibilities of the regulated profession” should be nixed, too, according to the order.

The same goes for training hour requirements “that exceed industry standards without clear justification.”

Other Government ‘Efficiency’ Reforms

An order focused on “key performance metrics” will task the Office of Management and Budget with creating a dashboard to “measure and monitor the effectiveness of our state agencies,” Braun said.

By 2029, the governor also wants state agencies to delete at least 25% of their existing administrative rules as a way to reduce”regulatory burdens on businesses and citizens.”

Braun’s other executive orders aim to reduce non-statutorily required spending; replace “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) throughout government policies and programming with “merit, excellence and innovation” (MEI); effectively close the Office of the Chief Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity Officer created by Holcomb; and require the state to begin using a cloud-based computing framework to “streamline” procurement.

Indiana Senate Democratic caucus specifically admonished Braun’ elimination of DEI initiatives within state government, calling the move a “regressive action” that “threatens to undermine Indiana’s progress toward building a state that works for all Hoosiers.”

Holcomb signed more than 150 orders during his eight-year tenure. Many were issued amid the pandemic — like mask mandates and stay-at-home orders — drawing ire from members of his own Republican Party. As of Wednesday, state webpages housing those orders were no longer active, however.