Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signs his first bill into law during a Statehouse ceremony on Tuesday, March 25. Photo by Casey Smith, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed his first bill into law Tuesday, March 25, establishing a new online agricultural portal for Hoosier farmers.

House Bill 1149, authored by Rep. Kendall Culp, R-Rensselaer, creates an online hub coined by Braun as a “one-stop-shop” for farmers to communicate with state government and “get information they need to be successful.”

The governor additionally said the new law will help farmers “avoid red tape.”

“Hoosier farmers feed America and power our economy, and this bill makes their important job a little bit easier,” Braun told reporters at a Statehouse bill signing ceremony.

The Indiana State Department of Agriculture is tasked with creating and maintaining the new online portal. Its features will provide Hoosier farmers with centralized funding information, including a searchable database of grants with deadlines and eligibility; regulatory checklists to help avoid violations when entering new markets; tools for tracking lost farmland and communication channels to provide feedback on federal regulations and state-level agricultural services.

The bill was part of Braun’s “Freedom and Opportunity” agriculture agenda.

Six other measures were signed into law that day, including a bill to update Indiana’s “25-foot rule” — first passed into law in 2023 — which allows law enforcement officers to move witnesses back 25 feet from an active crime scene.

In response to lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and others, House Enrolled Act 1122 clarifies that officers can only invoke the rule if they have a “reasonable belief” that a person’s presence will interfere with their lawful duties.