(INDIANA) — Indiana House lawmakers passed Indiana Senate Bill 76 on Thursday and sent the measure back to the Senate, where leaders adjourned without taking the final vote needed to accept House changes.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, a Republican from Martinsville, said the chamber ran out of time before it could vote on whether to concur with the House amendments.
State Sen. Liz Brown, the Fort Wayne Republican who authored the bill, said she supports the amended version and plans to vote to concur, as Republican leaders predicted the measure would clear the Senate.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita pushed for immediate action after the House vote, telling reporters, “It’s gonna get passed today. It should get passed today,” and pointing to amendments he said align the bill with policies backed by President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan.
The legislation, branded the FAIRNESS Act — short for Fostering and Advancing Immigration Reforms Necessary to Ensure Safety and Security — combines mandates for local cooperation with immigration enforcement with new penalties and reporting requirements.
Supporters describe SB 76 as a way to standardize what public agencies, public employees and local law enforcement can do when working with federal immigration authorities, especially in places such as schools, hospitals and jails.
Opponents, including Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates, warn the bill invites constitutional challenges, expands the risk of racial profiling and blurs the line between state functions and federal immigration enforcement.
At the center of SB 76 is a restriction on what the bill treats as “non-cooperation” policies, barring public universities, government bodies and their employees from limiting lawful cooperation with federal, state or local immigration enforcement.
The bill lists entities that include K-12 school districts, public hospitals, local governments, police departments and sheriff offices, while tying permitted cooperation to compliance with state and federal law.
Another core piece requires local governments to honor ICE detainer requests, a step that typically asks a jail to hold a person beyond the time they would otherwise be released so federal agents can take custody.
Backers argue detainers provide a consistent handoff process between local jails and federal immigration authorities, while critics say detainers can extend detention without the same procedural safeguards as criminal warrants.
SB 76 also targets workplaces by banning the knowing or intentional hiring of undocumented workers and setting escalating punishments that can include short operating suspensions or permanent statewide revocations for repeat violations.
Brown and other supporters point to E-Verify as a compliance safeguard, saying use of the system provides protections for employers trying to follow the law.
Rokita’s office would gain authority to sue entities that violate the bill, a power supporters say is needed to ensure uniform compliance across Indiana.
The measure also creates a warning-and-cure process for certain entities, including county jails, before penalties apply, and it adds immunity provisions shielding entities and employees from civil or criminal liability when they comply.
Beyond enforcement and employment, SB 76 includes reporting requirements touching public benefits and health systems, with a phased approach that supporters say gives agencies time to implement documentation processes.
Under the bill, the Secretary of State’s Office would report noncitizens receiving certain public benefits and their statuses, and hospitals would face a Medicaid-related documentation requirement in a later phase.
Republican state officials framed SB 76 as part of a broader push to deter unlawful immigration and remove what they see as barriers to cooperation with federal authorities.
Gov. Mike Braun’s office backed the measure through State Business Affairs Secretary Mike Speedy, who said he wanted “the strongest version.”
Nathan Roberts of Save Heritage Indiana called the bill a “model for common-sense immigration enforcement,” echoing the argument that Indiana should build a uniform statewide approach rather than leaving decisions to local policy.
Brown cast the bill as a direct message to those who would evade or undermine immigration enforcement, saying it “makes it clear to those harboring and encouraging illegal aliens that Indiana will not have its laws ignored.”
Democratic lawmakers described the bill as forcing schools, hospitals and other public institutions into the middle of federal immigration actions, even when staff have no training or mandate for immigration work.
State Rep. Matt Pierce, a Democrat from Bloomington, argued the measure ties institutions to ICE despite its “record of killing U.S. citizens” and gives them “free reign” on campuses, and he voted no.
Sen. Shelli Yoder, a Democrat from Bloomington, warned the bill risks turning teachers, nurses and other public workers into “federal enforcement agents” and increasing the likelihood of racial profiling.
Legislators debated carve-outs meant to protect school settings, including proposals that sought to exempt schools and school resource officers, but those efforts failed and became a flashpoint for how the bill would work on the ground.
Lisa Koop of the National Immigrant Justice Center criticized the bill on civil liberties grounds, pointing to Fourth Amendment risks tied to detentions that can extend beyond the bill’s detainer framework and raising concerns about potential school entry issues.
SB 76 also fits into an existing Indiana legal framework that already limits certain governmental and postsecondary policies that impede federal immigration enforcement, but supporters say the measure broadens the scope and adds penalties to ensure compliance statewide.
Rokita’s earlier lawsuit against Indianapolis Public Schools over warrant policies helped shape the political backdrop for the bill, and the district later changed its policy.
The proposal also drew a lengthy and crowded public hearing in the House, with testimony that split sharply between supporters and opponents and highlighted disagreements over campus policies, jail procedures and potential civil rights exposure.
Committee action advanced the bill to the House floor after that hearing, setting up the vote that sent the amended measure back to the Senate for concurrence.
With the Senate concurrence vote still pending, the next step hinges on whether senators accept the House amendments, which would clear SB 76 for the next stage in the legislative process.
Lawmakers and the public can follow the bill text and official status through the Indiana General Assembly’s online tracker, as Senate leaders prepare to revisit the measure when the chamber returns.
Indiana Senate Bill 76 Nears Final Vote as Fairness Act Faces Opposition
Indiana’s Senate Bill 76, the FAIRNESS Act, seeks to standardize state cooperation with federal immigration officials. It mandates compliance with ICE detainers, bans hiring undocumented labor, and grants the Attorney General power to sue non-compliant entities. Though passed by the House, it awaits a final Senate vote. Supporters claim it enhances security, while critics fear it turns public workers into enforcement agents and risks civil rights violations.
