Indiana lawmakers don’t officially end 2021 session

Indiana’s 2021 redistricting work is over, as lawmakers finished drawing new district lines at the end of last week. But lawmakers didn’t officially bring the 2021 legislative session to an end.

The session should’ve ended in April. But lawmakers never officially ended it because delays forced by the pandemic pushed redistricting all the way into September.

Normally, after a session, lawmakers have a “technical corrections day” when they can return to fix any important errors in any recently-passed bill.

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But this year, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville) said there’s no time to set such a day after lawmakers finished the redistricting bill.

“This is a complex bill, many, many pages,” Bray said. “And if you get a census district or a precinct or some small piece wrong somewhere along the way, we don’t really have time to fix that if we have to come back in January to do that because the filing deadlines will already be upon us.”

Bray said the only reason lawmakers would return before next session is to fix any errors in the redistricting bill.

The 2021 session will automatically end, in state law, on Nov. 15.

Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.