The Indiana General Assembly passed a bill to slightly limit foreign adversaries’ ownership of Indiana land Friday, sending House Bill 1183 to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk. Holcomb, as chairman of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), has overseen the state’s 11 pending economic deals with China-owned companies that HB1183 seeks to prohibit.
If Holcomb signs the bill, HB 1183 will go into effect July 1, 2024. So what will happen with these 11 pending deals between now and July 1? The IEDC could rush to complete its plans before the July deadline. Local governments and communities would have a better chance to apply oversight and stop these deals in that time with more information about who these Chinese companies are and where they are trying to go. But information has not been forthcoming.
The governor’s office, in lockstep with the IEDC, has provided minimal information about these China deals in response to requests from The Federalist, this author, and even the Indiana Senate. However, the IEDC is subject to Indiana’s Open Door Law (ODL), which requires public meetings and the timely distribution of meeting minutes to fulfill “government’s responsibility to foster transparency, trust and accountability for its official actions.”
A review of the posted files related to quarterly public meetings and presentations within IEDC’s “transparency portal” reveals missing 2023 Q4 files, even though we’re already nearly three months past 2023’s fourth quarter. The Indiana Senate began deliberating about HB 1183 in the 2024 legislative session. Many of these deals
