Claims, documents, and corrections

Mark Messmer resigned the District 48 Senate seat in September 2024. On September 4, a caucus of Republican precinct committeemen selected Daryl Schmitt to fill the vacancy. Schmitt was sworn in September 10 to serve the remainder of the term, which runs through November 2026.

On December 11, 2025, the Indiana Senate defeated House Bill 1032, a mid-decade congressional redistricting bill, 31–19. The official roll call lists Daryl Schmitt among the 19 yeas and Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray among the 31 nays. Twenty-one of the Senate’s 40 Republicans joined all 10 Democrats in voting no.

Daryl Schmitt was added as a co-author of Senate Bill 424 on January 30, 2025, and voted for it on third reading. Governor Mike Braun signed it as Public Law 48 on April 10. The law allows an Indiana utility to seek recovery of approved small modular nuclear reactor development costs from ratepayers: 80 percent through periodic rate adjustments and the remaining 20 percent in its next general rate case.

The law also permits recovery for a project that is canceled or not completed, but only when the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission finds those costs reasonable, necessary, and prudently incurred. Those canceled-project costs generally earn no return unless the commission makes additional findings.

No small modular reactor has been completed anywhere in the United States, and one federally funded project was canceled in 2023 after more than a decade of work and nearly nine billion dollars in costs. WFYI reported that the bill was one of several written in 2025 to guarantee power for the AI data centers coming into Indiana, so Hoosier families carry the development risk on their electric bills and the data center industry does not.

On April 15, 2025, the Indiana Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 1 by a vote of 27 to 22. Twelve Republican senators joined all ten Democrats in voting no. The official roll call lists Daryl Schmitt among the 27 yeas. Governor Braun signed the bill the same day as Public Law 68. The law gives homeowners a credit of up to $300 per tax bill. The Legislative Services Agency projects that public school corporations will lose $744.4 million in property tax revenue over the three years starting in 2026, and local governments overall stand to lose about $1.5 billion over the same period. The law answers that loss by authorizing new local income taxes: counties may impose a rate of up to 2.9 percent beginning in 2028, and cities and towns may impose their own rate of up to 1.2 percent. The statehouse took credit for the relief, and it handed local governments the choice between cutting services and raising local taxes.

A poll of 636 registered voters in Dubois County, conducted by Public Policy Polling, found that 81 percent of voters oppose the Mid-States Corridor project. A statewide poll of 554 Indiana voters found that 74 percent want the project canceled and that 88 percent want the money redirected to local road and bridge projects. Brad organized these polls during the fight against the corridor. He paid the pollster directly, and the Property Rights Alliance reimbursed him with money that neighbors across the county contributed. Both poll documents are published in full below so that readers can check the questions, the samples, and the methods for themselves.

INDOT’s October 2025 Screening of Alternatives Report advanced two expressway options for Section 2. Alternative 2B is estimated at $1,046,914,000 for 22.90 miles, or about $45.7 million per mile. Alternative 3B is estimated at $1,099,452,000 for 23.40 miles, or about $47.0 million per mile. The report says these are 2024 construction costs and include a 20 percent contingency.