Indiana Gov. Mike Braun delivered his 2026 State of the State Address on Wednesday, discussing the achievements of his first year in office and initiatives for the coming year.
“In 2025, our message was clear: Indiana is open for business,” Braun said.
In his address, Braun celebrated last year’s developments in education, policing and property taxes. He cited affordability as his highest priority in the coming year and advocated for creating new jobs and higher wages.
As for job market growth, Braun cited INCOG BioPharma Services, Autocam Medical, Kratos Defense, Caterpillar and Amazon as companies providing new career opportunities for Hoosiers. He also shouted out Power Up, a state-run program meant to upscale professional skills and increase wages for Hoosier workers.
Indiana wages are growing faster than the national average, Braun said, with Hoosiers’ hourly wages rising over 4% in the last year.
“Indiana is Midwest’s growth engine for more jobs and bigger paychecks,” Braun said.
Braun said he appointed three new members to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, an administrative agency that hears cases relating to utilities and makes decisions in the public interest, to ensure utilities are provided at reasonable rates.
In November, Amazon announced a plan to invest about $15 billion in data centers in northern Indiana to aid the function of cloud computing and artificial intelligence technology.
Braun said Amazon will pay any electricity costs from the data centers. He stated Hoosiers’ electricity rates will decrease with the arrival of the data centers. Data centers have become a highly debated topic for some communities across the state over the past several years. Consumer advocacy organization Citizens Action Coalition, which has argued against building data centers in the state, counters the increase in energy demand will lead to higher utility bills, pollution and water consumption.
“AI is going to be the key to jobs of the future, but data centers can’t stick Hoosiers with the power bill,” Braun said.
In 2025, Braun signed a property tax overhaul that created a new property tax credit for homeowners and exempted many businesses from business personal property taxes.
Braun said the tax cut will save taxpayers $1.5 billion within the next three years. He also voiced his support for House Bill 1001, a bill from Rep. Doug Miller that aims to help Hoosiers buy homes despite surging housing prices.
Braun said something needs to be done about healthcare prices, and that he plans to cut prices using “transparency and accountability.” Indiana has found $465 million in savings for Medicare and Medicaid, according to Braun.
The state’s projected $400 million budget shortfall from last year has been offset, as many of Indiana's state agencies operated under 10% budget cuts last year, Braun said.
On education, Braun said for the next two years, each public university in the state will benefit from frozen tuition and mandatory fees. He said 2025 has seen improved education results, all-time records on literacy scores and graduation rates, universal school choice and “fully” funded K-12 education.
Braun claimed more money has gone to teachers and classrooms rather than administration in the last year, and the minimum salary for teachers has been raised by $5,000 dollars.
“Everything we did was based around one simple principle: Parents are in charge of their own kids’ education,” Braun said.
Braun also voiced support for Senate Bill 78, which would limit student cellphone use in school.
Making childcare more affordable and available is a goal of Braun’s, and he said he would like to incentivize businesses to help make childcare affordable.
Recognizing the Indiana State Police, Braun said the police force seized double the amount of heroin and fentanyl last year than the previous year. He said cocaine has also been seized from the streets, and that overdose deaths have fallen over 60% since 2024.
He also highlighted how the state recently launched Operation Guardian Angel, created by the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to save children from abuse, and has made 48 arrests thus far, Braun said.
In a rebuttal to the governor organized by Indiana Democrats Wednesday night, Sen. Shelli Yoder presented concerns that Braun’s plans to lower prices and raise wages will not be followed through on and said state Republicans are responsible for the current affordability crisis.
Yoder expressed worries about Indiana’s cost of living, childcare and healthcare. She said the current Republican-passed legislation is not working for Hoosiers. Braun’s investment in preventing fraud could be invested in helping families and hungry children in the state, Yoder said.
“Affordability is not measured by policy titles,” Yoder said Wednesday. “It’s measured by whether a family can pay the bills and still breathe.”
