Indiana Senate overrides veto on Indianapolis landlord-tenant bill

The Indiana Senate voted Monday to override Gov. Eric Holcomb's veto of a 2020 bill that would prohibit Indianapolis from regulating relationships between tenants and landlords.

The bill would halt an Indianapolis initiative that has cracked down on a handful of landlords in its first year.

It's the first time since Holcomb, a Republican, took office four years ago that either chamber in the Republican-controlled legislative branch has voted to override one of his vetoes, signaling a break within the party. Only eight Republican Senators joined with all Democrats to vote against overriding Holcomb's veto.

A simple majority in the House will have to vote to override Holcomb's veto before Senate Enrolled Act 148 can become law. No vote has been scheduled. 

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The 2020 legislation prohibits cities such as Indianapolis from passing or enforcing any regulations concerning retaliatory landlords. It does, however, forbid landlords from retaliating against tenants who bring concerns about living conditions.

 An IndyStar investigation found that four House Republicans who helped advance that legislation had ties to the real estate industry. 

Senate Republicans said they plan to pass a separate bill later in the session to narrow the scope of the act, and nix vague language that prohibits local governments from regulating "any other aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship."

Even if lawmakers follow through on that commitment, cities still would be prohibited from regulating the screening process for tenants, what landlords disclose about the property or tenants' rights and any fees charged by a landlord. 

SEA 148 was introduced last legislative session shortly after Indianapolis announced a landlord-tenant initiative to inform tenants of their rights and protect them from retaliation. 

The city has so far referred six cases involving alleged retaliatory actions by landlords to the prosecutor's office. Just under 1,000 calls for legal assistance have been made to the city's new hotline. 

Bill author Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, said the bill was an effort to make landlord-tenant language consistent across the state. He said one of his constituents who rents out property had to pay for $32,000 worth of damage from a tenant that he could not evict this winter. 

"There's good and bad players on both sides," Doriot said. "We have bad tenants, and we have bad landlords, and we've got good landlords, and we've got good tenants."

Senate Democrats accused Republican lawmakers of trying to control Indianapolis.

“I stand before you today to remind this body of the many times that you all have complained about Indianapolis,” said Sen. Jean Breaux, D-Indianapolis. “You’ve complained about the violence being too high. Too many homeless folks on the streets in downtown, traffic is congested, dilapidated housing and on and on and on. But when our local city-county council representatives, elected by the people, step up and attempted to address the concerns that impact the local city of Indianapolis, this chamber intervenes.”

Republican Sen. Vaneta Becker of Evansville lamented that she too noticed the deluge of bills introduced this session that are focused on Indianapolis, indicating she disagrees with such bills. She said Republican lawmakers "don't like what the Democrats' City-County Council does."

"I am really tired of that kind of legislation," Becker said. "And we seem to be doing more and more of it."

50 gather at Statehouse to protest veto override

At least 50 people bundled up and stood outside in 16-degree weather Monday morning to protest the override vote. Some held signs that said, "We love good landlords. Help protect the tenants from the one that aren't."

Fair housing advocates argue Indiana needs to do more to protect Hoosier renters, not take away cities' ability to put in place their own protections. 

“At what point do our legislators show a molecule of care for our Hoosier renters?" Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, said in a statement. "Consistently, their actions show that they are only responsive to the housing industry’s many demands."

State Democrats were also quick to criticize Senate Republicans for adding the veto vote onto Monday's floor calendar late Friday afternoon. 

Holcomb vetoed Senate Enrolled Act 148 last year after pushback from hundreds of individuals and organizations, bucking legislative leaders in his own party. In a statement, Holcomb said the bill's language was overly broad by restricting a city's ability to regulate "any other aspect of the landlord-tenant relationship."

"While I understand the bill was intended to create uniformity between state and local law governing the relationship between landlords and tenants," Holcomb wrote, "I believe this is not the right time for such language to become law." 

In a statement Monday, Holcomb said he "remained confident in his decision to veto the bill."

"To be sure, we are still navigating through this once-in-a-century pandemic and therefore I still believe this is not the right time for that overly broad language to have become law," Holcomb said. "While I obviously disagree with their decision to override my veto, I hope the General Assembly will take a careful look at how this new law will effect local residents and units of government.

Holcomb has only vetoed one other piece of legislation — a 2017 bill regarding public records search fees. Lawmakers did not override that veto. 

Sen. Aaron Freeman, an Indianapolis Republican whose name has been on several bills that would restrict the city’s power in various ways, stressed that the bill is about maintaining landlord standards across Indiana’s 92 counties.

He pointed to the federal eviction moratorium delayed until the end of March, noting it could possibly be delayed until the end of August.

“Folks, this matters,” he said. “I mean, there are a lot of landlords that are hurting.”

The city, however, points to the over $33.5 million in rental assistance to landlords it has distributed for nearly 16,000 families during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mayor Joe Hogsett called the veto override disappointing.

"At a time in which Hoosier families are struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads, it is incredibly disappointing to see action taken to roll back common-sense protections that help Indianapolis residents navigate the complicated legal system and provide recourse for tenants experiencing retaliatory actions by bad-actor landlords," Hogsett said in a statement.

The veto override isn't the only attempt from lawmakers to eliminate Indianapolis' ability to regulate landlord-tenant relationships. A House committee is slated to hear a similar bill Tuesday morning, House Bill 1541.

Indianapolis' ordinance

Indianapolis' landlord retaliation ordinance was one attempt to control a problem that Indianapolis has so far had trouble regulating: bad landlords. 

Hogsett's announcement of the changes last year followed several IndyStar stories that documented residents living in deplorable conditions: dealing with broken pipes, bad electrical wiring, possums falling through the kitchen, even feces found in the house upon moving in.

The tenant-rights initiative forbids landlords from retaliating against renters for seeking help or requesting a public health inspection. Landlords violating this new ordinance can be fined $2,500 on the first offense and $7,500 for every subsequent violation. 

Landlords are also now required to inform tenants of their rights and responsibilities by having renters sign a city-mandated form upon signing a new lease. Those found in violation can be fined $500.

Both of those provisions would be nixed if the veto override is approved in the House.

As part of that initiative, Indianapolis also established a tenant information hotline for those seeking legal assistance.

The initiative so far has referred six alleged retaliatory actions to the county prosecutor. Indiana Legal Services, which has worked in partnership with the city, has flagged 11 cases where a tenant alleged they were not provided a notice of their rights.

"This wasn't going to be us filing thousands of lawsuits against landlords. ... We're not out to make business harder for landlords," said Matt Giffin, interim director of the Office of Public Health and Safety. 

Legal assistance, however, has been needed: The tenant hotline — which the city funded as part of a $250,000 initial appropriation and will fund again this year — has received just under 1,000 phone calls as of mid-December. 

And Indiana Legal Services had provided legal assistance to tenants in 225 individual cases by the end of 2020, according to the city.

"There really is a lot of demand in Indianapolis for help with these issues," Giffin said. "Some of which we can provide through these programs and some of which is beyond our current power, which we can throw as many resources as we can at."

The Indiana Apartment Association, which pushed for the legislation that Holcomb vetoed last year, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

Call IndyStar reporter Amelia Pak-Harvey at 317-444-6175 or email her at apakharvey@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmeliaPakHarvey.

Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at 317-432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.