Indiana
Lawmakers could scrap child labor reporting in Indiana
Indiana lawmakers discuss bill allowing data centers without public input
The House narrowly passed the bill after its author promised to improve it in the Senate.
Indiana lawmakers are once again moving to weaken state child labor laws.
Recent changes to House Bill 1302 would do away with the Indiana Department of Labor’s Youth Employment System, a database where employers are required to register and track minors 17 years old and younger on their payroll.
Doing away with the system could make it more difficult to estimate just how many Hoosier youth are working across the state at any given time.
According to the most recent legislative fiscal note on the bill, “the change will likely reduce the efficiency of on-site employer inspections for compliance with child labor laws since employers will no longer have to indicate that they employ workers younger than 18.”
State Rep. Jake Teshka, R-New Liberty, the bill’s author, confirmed that the amendments go a lot further than the version of the bill passed by the House with a 92-0 vote on Jan. 28. That version made only a minor adjustment to the mandated reporting timeline for employers.
But amendments made in the Senate’s Pensions and Labor Committee strike all of the provisions about the database from state law. The changes repeal the mandate for the labor department to maintain the database, employer reporting requirements and penalties for failing to report and track teen workers.
Teshka said he was still gathering details about the new changes. The newer version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, will go to the full Senate on Feb. 16. It could get a straight up and down vote as early as Feb. 17. Rogers did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2024, Rogers, who owns a golf course that is registered to employ minors, cosponsored legislation that increased work hours for teens. She also put forth legislation to reduce the age at which teens can sell and serve alcohol in hotels and restaurants from 19 to 18. Both bills were signed into law.
Teshka said he’ll have an opportunity to concur or dissent to the changes if it passes the Senate. For now, he intends to have more conversations with people in the Department of Labor, industry and education to identify the best way forward.
Department of Labor attorney Brent Cullers told a House committee last month there were 40 violations for reporting requirements in 2025. Employers appealed half of them because of confusion over the timeline to report the employment status of their under 18 workers.
“We’ve heard from some employers of youth that they would maybe hire more, but the [reporting] program has actually become something that’s burdensome to them,” Teshka said Jan. 13.
The Youth Employment System launched in 2021. Prior to the database, schools certified a teen worker’s age and academic standing.
Current Indiana law requires employers to register in the database if they have at least five teens on payroll. The database contains the names, ages and hire dates of youth as well as the email addresses, number of minor employees, and the names of each registered employer. Employers who do not comply with the reporting requirement can face penalties up to $400 per infraction, per minor employee.
If the reporting system is eliminated, “it would not change any of the laws around youth employment and the way youth in our state can be employed,” Teshka said, “and that goes to the number of hours they can work and when they can work and the types of jobs they can work.”
Like other red states, Indiana has eased child labor laws since 2019. In recent years, lawmakers have eliminated teen work permits, expanded work hours for older teens, shifted oversight of the teenage workforce from the Indiana Department of Education to the Labor Department, eliminated mandatory rest breaks and exempted businesses employing fewer than five teens from registering them with the state.
Last year, an IndyStar analysis of Indiana child labor violations found a steady increase in the number of teens under 18 working hazardous jobs. Labor law violations involving teens hit a nine-year high in 2023.
Teshka said he understood concerns that attempts to do away with the database are another means to weaken labor laws protecting minors. He said there needs to be balance because teens do learn soft skills by working.
“We don’t want to make it so restrictive that we are icing out youth from certain businesses and those sorts of things,” said Teshka. “But, we also want to make sure that we’re doing it in a responsible way.”
This story may be updated.
Contact IndyStar investigative reporter Alexandria Burris at aburris@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @allyburris and on Bluesky at@allymburris.bsky.social.
(The REPORTER) — The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, June 10, regarding a proposed corridor improvement project on State Road 32 in Hamilton County.
The hearing will provide an opportunity for the public to interact with the project team, review the features of the proposed roundabout project, and provide official public comment. Project documents are available for review at improvetomove32.com.
The project area is between East Street in Westfield and River Road in Noblesville. The proposed project includes adding lanes to accommodate two lanes in each direction, removing all traffic signals within the project limits, and constructing roundabouts at the following intersections with SR 32:
- Carey Road/Grassy Branch Road
- Gunther Boulevard
- Shady Nook Road
- Moontown Road/Gray Road
- Pebble Brook Boulevard
- Hazel Dell Road/Little Chicago Road
- Mill Creek Road
The hearing will take place at Prairie Waters Event Center, 4180 Westfield Road, Westfield. Doors will open at 5 p.m. to allow the public to view displays and talk with the project team. A presentation will be given at 5:30 p.m., with a public comment session held directly after. INDOT is offering livestreams of all public meetings and hearings. You must register here in order to participate in the livestream. Livestream audience comments will only be accepted in written electronic form, not verbally. A recording of the livestream presentation will be posted on the project webpage and INDOT YouTube page after the hearing and will be available for at least 90 days.
All verbal statements recorded during the public hearing and all written comments submitted prior to, during and for a period of two weeks following the hearing date, will be evaluated, considered, and addressed in subsequent environmental documentation.
Written comments may be submitted within the comment period to Nick Batta, CMT, 8790 Purdue Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268; or sent via email to SR32HamiltonCounty@cmtengr.com.
INDOT respectfully requests comments be submitted by June 26.
A beloved tradition is drawing stitchers, shoppers, and curious newcomers across the region.
If you have ever walked into a quilt shop “just to look,” you already know how that story ends. One minute you are admiring a cheerful stack of fabric with names like sunflower, buttercream, and cardinal red, and the next you are seriously considering whether your house has room for a new table runner, a holiday wall hanging, and perhaps a life-changing bundle of fat quarters. Quilt shops have that effect. They are part treasure hunt, part therapy session, part color explosion, and in Southeastern Indiana, they are also some of the friendliest gathering places around.
That is especially true during the ALL INDIANA SHOP HOP, the statewide sewing and quilting event running through June 30, 2026.
The idea is delightfully simple: visit participating quilt shops, collect passport stamps, pick up thank-you gifts, and become eligible for prizes. The official event even describes it as a quilting version of a bar crawl, only with less late-night regret and more batting, bobbins, and beautiful fabric. There is even a youth passport for ages 8 to 17, which is a nice reminder that quilting is not just a pastime handed down from grandparents. It is also being discovered by a new generation who like making things by hand, repurposing fabric to help the environment, learning skills online, and sharing their creations proudly.
And really, quilting has everything going for it. It is practical, creative, social, and just a little bit magical.
A quilt can be a baby gift, a comfort during a hard season, a graduation present, a family heirloom, or simply a way to make a couch look much more put together than the people sitting on it. Quilters are surgeons with rotary cutters, artists with thread, and storytellers with fabric. They notice pattern, texture, memory, and meaning. Even non-quilters tend to fall under the spell. You do not need to know how to piece a block to appreciate the patience, skill, and imagination it takes to turn small shapes into something that warms both the room and the people in it.
That is one reason local quilt shops matter so much.
Yes, they sell fabric, books, notions, patterns, batting, and tools that can make a beginner feel both excited and slightly underqualified. But they also do something online shopping cannot: they welcome people in. Good quilt shops are places where somebody will help you match prints, explain what on earth a layer cake is, admire your progress, and gently steer you away from a fabric choice you may regret in broad daylight. They are equal parts classroom, clubhouse, and creative headquarters.
Southeastern Indiana is lucky to have several shops that make a Shop Hop route feel less like an errand list and more like a mini road trip with excellent scenery and even better conversation.
In Versailles, The Quilter’s Nook has become a creative quilting and sewing destination with classes, learning opportunities, and plenty of supplies and inspiration for anyone wanting to sharpen their skills or finally start that project they have been thinking about for two years. In Greensburg, Tree City Stitches is known for its premium fabrics, project kits, classes, and welcoming atmosphere, with plenty of samples on display to spark ideas before you even make it to the cutting counter.
In Vevay, Cardinal Quilts offers a deep fabric selection, quilting classes, and longarm services, making it the kind of place where serious quilters can stock up and newcomers can get helpful guidance without a trace of intimidation. And in Madison, L&L Yard Goods has been operating in the same location since 1986, offering quilting essentials, classes, and the sort of steady hometown presence that makes people come back year after year.
Together, these shops help keep quilting visible, vibrant, and local.
They also provide handmade quilts for community projects, children’s hospitals, veterans, and emergency services just like the early quilters did centuries ago.
So if your summer plans could use a little more color, a little more small-town charm,
and maybe a little more excuse to buy fabric you absolutely do not need but definitely deserve, the Shop Hop is calling. Bring a friend, bring your passport, and bring a willingness to be delighted by places where craftsmanship still matters and people still make beautiful things with their hands.
In Southeastern Indiana, quilting is more than a hobby.
It is history from the days of early pioneers, hospitality that warms you, creativity and community all stitched together one square at a time.
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