HB 1343 has a section that slips in a possibly dangerous ability for the governor to use a military police entity within the national guard as he wishes, without much checks and balances. See below, it’s now in section/chapter 23.
This seems like a bad idea.
Note, the governor can already call members of the National Guard to state active duty orders, and there’s already a military police unit under 81st Troop Command, but it’s more limited and they generally are still not police for a civilian population like most people think of. LLM explained it well for those who don’t know:
- The “Emergency” Loophole
Current Law: Generally, for the Guard to be used in a law enforcement capacity, the Governor declares a State of Emergency. This declaration is usually tied to a specific event (tornado, pandemic, civil unrest) and has time limits and legislative oversight.
Under HB 1343: The bill allows deployment “at any other time the governor considers necessary.”
Implication - This effectively removes the requirement for a formal “Emergency” or “Disaster” declaration to use military police. The Governor could theoretically deploy this force to patrol a city for “crime suppression” without ever declaring an emergency or citing a specific disaster.
This is also a good way to think about it:
“Martial Law Lite”: HB 1343 allows the Governor to use military personnel to police civilians without the political and legal fallout of declaring Martial Law. The courts remain open, and civil law remains in effect, but the enforcers are soldiers answering directly to the Governor, not local police chiefs or sheriffs answering to voters.
Here’s the full text of the section, buried within the rest of the bill.
https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2026/house/bills/HB1343/HB1343.04.ENGH.pdf
Chapter 23. Military Police Force of the Indiana National 29 Guard 30 Sec. 1. The adjutant general may establish a military police 31 force of the Indiana National Guard. 32 Sec. 2. (a) Before granting police powers to an individual 33 appointed as a member of the military police force of the Indiana 34 National Guard, the adjutant general shall validate that the 35 individual has a current security clearance and has not been 36 convicted of a felony. 37 (b) An individual appointed to serve in the military police force 38 of the Indiana National Guard may not exercise police powers until 39 the individual successfully completes either army or air military 40 police occupational training and receives qualifying instruction on 41 Indiana law enforcement prescribed by the adjutant general. 42 © An individual appointed to the military police force of the HB 1343—LS 6518/DI 116 33 1 Indiana National Guard shall take an appropriate oath of office in 2 the form and manner prescribed by the governor. 3 Sec. 3. The governor may authorize the military police force of 4 the Indiana National Guard to exercise police powers throughout 5 Indiana, or in any part of Indiana prescribed by the governor, if 6 the governor orders the military police force of the Indiana 7 National Guard to state active duty under IC 10-16-7-7. The 8 governor shall provide reasonable notice to local law enforcement 9 agencies affected by the deployment of the military police force of 10 the Indiana National Guard and coordinate with local law 11 enforcement agencies as circumstances permit. 12 Sec. 4. An individual serving in the military police force of the 13 Indiana National Guard who is authorized to exercise police 14 powers under section 3 of this chapter may: 15 (1) make an arrest; 16 (2) conduct a search or seizure of a person or property; 17 (3) carry a firearm; and 18 (4) exercise other police powers with respect to the 19 enforcement of Indiana laws.
In case you care:
Here’s the voting results of the house:
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