INDIANAPOLIS | The Pence administration is planning to spend nearly $1 million on new Statehouse doors which — if they work correctly — most Hoosiers never will pass through.
The ornate building that's home to the governor's office, General Assembly and the state's appellate courts has two public entrances, staffed by contracted security officers and state police, where visitors must pass through metal detectors to enter.
But it also has six additional doors that enable government employees, state contractors, lobbyists and others to whom the Department of Administration has issued keycard badges to bypass security and move through the building unimpeded.
According to an administration funding request set to be considered Friday by the State Budget Committee, officials are concerned that multiple people can enter the building if an employee unlocks a limited-access door with his or her badge and courteously holds it open.
To halt that practice, the proposed new doors would incorporate a turnstyle that only allows one person through at a time.
"The new doors will increase safety and decrease unauthorized access to the Statehouse," according to the $873,000 door spending plan.
Spokeswomen for the governor's office and the Department of Administration did not immediately respond to requests to provide additional details about how the doors will work, what they will look like or how many will be purchased.
In 2013, most Illinois lawmakers and residents were shocked to learn the state spent $670,000 on copper-plated exterior doors during a renovation of the capitol building in Springfield.
Then-Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, was among those who thought the cost for the new doors was excessive.
"We're not designing the Palace of Versailles," Quinn said, referring to the gilded former home of French kings.
During Indiana's four-month legislative session earlier this year, Republican Gov. Mike Pence spent approximately $150,000 to station state police officers at each limited-access door to verify every person entering the Statehouse possessed a valid keycard badge.
Police have continued to intermittently staff those doors since the General Assembly adjourned April 29. Signs posted on the doors also warn against holding them open for others.
The Pence administration claims the new doors are part of an initiative led by the Department of Administration, Department of Homeland Security and state police to improve safety at the Statehouse and adjacent Indiana Government Center buildings.
However, no specific threat to state officials or state buildings has been publicly revealed by any of those agencies.