Chesterton Tribune

 

 

At a glance: Key Indiana legislative actions this year

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Republican Gov. Mike Pence and GOP legislative leaders had declared 2015 would be an “education session” for the General Assembly, but many other issues grabbed much of the attention:

- RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS: A national outcry erupted in late March after Republican lawmakers approved a religious objections bill that critics feared could permit discrimination against gays and lesbians. They quickly added provisions that businesses can’t use the law as a legal defense for refusing services based on sexual orientation, gender identity and other factors.

- SCHOOLS: Pence and GOP leaders backed plans allowing the replacement of Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz as leader of the State Board of Education after numerous disputes between Ritz and Pence’s board appointees over control of school policy. Republicans backed off some components of that plan this week by delaying until 2017 a provision that would allow the board to appoint its chairman. But lawmakers are shifting control of testing and other areas from Ritz’s department to the state board.

- CONSTRUCTION WAGES: Republicans provided all the votes for a bill repealing Indiana’s law for setting wages on public construction projects. Supporters say it will lead to lower project costs, while a Statehouse protest crowd of several thousand denounced it as a wage-cutting measure.

- STATE SPENDING: A new two-year, $31 billion budget plan will increase school spending by 2.3 percent each year. More money will go to schools in growing suburban communities, but many urban and rural districts with shrinking enrollments will see cuts.

-NEEDLEEXCHANGE: Law-makers agreed on legislation allowing local officials to seek state permission for needle-exchange programs to combat HIV and hepatitis C epidemics. That step comes after an HIV outbreak in rural Scott County tied to intravenous drug use.

- SUNDAY ALCOHOL SALES: A proposal to legalize Sunday carry-out alcohol sales failed. That leaves Indiana’s 80-year-old ban as the last statewide “blue law” prohibiting Sunday retail sales of beer and other alcohol.

- ISTEP: Complaints from parents and educators over a doubling to 12 hours of testing time for the ISTEP+ standardized exam prompted lawmakers to approve steps proposed by Ritz and consultants hired by Pence to shave at least three hours from the test.

- HUNTING PRESERVES: The Senate voted down a bill aimed at regulating Indiana’s high-fenced deer-hunting preserves. The House backed legalizing four current preserves where farm-raised deer are hunted and currently aren’t regulated

- BABY BOXES: Lawmakers ordered a special review of a proposal to make Indiana the first with a law allowing “baby boxes” in which women could anonymously surrender their newborns. The bill as originally proposed would have allowed police and fire stations, hospitals and select nonprofits to install the boxes, which would be regulated by the state health department.

- ETHICS: An overhaul of state ethics laws was approved, requiring greater financial disclosure by lawmakers and expressly prohibiting elected officials from using state resources for political purposes. That follows investigations into actions by former state schools Superintendent Tony Bennett and a former top Republican legislator.

 

Posted 5/1/2015

 
 

 

 

 

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