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.