Hoosiers impacted by the theft of money at the hands of public servants could find some relief if a bill that would allow them to dip into thieves’ public pension funds passes the Indiana Senate’s scrutiny.
Indiana’s petition for a review of its abortion law has been relisted for an eighth conference at the U.S. Supreme Court, raising suspicions that the case will not be accepted but could bring a fiery dissent.
Indiana lawmakers are moving closer to allowing nurses, physician assistants and pharmacists to object on religious or other grounds to having any role in an abortion. The Indiana House voted 69-25 on Thursday in favor of the legislation, which would expand the statute for medical professionals who don’t want to perform an abortion or participate in any procedure that results in an abortion.
Despite previous optimism among pro-marijuana lawmakers for the issue to have a higher chance of success during the 2019 legislative session, numerous-marijuana related bills faltered, most not even receiving a hearing in committee to move forward before the deadline for bills to be approved had passed.
Indiana lawmakers are entering the second half of the legislative session with more than 400 bills still alive, covering issues including teacher pay, gambling and hate crimes.
An Indiana bill that would change the state’s redistricting rules doesn’t do enough to end gerrymandering, critics say. The bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Greg Walker of Columbus would allow lawmakers to continue drawing the state’s legislative and congressional district maps for the foreseeable future.
Concerns surrounding the way Indiana adjudicates and rehabilitates its juvenile offenders has resulted in the proposal of a summer interim committee to address how adequately the juvenile justice system is governed.
Two pieces of legislation that would define public and recreational use of Lake Michigan’s shores and give jurisdiction of seawalls, beach grooming and land walls to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources have made advances in the Indiana Senate this week.
The Republican-dominated Indiana Senate passed a stripped-down hate crimes bill Thursday and sent the measure to the House, where Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and others hope the legislation can still be strengthened. The Senate voted 39-10 in favor of the legislation that was changed two days earlier to remove a list of specifically protected characteristics, including sexual orientation, gender identity and race.
The Supreme Court of the United States will not hear an appeal that sought to restrict public access to the Indiana shore of Lake Michigan. Justices let stand an Indiana Supreme Court decision that found a public access right to the state’s 45 miles of Great Lakes beaches.
After more than three hours of testimony and discussion on Monday morning, the Senate Public Policy Committee voted to send a bias crimes bill to the full Senate for consideration. Senate Bill 12 would give judges the ability to consider whether a crime was committed out of hate or bias toward specific groups of individuals as an aggravating circumstance at sentencing.
A proposed Indiana hate crimes law has been endorsed by a state legislative committee. The Senate Public Policy Committee voted 9-1 on Monday to advance the bill to the full Senate after hearing nearly three hours of public testimony from opponents and supporters of the legislation.
Opponents and supporters of a proposed Indiana hate crimes law are arguing their positions before state legislators. A state Senate committee opened a hearing Monday morning on a bill that would create a law specifically against crimes fueled by biases regarding traits such as race, religion and sexual orientation.
A bill that defines the shore of Lake Michigan as belonging to the public and spells out public recreational uses of the shoreline has moved to the full Indiana Senate. Meanwhile, a petition seeking to privatize Indiana’s Great Lakes beaches will be before justices of the Supreme Court of the United States this week.
A man arrested for smoking a blunt in Indianapolis failed to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that his misdemeanor conviction violated his constitutional rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The appeal also raised the issue of the Hoosier State now being among a minority of states that have yet to legalize marijuana in some form.
On the 46th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, supporters and opponents scheduled rallies at the Indiana Statehouse, underscoring the deep divide over the ruling that remains more than four decades later. Advocates of reproductive rights gathered on the fourth floor of the Statehouse Tuesday to begin their push for Senate Bill 589, while Indiana Right to Life had a rally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
The full Indiana Senate on Tuesday will consider legislation that would waive Hoosier children as young as 12 into adult court if they are charged with attempted murder.
As they did in January 2018, supporters of hate crimes legislation rallied Tuesday in the Indiana Statehouse to again push lawmakers to add a bias-motivated crime statute to the Indiana law books. Advocates from a broad array of groups, including business, education, nonprofits and faith-based organizations, were on-hand to applaud and cheer as legislators and community leaders called for Indiana to join the 45 other states with hate crimes law.
The Senate Ethics Committee unanimously passed an amendment to its internal ethics rules Monday, defining sexual harassment for the first time. The Senate and House will each draft their own ethics rules and conduct training for their respective lawmakers.
The priorities for Indiana House Republicans this year align with Gov. Eric Holcomb’s agenda, but one significant issue did not make the list: a hate crimes bill.