More surprises surely in store during second half of Indiana legislative session
Feb. 28—The Indiana General Assembly has made it to the midpoint of its annual legislative session without having to shut down due to a COVID-19 outbreak among lawmakers or staff.
But that's just how things have gone this year in
For example, few state representatives likely anticipated last week that a proposal in House Bill 1367 to move a few dozen students from one
Huston has not yet embraced a call by the
The speaker, nevertheless, sees the session's first half as a success after advancing every item on the House Republican agenda to the Republican-controlled
"Despite the unprecedented economic challenges of the last year,
"Whether it's including an additional
"What are we doing? It seems like every problem Hoosiers have contacted us about over the last year have gone unheard," said Senate Democratic Leader
Two measures, so far, have been enacted into law: Senate Enrolled Act 1 provides civil legal immunity to businesses, schools, health care providers, nursing homes, and similar entities against lawsuits stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The other, Senate Enrolled Act 148, was enacted over a 2020 veto by Republican Gov.
Indeed, the theme of the 2021
Numerous measures stripping power from locally elected officials so far have made it through one chamber of the Legislature, including Senate Bill 263 barring any operating restrictions on houses of worship even in a public health emergency, House Bill 1453 ceding control of
Lawmakers also are halfway toward eliminating protections for state-regulated wetlands (Senate Bill 389), permitting any Hoosier eligible to own a handgun to carry it in public without a license (House Bill 1369), and forcing doctors to tell women a pill-induced abortion possibly can be "reversed" — despite no medical basis for that claim (House Bill 1577).
At the same time, several
In all, 316 legislative proposals have made it to the second half of the session out of the 1,031 measures introduced back in January.
Legislation that passed the House now goes to the
Lawmakers will spend roughly the next five weeks evaluating, debating and deciding whether those proposals should advance to the governor immediately, or be worked on a little bit longer through the House-Senate conference committee process.
There's also the possibility something that failed to advance in the first half of the session is revived in the second, perhaps work zone speed camera enforcement (House Bill 1465), or a plan by state Rep.
"All we can do is work hard, study hard, and get creative on how we're going to work on these amendments and these bills with the
Meet the 2021
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