Legislative update from Micah Clark of American Family Association of Indiana:
Indiana Legislature’s First Week
I want to give a quick update on the first week of the Indiana General Assembly. I am not going to get into the habit of a Friday email. However, things are very busy in your statehouse and my Wednesday email might be short due to my being at the Statehouse.
On Monday (1/10) the House will also take up House Bill 1134 concerning the prohibition of critical race theory, divisive anti-American concepts, and pornography in the classroom. On Wednesday I sat through over 5 hours of testimony for the Senate version of this bill – Senate Bill 167. Both bills could use your support.
On this same topic, House Bill 1040 which has more enforcement provisions and a broader scope, is still alive. It would be good for your Representatives in the House to hear your support of HB 1134, and HB 1040 on critical race theory.
Nothing in SB 167, HB 1040, or HB 1134 impacts Indiana’s required history standards on slavery, the civil rights movement. These bills concern the promotion of a current political agenda that undermines the common good of our nation. For example, HB 1134 and SB 167 states that a school may not promote the ideology “that an individual, by virtue of their sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin or political affiliation is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
These bills concern not telling kids what to think politically. They do not prevent the teaching history or current events.
These bills also require schools to allow the public to see the curriculum taught in the classroom via the school web website.
These bills also seek to prevent allowing pornography (already defined in code as ‘matter harmful to minors’) into a K12 school library or classroom. (HB 1040 is much more comprehensive in these areas, but HB 1134 and SB 167 have worthwhile language on this too.)
You can contact the Indiana Senate about SB 167 at 317-232-9400.
You can contact the Indiana House about HB 1040 and HB 1134 at 317-232-9600.
You can find out who your State Representative and Senator is, and email them through this link.
I am hoping to do a short weekly video recap on the legislature every Friday that will appear on our AFA of Indiana Facebook page, Twitter, and Telegram. Here is one for today.
American Family Association of Indiana logo
