Legislation With Our Values
Micah Clark of American Family Association of Indiana informs us of how the 2022 legislative session wrapped up in Indiana.
They Did Do a Few Things for Our Values
The 2022 Indiana legislature ended last week. As you may have read, I was very disappointed with the Senate. They failed to empower parents and protect schoolchildren from radical indoctrination on divisive concepts like Critical Race Theory. They also failed to protect families and communities from pornography.
However, there were some bills that made it through the Senate unharmed. Here are a few of those measures headed for the Governor’s signature:
• House Bill 1041 – The “Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act” protects K12 girls’ sports from unfair competition by stating that only a biological female may participate in competitive girls’ sports. Several states have passed similar bills, but Indiana is among the few to not include collegiate sports in such legislation.
• House Bill 1130 – This is the only empowerment bill for parents to make it through the process. It requires school boards to allow for public comment at meetings. A similar bill, SB 83, also passed the House and Senate. I am not sure if both will go to the Governor or if only one of the two will be signed.
HB 1130 passed the House unanimously.
The Senate vote is here.
• House Bill 1190 – This is a campus free speech bill that flew through both the House and Senate. It seems everyone knows how liberalism on campus has played out in silencing many college students.
HB 1190 passed both chambers unanimously.
• House Bill 1217 – This was the only pro-life bill of the session to see action. It attempts to address the possible problem of coercion, or a woman choosing an abortion under duress against her will.
(Additionally, about 100 pro-life legislators have signed a letter to Governor Holcomb asking him to call them back into session in the summer if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.)
• Senate Bill 11 – This bill allows for the posting of historic documents in government buildings even if the document contains religious references or content. It has been signed by the Governor.
The House passed SB 11 unanimously.
The Senate vote sheet is here.
• Senate Resolution 48 quickly passed the Senate on a voice vote. I guarantee most Democrats and several RINO Republicans had no idea what it said. This resolution by Senator Dennis Kruse recognizes the Bible’s importance in history. You can read it here.
Other Issues
• The Senate unanimously approved House Bill 1002 involving a small income tax cut for Hoosiers, which is a good thing, but it will take a few years to see it. For most Hoosiers, the extra amount you keep of your own money in a year will barely be enough to fill your car’s gas tank twice during the Biden Administration.
• The Senate took a good House bill on medical freedom with strong religious exemption language for vaccines and watered it down to the disappointment of many activists. The weak version of House Bill 1001 has been signed by Governor Holcomb.
• The legislature finally got “constitutional carry” to the Governor. This is a measure allowing the concealed carry of a handgun without a permit by law-abiding Hoosiers. If I were a legislator, I would have voted for this. However, Indiana already had one of the best permit systems in the nation with a “shall issue” requirement for the legally qualified, and a free lifetime permit. About one in four Hoosiers has such a permit. As such, I don’t think this issue was near as pressing as other measures the legislature should have enacted. Indiana will be the 24th state to adopt this.
Gloom and Doom Predictions Fall Short
There is an interesting study of several states with long-standing school voucher programs. The study looked at two measurable arguments against school choice.
First, opponents claimed that choice policies would lead to less funding for public schools. Second, opponents claimed that school choice would lead to significant, even drastic, reductions in student achievement.
I have always found it odd that many who oppose school choice imply in their arguments that if parents were allowed to leave public schools they would do so in droves. (What does this say about public schools?)
Are these two things true? Did states with voucher programs see lower funding for public education? Is there any evidence that school performance suffered after voucher programs?
The Reason Foundation looked at five states with the oldest and most significant choice programs, including Indiana. In every longstanding school voucher state, per-pupil public school spending, adjusted for inflation, increased from a low of 1.2% in Arizona to a high of a 12.7% increase in Ohio since 2002.
The study noted that the amount spent per student on educational choice policies was a minor fraction of education spending per student, at 2.7% in Arizona, 3.1% in Florida, 1.4% in Indiana, 1.5% in Ohio, and 2.5% in Wisconsin. To put this another way, in Indiana the state spends $13,110 per student in public school funding versus only $180 for choice programs.
The Ed Choice paper titled, “Who’s Afraid of School Choice?” notes various studies concluding that in every choice state student performance increased modestly after vouchers were enacted. In no state did academics decline after vouchers were adopted. The widespread negative impact upon student academic outcomes predicted by many critics never materialized. (Indiana has had lower academic improvements than other choice states, with some studies finding mixed results here. The paper notes that Indiana is somewhat unique in that our voucher program has been limited to low-income families.)
Indiana Audit Raises Questions
You Count Indiana has asked us to let you know of an election integrity project video update and an online event this Saturday evening. Here is a short video about this event and a flyer.
In Their Own Words:
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Legislation With Our Values – American Family Association of Indiana
