Senate Republicans decided bias crime changes during meeting held out of public view

State law permits political party caucuses to meet in secret to plan strategy and hold discussions designed to prepare the members for taking official action.

But, in the Senate, 40 of the 50 members are Republicans, which means the decisions made in GOP caucus meetings are, in effect, final, since it takes just 26 senators to approve or reject any motion, amendment or legislation.

Debate and discussion on those proposals is not conducted in public. Instead, caucus members are required to never disclose what is said in caucus at the risk of being barred from future meetings and banished to a back-row seat in the Senate chamber.

On Tuesday, only three Republicans, or 8 percent of the caucus, spoke on the bias crime legislation, compared to 40 percent of the Democrats, once the Senate convened, three hours late, to conduct its official business in view of Hoosiers.

Nearly the entire time was consumed by Freeman answering questions from stunned Democratic senators on what clearly was already a done deal in terms of gutting the comprehensive bias crime proposal approved Monday by the Senate Public Policy Committee.

There was no explanation or commentary from anyone other than Freeman as to why or how Senate Republicans decided to act contrary to the bias crime policy sought by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and a large swath of the state's business community.

Senate President Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, afterward dismissed the notion that Hoosiers should get to see the actual debate on legislative proposals that happens in the Republican caucus, instead of the Senate floor show that ratifies decisions already made.

"You're going to see them vote, so you know exactly where they're going to stand," Bray said. "That's a transparent process and that's how this works."