INDIANAPOLIS | Hoosier lawmakers will meet in small groups over the summer to study 44 topics approved Thursday by the General Assembly's Legislative Council, but the issue that is almost certain to dominate the 2016 session didn't make the cut.
The Republican leaders of the House and Senate said there is no need for special review of Indiana's anti-discrimination protections or whether they should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
"I fully expect there will be some legislation coming next year and I expect we'll be talking about it, but there won't be a formal study committee on it this summer," said Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne. "We're pretty aware of what's going on around the rest of the country."
Indiana incurred worldwide fury in March and April after the Republican-controlled Legislature approved and Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Senate Enrolled Act 101, which was widely believed to license discrimination against homosexuals.
Lawmakers quickly passed a RFRA "fix," Senate Enrolled Act 50, barring use of the "religious freedom" law to deny services based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but stopped short of extending that protection to those Hoosiers in all circumstances.
Senate Democratic Leader Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said he was disappointed GOP leaders rejected his request to study how best to accomplish that, since the issue certainly is not going away and polls show a plurality of Hoosiers favor a nondiscrimination statute.
"Sooner or later, this issue needs to be discussed, debated, and in my opinion we need to amend our laws to protect the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity," Lanane said.
Study committee review is not required for legislation to be considered during the next meeting of the General Assembly. Still, more complicated issues typically undergo the extra scrutiny, often featuring testimony by outside experts, to speed consideration of proposals during the 10-week legislative session that starts in January.
Topics lawmakers will study this summer include: student testing and education data collection requirements, public records access to police body camera videos, medical malpractice caps, various issues relating to rape and child abuse, special education funding, access to broadband Internet service, reforms to solid waste management districts and the effectiveness of business tax incentives.
Also, whether to open old adoption records for now-adult adoptees to more easily find their birth parents, a review of post-prison employment barriers, agricultural property tax assessments, food and beverage taxes, the potential impact of a stronger statewide smoking ban, penalties for extra-long trains blocking street crossings and legislative redistricting, among others.
Also not making the cut was a recommendation in House Enrolled Act 1540, sponsored by state Rep. Tom Dermody, R-LaPorte, to examine how local governments spend their gaming tax revenue.