INDIANAPOLIS — Hundreds of college students, including 90 from the University of Evansville, visited the Indiana Statehouse on Wednesday to push legislation that would make it easier for patients to see physical therapists.
The students were lobbying to change a state law that requires patients to obtain a doctor's referral before they can see a physical therapist. They want the ability to treat a patient for up to 30 days without a referral.
House Bill 1151 contains that proposal. Filed by Rep. David Frizzell, R-Indianapolis, it is currently assigned to the House Public Health Committee, but it has not been the subject of a committee hearing thus far.
Physical therapy students hope to change that.
Jessica Smeltz, a second-year student in the doctor of physical therapy program at the University of Evansville, said Indiana's refusal to allow direct access has led many of her peers to seek jobs in other states.
"Indiana actually is experiencing a brain drain. A lot of grads are leaving the state," she said.
That, she said, is because current laws have reduced the potential workload for physical therapists.
"Sometimes a patient will choose to go to a chiropractor, a massage therapist, even a personal trainer before they come see a physical therapist," she said. "It should be a patient's right to choose who they go to see when they have an illness."
Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams lent a parental notification measure his support during an Indiana House committee meeting Wednesday.
He told lawmakers they should pass a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to notify the parents of crime victims who are younger than 18.
"It was really common sense to me. I can't imagine that there's a law enforcement agency out there that doesn't already do what this bill is asking us to do just as a matter of protocol," Williams said. "It makes it a hard-and-fast rule. It takes discretion out of our hands."
House Bill 1422 was discussed but not voted on in the House Family, Children and Human Affairs Committee.
Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville, credited Williams with helping the committee identify ways to narrow the bill and assuage concerns about what it could mean for ongoing investigations.
"The intent is to get the child help, not to interfere with any investigation or possible trial," Riecken said.
School buildings
A Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill that would allow charter schools to seize unused public school building space from the traditional public corporations.
The committee approved Senate Bill 446, 8-0.
Sen. Scott Schneider, R-Indianapolis, and Sen. Carlin Yoder, R-Middlebury, co-authored the bill.
With the amendments added Wednesday, the Department of Education would be required to keep a list of unused school buildings. The list would have to be updated annually. Charter schools looking to acquire the space would have to submit a request to the education department and enter into a lease.
First-year teachers
The Senate Education Committee heard testimony but did not vote Wednesday on a bill that would give schools a chance to terminate first-year teachers early in the school year.
Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, filed the bill after talking with many school superintendents across his district. It would address the issue of moving newly hired teachers out of the classroom quicker than one year if they do not fit.
Under current state law, new teachers receive a one-year contract. Holdman's bill would give superintendents and administrators the authority to offer 60-day "probationary contracts" instead.
Holdman said school administrators would evaluate the teacher over a 30-day period, offer advice and voice concerns. If the superintendent felt the teacher is incapable of doing the job, the teacher could be terminated after 60 days on the job.
Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, said, "This seems a little subjective to me."
Sally Sloan from the Indiana Federation of Teachers testified against the bill. She said the bill discourages teaching as a profession, and that every child needs a consistent teacher throughout a school year.
Holdman said, "No child deserves a poor-performing teacher for an entire year."
Yoder said this bill would not terminate struggling teachers who need help, but take the original "bad apples" out of the teaching system.
Voting centers
A measure that would allow counties to use centralized polling places is on the fast track to final passage, clearing an Indiana House panel on Wednesday after gaining the state Senate's approval last week.
"As you look at this bill, please keep in mind this is not a mandate," said the bill's author, Rep. Randy Truitt, R-West Lafayette. "This is an opportunity, or a potential, for true government modernization."
A voting center is a location where any person who is registered to vote in that county can cast his ballot, regardless of the precinct in which he lives.
Truitt told the House elections committee that the bill will help counties save money because voting centers require fewer workers and less equipment. It will also make voting more convenient for several groups of people, including the elderly, he said.
Voting centers have been tested in the pilot counties of Tippecanoe, Wayne and Cass. Officials in each of these counties said they cannot imagine going back to traditional precinct polling locations.
"The big convenience is that you can't show up at the wrong polling place," said Julia Vaughn, policy director for Common Cause/Indiana.
Lauren Casey and Shelby D. Salazar of the Franklin College Statehouse Bureau contributed to this report.