INDIANAPOLIS — If they are going to amend the state's constitution to ban gay marriage, members of the Indiana House of Representatives want to ban civil unions as well.
The House on Thursday rejected a proposal to change the constitutional amendment that is headed toward a vote so that the state could confer some sort of legal recognition on same-sex couples' relationships.
Right now, the ban defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, and says that "a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized."
Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, wanted to drop that language. But, her change was rejected on a 32-60 vote, which means the ban moves toward a final vote as is.
Republicans mostly voted against Austin's change while Democrats voted for it. But Rep. Sue Ellspermann, R-Ferdinand, was one of a few GOP members who voted with Austin, while Rep. Kreg Battles, D-Vincennes, was one of a few Democrats who voted against her proposal.
If it clears the House, the same-sex marriage ban would move to the Senate, where it has passed without any trouble in recent years.
Before it can be amended into Indiana's Constitution, it would also have to gain legislative approval in either 2013 or 2014, and then gain majority support on a statewide referendum in 2014.
Friday meetings
State lawmakers are set to hold rare Friday committee meetings today on topics such as Indiana's next budget and the future of township government.
They're making up for two days missed last week, when an ice storm made travel in Indianapolis difficult and led House and Senate leadership to call off the day's planned activities.
The House Ways and Means Committee is prepared to plow through a long list of bills, and also take budget-related testimony from the Horse Racing Commission. Chairman Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, said he will unveil the House's budget proposal next week.
Meanwhile, four Senate committees will meet. The highest-profile of those will be the Senate Local Government Committee, which will consider a plan that would eliminate three-member township advisory boards and transfer their fiscal oversight duties to county councils.
Teacher merit pay
Indiana lawmakers have started work on one of the more controversial aspects of Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' sweeping education agenda: a plan to tie teacher pay to student performance.
A Republican-controlled Senate committee began debating the bill Wednesday and plans to vote on it next Wednesday. Lawmakers may tweak some specifics, but the idea is that Indiana teachers would be evaluated each year and ranked into one of four categories: highly effective, effective, improvement necessary or ineffective. Local districts would create their own evaluations systems but would have to include objective measures of student achievement.
Teachers who fall into the lowest two categories wouldn't receive any automatic pay raises. Those in the top two categories could get pay raises, but the salary increases would be based primarily on student academic performance and not on years of experience.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said the goal is to recognize and reward great teachers.
Abortion
Doctors, under a proposal approved Wednesday by a Senate health committee, would be required to tell women seeking an abortion in Indiana that human life begins at conception and a fetus might feel pain at or before 20 weeks.
The Senate Committee on Health and Provider Services' 7-2 vote sends the bill to the full Senate, which approved tighter informed consent legislation in recent years that didn't advance in the Democratic-controlled House.
The bill also would require women seeking an abortion to be told in writing that the procedure had the potential risk of causing infertility and could increase the risk of breast cancer.
Nuclear incentives
A bill that would allow Indiana's utilities to quickly pass on to their customers some of the costs of planning nuclear power plants is advancing in the General Assembly.
The bill co-sponsored by Republican Sen. James Merritt passed the Senate's Utilities and Technology Committee on a 6-2 vote Thursday after the panel heard about four hours of testimony. It's now eligible for second reading in the Senate.
The bill would allow utilities to seek "timely recovery" of the costs of designing, licensing and permitting of nuclear power plants. Indiana currently has no such plants.
Early graduation
A proposal to give Indiana high school seniors a $3,500 college scholarship if they graduate a year early has cleared its first legislative hurdle.
The Senate Education Committee voted 8-1 Wednesday for the scholarship idea proposed by Daniels. It now moves to another Senate committee for consideration.
Proposal supporters say the scholarship would mean more education options for students. Critics say the proposal could spur some students currently taking high school advanced placement or dual credit classes to opt instead for a head start on college, which could make it difficult for schools to continue offering those classes.
Others say they worry whether high school students as young as 16 are mature enough to attend college, but Daniels says he trusts families to make that decision.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.