INDIANAPOLIS — The return of 39 House Democrats to the Indiana Statehouse Monday did more than fill the empty seats left vacant by their five-week walkout.
It also jump-started scores of bills stalled by the legislative shutdown. For the first time since Feb. 21, Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma declared: “We have a quorum” on Monday evening after the missing Democrats returned from their temporary quarters, set up in an Illinois hotel.
Among the bills unstuck by their return are some of the contentious bills that triggered the House Democrats to stage one of the longest legislative walkouts in U.S. history. That includes a $28 billion budget bill that cuts or flat-lines most spending and a handful of big bills aimed at overhauling public education.
Also moving now is a sure-to-draw-fire redistricting bill that will redraw legislative and congressional districts for the next decade.
With five weeks left until the end of the session on April 29, legislators have been warned by Bosma to prepare for some long days and long nights of legislative business. “We’re going to need every minute of time to make this a success,” Bosma told reporters late Monday.
But also unstuck now are a multitude of lesser known bills, many of them bipartisan in nature, that have been lingering since House Democrats fled the state in a quorum-busting move that shut down most legislative business.
Those bills range from a gun bill that would allow employers to be sued if they ask their workers if they own a firearm to an electronic tracking bill targeting the makers of methamphetamine.
A number of bills now unstuck elicited little controversy but were trapped in a limbo-like state because of the walkout.
One example: A Habitat for Humanity bill sponsored by Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, that would exempt local chapters of the nonprofit housing program from some expensive federal regulations that were designed to go after predatory mortgage brokers. It passed through the House on a 98-0 vote. But it was put on hold in the Senate during the walkout by Senate leaders who thought they might need to amend the bill to add some of their legislation that didn’t get through the House.
“Without this legislation, only five of the 68 Habitat affiliates in Indiana would be able to continue operating,” Clere said. “My local affiliate would be out of business.”
A second example is a bill authored by Rep. Steve Stemler, D-Jeffersonville, that would create the River Ridge Commerce Corridor, aimed at boosting commercial traffic between southeastern Indiana communities and Louisville. Though geographically small in scope, Stemler called his bill “critical” for his district.
On Tuesday evening, House members took up debate on two big bills: The GOP-proposed budget bill, which had nearly 400 amendments tacked on to it, most of them from Democrats; and the school voucher bill, a controversial piece of legislation that would provide taxpayer-funded scholarships to students in private schools. It had 75 amendments filed on it.
Those two bills alone could take up most the oxygen in the Statehouse, so legislators who authored smaller-scoped bills are a little concerned their legislation could fall off the table if time runs out.
Republican Sen. Jean Leising of Oldenburg has a bill that would require recipients of unemployment benefits to undergo testing for illegal drugs. It passed out of the Senate on Jan. 25, but because of the walkout, didn’t get assigned to a House committee until late Monday, after the Democrats returned. “The bill could just not get a hearing because it’s not one of the ‘big’ bills,” Leising said.
Rep. Randy Frye, R-Greensburg, co-authored a bill with Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, that would require abortion providers to submit identifying information on the father of the fetus when the mother is less than 14 years of age. It’s aimed at going after child molesters and intended to help victims of incest, Frye said. It passed out of a House committee 8-1, but lingered without a full House vote for more than a month because of the walkout.
Frye is hopeful the bill will continue to move through process. If lawmakers don’t approve the budget and the redistricting plan by April 29 — both of which are required by the state constitution — they’ll have to go into a special session. Both sides want to avoid that because of the cost involved. “Time,” said Frye, “isn’t on our side.”
© 2024 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.