January 23, 2009
Pro-life, immigration bills return to Indiana General Assembly
By BRIGID CURTIS AYER (Indiana Catholic Conference)
They’re back. Bills of previous years commonly re-turn to the Indiana General Assembly for another chance at becoming a permanent fixture in the Indiana Code of laws. It takes patience and diligence on the part of supporters. This year is no different for many familiar bills are returning for yet another go around at becoming law including pro-life and immigration legislation.
Of the 1,000 bills which have been filed to date, the Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC) is following 100 of them. Roughly 1,500 bills are expected to be introduced this year.
The bills to date cover a wide range of issues, but the most notable issue areas for the ICC include legislation to strengthen informed consent laws, ban the death penalty for mentally ill individuals, change immigration laws, and help lower income families.
In past years the Indiana Catholic Conference supported two measures in the area of abortion which return again this year. Sen. Patricia Miller (R-Indi-anapolis), a nurse by profession and a pro-life advocate, has a bill to strengthen informed consent laws by requiring the information a woman receives before an abortion to be in writing. Her bill, Senate Bill 90, also requires that physician must inform the pregnant woman about medical evidence of the fetus feeling pain during an abortion. It requires that 18 hours prior to a woman getting an abortion that she receive information concerning the availability of adoption op-tions, physical risks of having an abortion, and that physical life begins at fertilization.
Another bill authored by Sen. Miller, Senate Bill 89, requires physicians performing abortions to obtain hospital privileges in the county where the abortion is performed or a nearby county for the purpose of follow-up treatment for a woman who has had an abortion.
Another familiar bill the ICC has supported in years past is a measure to prohibit a person who is found to be mentally ill from receiving a death sentence. Sen. Karen Tallian (D-Portage), an opponent of the death penalty, has a bill, SB 22, which would establish a procedure for determining if a person on trial for murder is mentally ill. The bill prohibits those individuals determined as mentally ill to be sentenced to death.
Immigration reform bills also returning from previous legislative sessions include a bill, SB 580, authored by Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel), who has been the major proponent of punishing undocumented immi-grants, which would penalize employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers. The bill provides three strikes and you’re out of business. It creates greater penalties for driving without a valid license. It prohibits state entities from contracting undocumented workers.
Also returning this year is a bill which increases the earned income tax credit (EITC) for low income working families. Rep. John Day (D-Indianapolis) a member of Holy Cross Parish in Indianapolis has succeeded in previous years in raising the EITC for working families. The EITC bill, House Bill 1026, authored by Day and co-authored by Rep. Michael Murphy (R-Indi-anapolis), a member of St. Jude Parish in Indianapolis, would increase the amount of the Indiana earned income tax credit from nine percent to 10 percent of the federal earned income tax credit thus allowing low-er income families to be exempt from in-come tax. It raises the income level at which taxes are collected. The effect of the bill would be for working families to keep more income in their pocket to support their families.
Once a bill is filed and read for the first time, it is assigned to a House or Senate committee. It is up to Sen. David C. Long (R-Fort Wayne), the President Pro Tempore in Senate and the committee chair where the bill is assigned, to determine if the bill will get a hearing. In the House, Rep. Patrick Bauer (D-South Bend), Speaker of the House, and the committee chair in the House will determine which House bills get hearings.
The committee hearing process allows the bill’s author to explain the intent of the legislation and allows for public comment, critique and testimony in support for or opposition to the proposed bill. It is at this time that committee members weigh the pros and cons of a bill and take a committee vote. If a bill passes committee with a majority vote, it goes to the House or Senate floor for second reading and voice vote.