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Indiana News Powered by Franklin College Journalism Students
Rep. Sharon Negele, R-Attica, speaks before the House Thursday.
Rep. Sharon Negele, R-Attica, speaks before the House Thursday.
INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana House met to discuss amendments for House Bill 1001 on Thursday, two days after the Ways and Means Committee passed the bill after hearing public testimony and possible amendments from committee members.
The bill will next have its third reading in the House and, if passed, would move to the Senate.
It would send $225 back to taxpayers—Gov. Eric Holcomb’s idea that prompted him to call a special session—as well as the following:
Send $225 to Hoosiers who didn’t need to file a tax return—but will now have to file an affidavit to receive the money.
Increase funding for pregnancy and child health services.
Add “mental health counseling” and “provide financial assistance to individuals seeking contraceptives” to a list of preferred outcomes from Safety PIN (Protecting Indiana’s Newborns) grants.
Expand a list of things provided by Medicaid, including “costs of labor and delivery.”
Remove sales tax on child diapers.
Originally scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, the start time was moved back two hours as the Republican caucus, now without Rep. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, was meeting—presumably to talk about the 62 amendments filed for the abortion bill, Senate Bill 1.
Not to be outdone, however, HB 1001 had 63 possible amendments. Inside the chamber, less than half were brought to the floor.
The session began three for three on adopting amendments.
Rep. Sharon Negele, R-Attica, who authored the bill, started things off with an amendment that would make it possible for women with Medicaid to receive long-acting reversible contraception without returning for a separate visit. The same would apply for noninvasive pregnancy screenings.
Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, had an amendment accepted that adds “provid[ing] instruction on the use of fertility awareness-based family planning methods” to possible uses of Safety PIN grant money. This was added as an alternative to contraceptives.
The amendment brought by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, also focused on Safety PIN and said the money cannot go to “K-12 school-run programs or be distributed to—the contraceptives—to minors without parental consent.”
Dispersed throughout the session were three more accepted amendments.
Rep. Robert Morris, R-Fort Wayne, got some time up front when he successfully pushed through one that would require BMV branches to have posters that say: “Do you have questions about adoption, foster care or pregnancy? Please visit www.IN.gov.” The amendment also allows for the addition of a QR code.
Rep. Randy Frye, R-Greensburg, broadened the language of the bill so the $1 million that would go to buying “newborn safety devices” (boxes attached to fire stations or hospitals where mothers can surrender their newborns) could also be used to promote their locations.
The organization, Safe Haven Baby Boxes, has over 100 boxes in six states but began in Indiana, in which there are 85.
Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis, was the sole Democrat to be successful. Her amendment adds to the bill the creation of a doula reimbursement advisory board.
The bill defines a doula as “an individual who is trained and certified by a nationally recognized institution in providing emotional and physical support, but not medical or midwife care, to pregnant and birthing persons before, during and after childbirth.”
Negele spoke in support of the amendment.
Notable amendments that didn’t pass
It was the 13th amendment discussed that brought up the awaited issue of the gas tax. Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, explained that it would remove the gas taxes if the cost of gas was at $3.50 or higher.
“Right now, it would save them approximately 65 to 70 cents,” DeLaney said.
Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, asked DeLaney questions about what he laid out and then asked his colleagues to vote against it.
“So I appreciate where he's going,” Pressel said. “But I think this would be better handled through the full session when I can at least have a little bit of time to understand it. And I would appreciate your support to defeat this amendment.”
“I have a second idea for the day after the gas tax,” DeLaney said almost an hour later.
That amendment would have put money into looking at the government paying for costs associated with pregnancy care and delivery.
“This is not across-the-board health care,” DeLaney said. “This is not government health care. This is government support for those who choose to have children and to the extent that it’s not paid for by their health insurance or by Medicaid if they have Medicaid.”
“And I guess I would be concerned if state government is covering all the costs, what happens to your costs going forward?” Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, responded. “All of a sudden things become more expensive and become harder to cover. I think this is a little bit unworkable right now. The proposal needs to be defined a little bit better and evaluated from a money standpoint going forward.”
Rep. Gregory Porter, D-Indianapolis, brought an amendment to the floor that would have added items to be exempt from the sales tax—as opposed to the bill singularly exempting baby diapers. It included formula, pacifiers, strollers and bottles, among other things.
Rep. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, had a similar amendment about breastfeeding equipment and it was similarly defeated.
Brown spoke against both, saying his goal isn’t to “narrow the base” of what is taxed but to lower the tax.
The final amendment of the session, brought by Pryor, would have required Real Alternatives to use the $2 million it gets from the bill inside of the state.
“[W]hat if we have a woman that is in distress that crosses over the state line to go to a real alternatives clinic?” Negele asked. “Do we turn her away because she is not an Indiana citizen? This is where it gets gray, and we should never turn away a woman from another state.”
The organization—which is anti-abortion—was the target of multiple Democratic amendments and has faced backlash in Pennsylvania, including a failed legal attempt to force Real Alternatives’ agreements with service providers into the public as it recieves public funding.
House Speaker Rep. Todd Huston, R-Fishers, attempted to adjourn the session but not before Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, called for a vote on whether House Joint Resolution 1 should be rejected.
HJR 1 would add, “All rights set forth in this Constitution, the laws prescribed by the General Assembly, and the rules prescribed by virtue of the authority of the General Assembly apply to a preborn child as soon as the preborn child's mother is aware she is pregnant” to the state constitution.
Rules stipulate a vote can occur on either rejection or assignment to a committee during the first reading.
However, Huston ruled and the House upheld, that Pierce was too late as the resolution was referred to the Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee in the morning.
Jack Sells is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
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