Latest news with #SenateBill373
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Committee advances bill adding pregnancy ultrasound video to Indiana sex ed requirements
(Getty Images) Hoosier elementary school students could be required to watch a pregnancy ultrasound video as part of their curricula if a bill moving through the House keeps its momentum. Language mandating Indiana's sex education instruction to include a presentation on 'human growth and development during pregnancy' was officially baked into Senate Bill 442 on Wednesday. The add-in was approved along party lines by the House Education Committee, as was the underlying bill, which now heads to the chamber floor. Terre Haute Democrat Rep. Tonya Pfaff emphasized that the bill 'is not needed at all.' 'We already have a class on child development, which goes into a lot of detail on how a baby is grown during the nine months of pregnancy,' Pfaff said. 'I just don't like this idea of mandating that kids have to watch this. I would prefer that — if they're interested in this — watch it with their parents.' Pfaff further questioned how the ultrasound video would be selected. Republican Rep. Julie McGuire, who proposed the language, said decisions would be left to local boards. 'I found 16 videos in about 10 minutes on YouTube,' said McGuire, of Indianapolis. 'There's so much material out there. It doesn't have to be that prescriptive.' At its core, Senate Bill 442 seeks to require any instruction and learning materials used to teach 'human sexuality' for grades 4-12 be approved by a school board. Basic information about the curriculum would have to be published in a 'conspicuous' place on the school's website. That includes a list of classes, by grade level, 'in which any instruction concerning human sexuality will be taught,' and whether that instruction 'will be provided by a male or female instructor.' The school's parental consent form — which lets parents remove their children from sexual education classes — would also need a link to that information. A grievance procedure would additionally need to be in place for parents to call out non-compliant schools. Critics of the bill have repeatedly noted, however, that Indiana parents already have the right to remove their child from sex education classes. And some schools don't provide such classes at all. The House Education Committee also adopted a proposal that intends to increase transportation and facility sharing between Indianapolis Public Schools and area charters. Despite discussion earlier in the session to approve a statewide plan to boost resource sharing between traditional publics and charter schools, lawmakers kept language in Senate Bill 373 limited to just Indianapolis. The latest draft of the legislation moved to the chamber floor on Wednesday in a 9-3 vote. The introduction of sex education usually starts in the fourth grade, according to state guidelines. But Indiana does not require the course in schools. Instead, it only mandates that schools teach lessons on HIV and AIDS. Schools that do teach sex education are expected to focus on abstinence. Currently, school boards have the authority to review and approve curricular materials. State law further requires school corporations to make instructional materials available to parents so that they can consent to instruction on human sexuality. But bill author Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, questioned if school boards 'are actually having conversations' about that curriculum. He previously said the proposal stemmed from concerns brought to him by teachers and parents, and that his intention is to 'help parents better decide whether they want to opt their child out' of sex ed courses. Byrne introduced a similar bill in 2024 that advanced from the Senate but died in the House without a committee hearing. The ultrasound provision would require students to view a 'high-definition ultrasound video,' at least three minutes long, 'showing the development of the brain, heart, sex organs and other vital organs in early fetal development;' as well as a 'high-quality computer-generated rendering or animation' showing 'the process of fertilization and each stage of fetal development inside the uterus, noting significant markers in cell growth and organ development for every week of pregnancy from fertilization to birth.' Like Pfaff, Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, maintained that 'I don't think we should be doing this.' 'I thought we were having legislation on human sexuality and the training of human sexuality — not lessons on maternity or chordate anatomy, which seems to be what this is,' he said. 'I think this opens this bill up to a serious discussion on the (House) floor about education and videos about STDs and everything else that in any way is related to sex.' In a separate move, House lawmakers abandoned contentious language that could have increased permissions for high school students to leave school for religious instruction. Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, framed his Senate Bill 255 as a means to tighten up existing law by preventing public high school students from missing large amounts of time from one class for out-of-school faith-based lessons. Hoosier students are already permitted to miss up to 120 minutes of class each week for optional religious instruction hosted off school grounds. Lawmakers debate if students should miss some — or all — of a class for religious instruction Deery's bill suggested a tweak, however, to allow older students to effectively replace an elective course with religious instruction. The existing two-hour limit for elementary and middle school students would remain the same. The proposal was criticized by House Democrats, who questioned how an increased exemption for religious instruction would benefit students. They emphasized, too, that Deery's proposed changes could permit daily absences and more than double the amount of time that can be spent away from traditional classes. Although the bill advanced to the House floor last month, committee chairman Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, said the religious instruction language was found to be nongermane — too irrelevant — to the underlying bill, which mainly deals with teacher transition programs. The committee sent the bill back to the chamber on Wednesday with the provision on religious instruction gone entirely. Tensions also rose over a bill that would require Indiana's Commission for Higher Education (CHE) to have a heavier hand in higher education programming and decision-making. Under Senate Bill 448, which advanced to the House floor along party lines, CHE would have to review all public college and university degree programs — currently there are more than 3,000 — at least once every 10 years. When doing so, the commission would have to consider factors like labor markets, job placement, stackable credentials and work-based learning to determine if a degree should continue to be offered. Among the bill's other provisions is another requirement for university boards of trustees to 'assess and review the staffing needs' of the school during tenure reviews, which would then have to be shared with CHE. 'What I want to make sure is that we're being smart as we're educating and developing the workforce, and to make sure that we put Indiana first — while at the same time — continue to be a magnet for individuals from outside of Indiana,' said bill author Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute. Indiana Higher Education Commissioner Chris Lowery was on board, but Democrats were not. They worried, for example, that CHE would have 'too much power' to approve or disapprove university programs and faculty. Concerns were also raised over academic freedom implications that could come from potentially limiting programs that aren't directly tied to workforce needs. DeLaney repeatedly argued that the bill transforms CHE's relationship with universities, from a collaborative partner to a mandate-driven authority. 'For those who want to be really nervous, you pass this, and the gentleman down the hall — the lieutenant governor — becomes the governor, and who does he put in charge the Commission on Higher Education? And how much power do we want that person to have?' DeLaney said. 'That's what the stakes are here. This is about taking a cooperative system, that's evolved over decades and has succeeded, and making it a mandate-from-above system.' 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Axios
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
One month left in Indiana legislative session
It's crunch time at the Indiana Statehouse. The big picture: There is one month left in the legislative session, and the biggest task, writing the state's two-year budget, is still far from finished. Promised property tax overhaul and school funding reform are also still outstanding, likely not to be tackled until just before next week's committee deadline. Here's what we're watching this week: 🟢 Transgender athletes ban nears passage House Bill 1041 would ban transgender women from participating in women's sports at public and private colleges — expanding Indiana's similar ban at the K-12 school sports level. The Senate could vote on it as early as this week. If the bill isn't amended on the Senate floor, it would head to Gov. Mike Braun, who is expected to sign it. 🟢 IPS, charter schools "alliance" A proposal to create a body that would study how best to manage all public school buildings within the Indianapolis Public Schools district will likely be added to Senate Bill 373 on Wednesday. The "Indianapolis Local Education Alliance" would also look at how to merge transportation services. The House Education Committee will vote on the amendment and bill this week. 😬 Partisan school boards to get a vote Senate Bill 287, a bill to make Indiana's school board elections partisan, has been sitting on the House's third reading calendar for a week. Why it matters: This often signals that the author isn't confident the bill will pass when called for a final vote. House Speaker Todd Huston told reporters last week that it should get called down, but he wouldn't say whether he thought it would pass. Zoom in: After several years of trying, this is the first time an effort to make the races partisan has gotten this far, but there's still disagreement on how best to do it. The Senate would have school board candidates follow the same nomination process as any other political candidate, while the House version skips primaries and still provides a nonpartisan option. ⏳ Energy bill awaiting recommitment hearing House Bill 1007 is aimed at growing the state's energy capacity, in part by embracing small nuclear reactors. It's a priority bill for House Republicans, but it's not had a smooth road. The latest: It passed out of the Senate Utilities Committee last week on partisan lines, over the objections of consumer advocates worried that the cost of bringing on large-load users like data centers will fall on average Hoosiers.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
11 years after WV chemical spill, advocates speak out against bill to rollback water protections
Honey May speaks during the 'People's Public Hearing' against Senate Bill 592 on Monday, March 17, 2025, outside the West Virginia House chamber in Charleston, (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) London Donahoe, a sophomore at Huntington High School, said he was 6 years old when the 2014 Elk River chemical leak unfolded in central West Virginia. That January, 4-methylcychohexanemethanol (MCHM) — a chemical used in processing coal — leaked from an aboveground storage tank owned by Freedom Industries into the Elk River, contaminating the drinking water for about 300,000 people in nine counties. The West Virginia Legislature was convened for its regular session at the time of the spill, though took a few days off as an immediate response as efforts were underway. When they returned — and in direct response to the chemical leak — lawmakers unanimously passed Senate Bill 373, which established the Aboveground Storage Tank Act and implemented myriad other water protection measures to, hopefully, prevent future disasters. Donahoe doesn't remember much from that time. He does know one thing, though: because of that action by the Legislature, he was able to grow up under policies that ultimately meant he was healthier and better protected from potential disasters. But now, 11 years after the chemical leak, lawmakers are seriously considering a bill that would cut back on the mitigation efforts that were implemented in its wake. Senate Bill 592 has already passed the Senate and is now pending consideration in the House Energy and Public Works Committee. Under the proposed legislation, more than 1,000 oil, gas and coal tanks nearest to drinking water intakes — the same tanks that were responsible for the 2014 chemical leak — would be exempt from mandated third party inspections that currently ensure they aren't at risk of leaking. On Monday, Donahoe was one of 13 residents who participated in an unofficial public hearing hosted by multiple progressive and environmental organizations speaking out against SB 592 during Environmental Day at the Capitol. 'History makes it clear: the protections put in place [in 2014] were not just necessary — they were life saving,' Donahoe told those in attendance. 'Now, the Legislature is threatening to undo these protections and put everyone in this room at risk. Water should be a basic human right, yet SB 592 prioritizes industry lobbyists and the wealthy elite over the health and safety of West Virginians … we cannot allow that.' Other speakers against the legislation included environmental activists who have returned to the Capitol year after year to try and ensure the protections put in place 11 years ago remain there. Honey May, an environmental organizer who became involved in the work due to the 2014 water crisis, said it's impossible to ignore how ingrained coal, oil and natural gas industry lobbyists have become in the West Virginia Legislature. May said it's difficult not to feel left out of the process when industry-backed and -created bills like SB 592 begin to circulate. Year after year, she's helped get people connected with their lawmakers or bussed to the Capitol to speak out against such bills. She's seen the rotunda filled with people concerned about their environmental health and safety. She knows how that kind of outpouring can affect legislators' votes. But, she said, it shouldn't have to take that kind of effort for those in power to listen to their constituents' concerns and see common sense in measures that exist to protect them. This is especially relevant now, May said, as this is the first legislative session without a public hearing process for the full House. The hearing on Monday — dubbed 'the People's Public Hearing' by organizers — served as an alternative kind of hearing than those currently held in committees. 'Now, you have to create your own public hearing. We have to create our own ways of reaching our legislators, because they've determined that they just don't have the time to hear from us … and [now] they think we can do whatever they want, but we say, 'no',' May said. 'We're going to stand here. We're going to tell you how we feel, and it's not radical; it's clean drinking water. We all drink it, so please contact your legislators. It's the only thing that works. The people's power is the only thing that keeps the relentless pursuit of profits at bay.' Other speakers on Monday included more people who remember the 2014 chemical spill all too well. Some said they were still hesitant to drink the region's tap water. Others remembered how difficult and frustrating it was to get information as the event unfolded. Every speaker shared the fears they hold about something like that happening again and their disappointment in seeing protections to stop that rolled back. While too young to remember much from the events in 2014 himself, Donahoe and his Huntington High classmate Kaili Anderson have started their own organizing around protecting West Virginia's environment and they want the state's lawmakers to listen. Both serve as officers of their school's Sunrise Movement student hub, a local chapter of a national organization built around young people fighting and organizing against the ongoing climate crisis. Both Anderson and Donahoe said they're frustrated with the state Legislature's focus on social issues that seek to harm already marginalized people while lawmakers seem to ignore multiple ongoing crises — undrinkable water, the drug and overdose epidemic and poverty, among many others — and leave the most vulnerable in the state without support or help. Young people, Anderson said, aren't being involved in conversations about the state's priorities. If they were, she continued, those priorities would certainly change and more young people would be looking toward a future in the state instead of one where they feel they have to leave it behind. 'If young people had a seat at the table, they'd be more likely to stay here, especially if they were being listened to,' Donahoe said. 'Instead we hear all this focus feeding into culture wars, attacking trans people and that's not helping anyone … Our voice and perspectives are being ignored and we need to become a force to push elected officials and remind them that we are here and our voices matter.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
