By Hope Shrum

TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Bills regarding abortion, student learning recovery and judicial selection passed through the Indiana House Wednesday after changes made to the bills in the Senate were approved.

The House was scheduled to read six bills for concurrence, but it only read three, all of which passed, moving to the governor to be signed into law.

Student learning recovery

House Bill 1008 establishes the student learning recovery grant program and fund to help students who have fallen behind in their education due to the pandemic.

The bill appropriates $150 million from the state general fund, which will be given out in grants for which local schools, universities and other organizations could apply.

HB 1008 passed with a final vote of 79-2 in the House during its concurrence reading Wednesday.

Judicial selection

House Bill 1453 reshapes the judicial selection process for Lake and St. Joseph counties, which, for the past 40 years, have had a merit selection system that allows for citizens, lawyers and appellate-level judges to screen and select the candidates for appointment by the governor, according to the Indiana State Bar Association.

The ISBA said the bill would allow the governor to select the majority of members of the judicial nominating commission, and the appointees would not be required to have any legal training or connection to the legal community.

HB 1453 did not change much as amended in the Senate, according to the bill’s author, Rep. Michael Aylesworth, R-Hebron. He said the bill was amended to add two more members to the commission—one member of a minority group and one woman—making it six members in total.

The ISBA released a statement in February saying that the bill “unnecessarily discards a working system and replaces it with one primarily overseen by the executive branch, without counsel from those who interact with the court on a daily basis.”

Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary, said Lake and St. Joseph County voters should choose their judges.

“Lake County, St. Joseph County, Marion County and Allen County, all of those counties that have that large majority-minority population, deserve to have the same rights as the other 88 [counties] and be able to elect their judges,” Hatcher said. “Hopefully, we’ll see a bill next session that will treat every county the same when selecting judges.”

The bill passed by a vote of 52-33 when it was read for concurrence in the House.

Abortion

House Bill 1577, which covers several aspects of abortion, was debated during its concurrence reading in the House Wednesday. The bill requires parents to get their signatures notarized after they sign a permission slip for their minor child to get an abortion.

Two Democratic representatives, both women, spoke against the bill, saying that having to go to a notary would reveal a personal matter. The only male representative to speak on the bill, Rep. John Jacob, R-Indianapolis, said he was voting no because “abortion is always murder.”

The author of HB 1577, Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, said the notarization requirement in the bill is needed to verify the identity of an adult bringing a minor to get an abortion.

“You don’t know whether these girls are being trafficked, whether they’re being coerced, or whether they just forged it,” Mayfield said. “Remember, these are minors.”

The bill also requires abortion providers to disclose information about a “reversal drug” and allows mental health providers to deny their services to women seeking abortions if it is against their ethical, moral or religious beliefs.

With a final vote of 63-25, the bill will move on to Gov. Eric Holcomb to be signed into law.

FOOTNOTE:  Hope Shrum is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.