By Brynna Sentel
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—As Hoosiers deal with the highest gasoline prices in several years, Indiana is adding another penny in taxes to every gallon starting July 1.

The 2017 law that added 10 cents in taxes to every gallon of gas purchased is the same one that allows the tax to continue to rise every year by as much as 1 cent per gallon.

Lawmakers passed House Enrolled Act 1002 to raise extra funds to repair the state’s crumbling roads and bridges. Last year on July 1, the gas tax rose from 18 to 28 cents per gallon. Now the new tax will be 29 cents.

But that increase is unlikely to have an impact on Hoosier pocketbooks, said Greg Seiter, public affairs manager of the AAA Hoosier Motor Club.

“I don’t envision that as having an adverse effect on travelers simply because of what they are seeing right now at the pump is much more dramatic than that tax increase itself,” Seiter said.

The average price of a gallon of gas today is $2.88, he said, compared to a year-ago cost of $2.18.

The money generated by the tax increase is expected to create $1.2 billion in additional revenue by 2024 through new taxes and fees, with $350 million of the revenue going to fund local roads and $850 million funding state roads and bridges.

In addition to higher gas taxes, drivers are also paying an extra $15 to register their vehicles with the state. People driving hybrids are paying an additional $50 fee while those with all-electric vehicles pay $150.

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

Staff Report
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—A federal judge Thursday issued an injunction barring Indiana from enforcing a law requiring doctors to report abortion complications to the state beginning July 1.

U.S. District Judge Richard Young ruled that the Indiana law, enacted in the 2018 legislative session, was too vague.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky sued in May over Senate Enrolled Act 340, which requires health care providers to annually report 26 abortion complications to the Indiana State Department of Health.

“Absent a preliminary injunction, PPINK and its physicians will, beginning July 1, 2018, be subject to licensing penalties, and eventually criminal penalties, if they violate the challenged statute,” Young wrote in his 19-page opinion.

“If PPINK and its physicians interpret the statute incorrectly and report less than everything, they risk civil and criminal sanctions. This violates PPINK’s due process rights. The violation of constitutional rights constitutes irreparable harm.”

Some of the complications doctors were required to report included infection, blood clots, uterine and cervical complications, renal failure and death.

The legislation also added a number of new requirements for abortion clinics to comply with, including having women who have been prescribed an abortion-inducing drug sign a form that says they have been informed of the manufacturer’s instructions.

Ken Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, said the restrictions would have placed doctors and providers at risk of sanctions. The ACLU sued on behalf of the local Planned Parenthood chapter.

“Defining abortion complications in such broad and uncertain terms makes it next-to-impossible for anyone to know what is or is not an abortion complication,” Falk said.

“The Indiana General Assembly routinely attempts to chip away at Hoosiers ability to access safe and legal abortions in Indiana under the guise of patient safety and SEA 340 is no different,” said Christie Gillespie, president and CEO of PPINK. “Hoosiers deserve meaningful laws that govern their health care and this sham of a law doesn’t qualify.”

This is the latest setback for Indiana lawmakers as they attempt to impose restrictions on abortions.

In April, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down key features of an Indiana law that would have banned abortions based on the fetus’ genetic abnormality, gender or race.

In a 2-1 decision, the appellate panel found the nondiscrimination provisions in the law violated precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey.

The state’s Legislative Services Agency, in its report on SEA 340, noted that past efforts to enact abortion restrictions have been successfully challenged by ACLU of Indiana, resulting in the state paying about $290,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs and their lawyers.

TheStatehouseFile.com is a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.