Welcome to Politically Speaking.

I'm Elizabeth Bennion, chancellor's professor of political science and director of Community Engagement at Indiana University South Bend.

Indiana's lawmakers have wrapped up the first half of the 2023 legislative session.

Only about a quarter of the House bills introduced have met the chamber's deadline to be considered during the second half of the session.

Joining us to discuss the Indiana House and the Democratic caucus agenda are Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta of Fort Wayne and State Representative Maureen Bauer of South Bend.

Thank you both for being here.

I want to start here.

I want to start by asking you about your priorities.

Are there a couple of bills that you are really focused on heading into this second half of the session?

Representative Bauer.

Sure.

Well, I'll highlight the three bills that I authored that passed out of the House, two of which are scheduled for a hearing next week.

The first bill is addressing a loophole in our child deduction statute, which requires a coach to be an employee of a school.

And that leaves out all of the coaches in those youth sports organizations like traveling leagues, those types of sports where a kid might be away from home, away from their parent or the guardian, we now will be able to put that youth sports organization coach under the same guidelines as any other sports coach who would have an inappropriate relationship with the child.

So fixing that gap in the child deduction statute there, another bill that I authored that passed in the House addresses our shortage of housing in the low to moderate income level.

So a bill passed out of the House last year, which specifically allowed Marion County to allow nonprofits to participate in the tax sale to help organizations like Habitat for Humanity or other community destination corporations that are in the business of rehabilitating housing, turning these dilapidated properties that have gone through the tax or twice into affordable housing options for new families.

So we are going to expand that project also into Saint Joseph County to finally address some of our shortage of housing issues that we have across the state and possibly move that statewide in the next year.

And then finally, a third bill that will be getting a hearing in the later end of this month is a fire monitoring pilot project for PFAS blood testing and firefighters.

Cancer is the leading cause of line of duty deaths for firefighters.

They are exposed to these toxic manmade chemicals both in their gear and in their firefighting foam that they use to put out some of the most severe fires.

And we'll finally be able to test to see if there are elevated levels of PFAS in firefighters blood and perhaps draw a correlation between those cancer diagnoses and their working environments.

Representative Bauer, We had Republican representatives Tim Wesco and Dale DeVon on the program last week and both of them mentioned that they were very impressed by your ability to move bills despite being a relatively new legislator and in the minority party.

What is your strategy?

Is it just focusing on issues that constituents are really bringing to you that how do you get that bipartisan buy in with the legislation that you've chosen to introduce?

Well, certainly comes down to addressing legislation that will fix real issues and that are real concerns of residents in the district and that also are statewide.

So, you know, we are looking at health and safe environments we are looking at safe and affordable housing and protecting all children in sports.

And so those are topics we can agree on that seem like easy fixes to the chairman and chairwoman who heard the bills.

And so it's all about building those relationships and creating those opportunities to collaborate which majority of bills are.

But often we can find some distractions.

There's some social and and divisive issues.

Representative GiaQuinta what about you?

A couple of bills that you would really highlight as things that you're looking most closely at or working on?

Well, let me first say that very pleased with all the members of the House caucus, Democrat Caucus, because they've done a wonderful job.

Several have passed out legislation in the first half and Representative Bauer has done a phenomenal job.

I thought she was going to give credit to someone.

I know that someone who has guided her along the way, step of the way, and that'd be her mother, right?

I'm teasing.

Of course, her mother is awesome, but obviously she's learned from her dad to on on the system how things work and and how important it is to build those relationships with your fellow caucus members and, of course, the chair of the committee.

So Representative Bauer has done an awesome job.

And the other thing too, I would highlight with not only her legislation but other members of our caucus, the bills that they have passed.

They actually really do go to solving problems and that as a caucus, that's what we've always prided ourselves on, is that we want to be pragmatic problem solvers.

We know we have issues sometimes big, sometimes small, but we have issues facing Hoosiers all the time.

And so when we go into session, we have some things that we want to work on improve the lives of Hoosiers and that's what our our bills.

Do.

You know from you asked me about what we're going to be looking at obviously the budget passed out of the House heading to the Senate.

So I'll be very curious to see what they're going to do.

I know there been some talk of some disagreements already, particularly when it comes to health care.

You know, we had an amendment that would have fully funded Governor Holcomb's initiative with regards to his health care plan.

He put together a task force, I think, about 15, 16 months ago.

And the task force recognized, frankly, where Indiana stood across the country with our rankings are not good in all all metrics, really, frankly, when it comes to to health, smoking, obesity, infant mortality, all these things.

And I appreciate his commission, what they've been able to do.

The House Republicans did not fully fund that.

The Senate seems to be more anxious to do better there.

And I hope that they do.

And of course, we would also like to see pre-K fully funded K through 12 public education, better funded.

So I'll be kind of I'll be keeping an eye on those as well.

And just one small bill that I had that would something I've worked on for the last couple of sessions where we got the same bill coming over, a similar bill from from the Senate, and that's the outdoor dining areas.

One thing we've talked about is improving the quality of life, quality of place.

You know, we want Indiana to be a place where that were.

That is where people want to live, work and play.

And one of those things, as you know, is these outdoor dining areas that we've seen kind of seen in other states, too, because, look, we know that folks want to enjoy concerts and things like that.

And those have been very vital to our downtowns and revitalizing several of our cities.

And so it just would tweak the the alcohol laws with regards to outside outdoor dining areas and would apply to several of our cities around the state to make it easier to serve alcohol and allow more people to enjoy those outdoor spaces for that purpose.

Yeah.

For example, we have an area its called the Landing in downtown Fort Wayne and the it is a blocked off.

It's about a two block area and the city council would have to designate an outdoor dining area.

But there's restaurants and bars on both sides and they want to be able to.

So when you have when you have concerts, local bands, things that are happening in that area, folks would like to be able to take their drink outside of the establishment and enjoy the enjoy the concert or the the artwalk or whatever happens happens to be going on that that evening.

So it's just one more opportunity, I think, to enhance our downtowns.

You mentioned the budget, of course, and the biggest budget item is education.

I wonder if you feel satisfied side with the amount of increased funding that has been recommended overall and also what your thoughts are on the expansion of the School Choice scholarship program.

Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed with the House Republican budget.

Their plan because when you look at where the greatest increase in funding went toward, it was toward the expansion of vouchers.

I think currently a family of four making $150,000 would would qualify to for a voucher to attend a private school that would now be increased to $220,000 for a family of four.

So now we're basically up to a quarter of $1,000,000 for a family of four to be able to qualify for a voucher.

That was never the intent of vouchers.

The to quote former speaker, it was to help low income students and struggling schools to be able to give them better choice.

Frankly, what this is going to do is going to have the opposite effect.

It's going to say it's going to allow to pay for, obviously, more students.

But those kids are already going to these schools and they can already afford it.

And those lower kids, lower income are probably going to get squeezed out and not not be able to attend.

The other thing, too, is and I was just talking to the city controller, the excuse me, the controller for Fort Wayne Community schools.

There's a little bit of a twist.

The governor wanted to, which we were happy to hear with regards to textbook fees.

The state would like to and we've we as House Democrats, we've been calling for that for a long, long time.

My dad was in the legislature before me, goes way back to the nineties and late eighties, and we think we should, as a state, pick up the textbook fees.

Well, what the legislation says is it's going to the school boards.

The school districts are going to have to pay for it and it's going to come out of their foundation money.

And what that means is no potentially no pay raises for teachers and other things.

So it's going to be an issue.

And I think it's one that's going to be as this thing goes forward, the bill goes forward in the Senate, gonna be up for discussion, is what to do about those textbook fees.

Representative Bauer, of course, those who favor the expansion of the school choice scholarship or a voucher program say the money should follow the child.

And all of these folks are tax payers, so it's only fair to allow them more choice.

Well, the same thing that Mr. Leader stated this was intended to give a failing or poor children who are in failing schools a choice.

We are not seeing these schools, these private schools have better success rates than our public schools.

Many children return back to the public schools.

They no longer require that a student first attend a public school before using a voucher for a private school.

And so the original intent that we were guiding this legislation upon is no longer in place.

So we truly are just funding private education and at the expense of our local school corporations.

Also note that the teachers, they ask for increased teacher pay and to help us address the teacher shortage.

And so this is another example of us not looking at the real issues and the real concerns that are in our communities and pushing these political agendas that will benefit just one portion of the system that they're representing, not the bigger picture as a whole.

Another bill that would harm potentially our community, South Bend Community School Corporation is a bill that would allow any school building below 60% occupancy for educational purposes to be sold to a charter school for a dollar and then a school corporation that is trying to right size their corporation with three fourths of our schools.

Our high schools are under 60%.

That's pretty dangerous language.

And I can't even begin to comprehend what that would mean for the future of our public schools.

And so that's another bill that's pretty concerning to me.

Now, Leader GiaQuinta, one of the other big pushes this year in terms of education is a move toward more work based learning options, including options that don't necessarily take place within a school framework, but instead, again, allow that money to follow the child to an employer of their choice.

I wonder what your thoughts are on that question.

Well, a couple of things I know that we will hear or we have heard, and to some extent it's true that college isn't for everyone.

I believe, though, that we should do everything we can to encourage young folks to attend college and a university and to get that experience and have a four year degree.

Granted, it's not for everyone.

You're referring to House Bill 1002.

I think the biggest issue that everybody has is when it comes to kind of almost the same thing when it comes to school vouchers is where is the accountability?

Same with House Bill 1002.

We're not really sure.

There's just a lot of loopholes here.

And I know that I've already been hearing from the Senate that they're having a lot of questions as well as to, you know, where is the money going exactly?

How do we how do we know exactly is it working that we want to what's the feedback they're going to be able to receive to say, you know, this program is actually working?

So I think there are some real questions when it comes to the accountability of this money.

And and so that that's my I think, Roseanne Barr, I'll let her speak for herself.

But I do think that we do know that not everyone is going to want to attend college.

I think we should do every everything we can to encourage that.

However, if we're going to do these type of programs where we're going to encourage students to go do something else and gain these certificates and and that sort of thing, we just want to make sure that it is state dollars where I make sure we have accountability for that money.

Representative Bauer.

Yeah, same thing.

There are a lot of questions asked on the House floor during the debate of this bill.

One being who receives that money?

Does it go directly to the student, which is something that Republican leadership have always wanted the money to follow the child?

Or does it go directly to the corporation that will be providing these work place learning environments?

And that just wasn't clear.

And so it was a bit risky for me to vote on something that we couldn't get a firm answer on.

I think that a lot of our colleges and high schools do a really great job looking at the needs of our communities, what we need to invest in our future of our workforce.

And this bill is called Reinventing High School.

And as Leader GiaQuinta says, we don't need to reinvent.

We need to reinvest in encouraging more students to get onto the 21st century scholar opportunity, which is the bill passed out of the House to have automatic enrollment continue to both support the students who want to go to college when our college enrollments are dropping, but also responding to the needs of the community and encouraging people to live and work here as well.

It's interesting.

I did see some data recently with 21st century scholars, students being more likely than non scholars to enroll in college, which is particularly striking given the socioeconomic background of those scholars.

One of the issues that comes up frequently in Indiana state politics is the issue of marijuana and whether we will change our state laws to be more like that of Michigan and other states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal or for recreational purposes.

It doesn't sound like that is going anywhere.

This session is it, no change.

No, there was a historic hearing of a bill that is progress.

The Courts and Criminal Code did hear a bill to decriminalize marijuana in the state of Indiana.

So that was the first time we ever even gave a bill a hearing.

So we were able to hear both sides of the issues.

And perhaps next year we could see some progress on the issue.

And so the decriminalization would mean that instead of potentially carrying a prison term or being incarcerated, someone would receive a fine.

Exactly.

Just a minimal charge.

And when all of our surrounding states have some form of legalization, whether it's for adult use or medical use, it's about time for us to adjust our laws and kind of be prepared to have this move forward at the state level and at the states desires rather than the federal government doing so.

Leader GiaQuinta you mentioned the fact that you were disappointed in the lack of funding for health care initiatives and the problem of high costs with low outcomes that we have in this state.

What about mental health care?

What are you seeing in terms of prospects for good additional funding going toward that?

Another thing that the governor has called for?

Yeah, just to touch base very quickly on the marijuana question.

The comments and the questions I heard in that from that committee hearing, a lot of the members seemed in favor.

So I think that is as we hear the bill again, probably next year, maybe even the year after that, these things take a while.

And then to your question regarding mental health, same thing.

You know, the term mental health used to be one of those things that we probably would never talk about.

And now it's it's out there.

And so many things have happened since COVID.

And we're learning a lot from the pandemic.

And one of those is mental health.

And I'm very pleased, frankly, that so many of our members on both sides of the aisle are taking up this issue seriously.

And I think we are ready to devote some funds to it.

And I you know, I think when it frankly, it's it's one of those things, too, where maybe we were forced into it as we look to see, you know, how what do we do with our prison system?

And then you find out that 80%, 75, 80% of those that are in our local prisons have some sort of a mental health issue.

And we just aren't doing enough to to look at that.

And I'm I really am.

I'm very pleased that the legislature as a whole has taken up this cause, and hopefully we'll see some funding there.

And another issue related to medical care and medical services is, of course, the newly instated abortion ban or stricter restrictions on abortion here in the state of Indiana.

That's a raised questions for many people about what will happen to women and children and whether or not low income women in particular, will be supported during and after pregnancy.

Representative Bauer, do you see much movement there to try to provide support for these mothers?

Well, we're still waiting on the Indiana Supreme Court to decide on the legality of the law that we passed.

So we did agree we would not address that issue this session, although we saw increase of other hateful bills targeting trans youth, but in particular to maternal health and ensuring that children lived to see their first birthday.

We did see the Indiana Commission on improving the Status and Well-Being of Children recommend a bill that I actually filed before the special session, which fixes a gap in our Medicaid coverage for pregnant women and children.

Anyone who is a legal permanent resident must wait five years before they can receive Medicaid coverage.

So you move here and you're pregnant.

You will be guaranteed to have at least one hospital visit.

But just to encourage regular checkups, prenatal care, and then once the child born to have all those standard health screenings, we are looking to waive that five year period.

And that did pass out of the Senate with Senator Donato as the author and in the House of Representative DeVon is carrying that.

And so that's another way where we can fix a gap and health care coverage for pregnant women and children, which is about 600,000 in the state of Indiana.

So we'll continue to advocate for broader range of coverage, health care, equity.

We still see women dying in pregnancy or problems arising from pregnancy.

Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of death among pregnant women and as well as addiction.

Not easy to live through pregnancy and childbirth, especially in a state in Indiana where you might not be supported.

So we have to continue to look at this at a comprehensive level and make investments in the health of women and children.

I want to follow up with you.

You mentioned LGBTQ related legislation that's been introduced in addition to the trans girl sports ban that happened earlier this session.

We have seen a bill banning discussion of sexuality in the early classrooms, as well as a bill that legally protects parents rights to deny their child's request for hormonal medication, medical procedures or counseling that would affirm a gender identity different from that assigned at birth.

To what do you attribute this focus on LGBTQ issues?

Well, my opinion is it's all driven by fear.

Across the nation, we've seen a record number of bills filed to address or to attack LGBTQ plus community.

Indiana, We call it the slate of hate.

And I firmly believe in not supporting any legislation that would discriminate or harm my neighbor simply based on a political difference or a misunderstanding of who you are.

I think one of the most discouraging speeches on the House floor was someone introducing a bill and really didn't know the issue that he was talking about.

But the bill passed because they just have the numbers and the ability to do so.

So I think when we look at the freedom of individuals, it applies to everyone, not just someone who shares the same political background.

Representative GiaQuinta, of course those who support the parental rights bill in particular say, well, the parent really should have the ability to deal with this issue as as they see fit.

Is a parents rights bill needed or I know the ACLU says folks aren't being removed from homes over this issue.

Well, it's confusing to me because on one town, on one hand, we have parental rights.

Then on the other hand, we're telling parents and with their kids as to what you can and can't do.

So I'm confused and I know sometimes consistency isn't the hallmark of the legislature, but this this really, I think, is ridiculous.

That once again, we say, you know, we're going to get in the middle of your health care decision between the parent, the doctor, and in this case, their children.

And on the other hand, we're going to we're going to say parent.

No you can make choices and decisions on other things.

Well, which one is it?

And, you know, I don't know where this all this is coming from or what's driving it.

I imagine it has to do with more people placating to their right wing base more than anything else.

And it's just like bills that we've seen in the past, including the abortion bill last summer, that none of these bills put Indiana in a very good light.

Once again, we are trying to attract talent to the state.

We're trying to keep companies from moving out of Indiana.

And these type of bills just don't do us any bit of good as we're trying to make Indiana a welcoming state.

Well, we'll have to leave it there, because that's all the time we have for this week's episode of Politically Speaking.

I want to thank my guests.

House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta and House Representative Maureen Bauer for joining us today.

A Democratic republic is a representative democracy and we at Politically Speaking, appreciate our elected officials for keeping us informed about what's happening in Indianapolis.

I'm Elizabeth Bennion reminding you that it takes all of us to make democracy work.

We'll see you next time.

[inaudible chatter] This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.