Committee and chamber votes take place on bills about sudafed, adoption records, teacher pay and drug sentences and more…
SUDAFED BILL
A bill linking Sudafed access to your other prescriptions is headed for the House floor.
Legislators are steering away from a Senate-passed bill to have pharmacists question Sudafed buyers, in favor of a House bill which requires a prescription only if you don’t have any other prescription at that drugstore.
That bill overwhelmingly passed the House earlier this month. Auburn Representative Ben Smaltz, is the bill’s author..
The bill squeaked through the House Public Health Committee 6-5, with Democrats voting no three weeks after supporting it unanimously. Indianapolis Representative Greg Porter says Democrats objected to Republicans’ refusal to allow amendments, particularly one to guard against pharmacists turning people away for no reason.
The full House will vote next week. It’ll also consider a second bill banning convicted drug offenders from buying medication containing pseudoephedrine.
ADOPTION RECORDS
Adoptees born between 1941 and 1994 may soon be able to access their birth records under a bill passed by the Indiana House.
The bill passed in a 72-24 vote Monday and now heads to Gov. Mike Pence’s desk.
The measure would reverse a 1994 measure that sealed adoption information that didn’t have a disclosure consent form. That means records would be made available beginning in July 2018 unless the biological parents file another non-disclosure form with the Indiana State Department of Health. The bill would also give biological parents additional contact preference options for new adoption cases.
Open-records advocates have argued adoptees need important birth information such as their medical histories. Opponents maintain biological parents should have their own right to privacy.
TEACHER PAY
Many school district administrators and Indiana’s teachers unions are arguing against a legislative proposal that would give districts the authority to negotiate higher pay with individual teachers.
Supporters of the Republican-backed bill say it would help districts recruit teachers in high-demand subjects such areas as science, math and special education.
The Republican-dominated state Senate on Monday rejected an effort to remove those provisions from a bill that won House approval last month. The Senate could vote on the full bill later this week.
Teachers unions argue allowing higher pay for some teachers outside district-wide contracts would cause division among educators. Some school leaders say allowing individual negotiations could overwhelm their administrative staffs.
PRIVATE COLLEGE POLICE RECORDS
A state Senate committee has advanced a measure to exempt police departments at private colleges from following the same crime reporting requirements that Indiana public colleges must follow.
The Civil Law Committee voted 7-0 Monday to advance the measure supported by the University of Notre Dame and the 10 other private Indiana colleges with their own police departments.
The measure comes amid a court battle between ESPN and Notre Dame over the university’s refusal to release records about possible crimes involving student athletes. On Wednesday, a state appellate court will take up ESPN’s appeal of a lower court ruling in Notre Dame’s favor.
Hoosier State Press Association Director Steve Key says the bill would not require private colleges to report anything not already required under federal law.
ENCLOSED DEER HUNTING
The Indiana House could vote in the coming days on setting requirements for the state’s high-fenced deer hunting preserves.
A House committee voted 8-4 Monday to endorse the proposed requirements, including that they have a minimum of 100 acres surrounded by fencing at least 8 feet high.
The Senate approved the bill last month, although opponents of the measure argue it doesn’t support real hunting since animals cannot escape the fences and that preserves should be banned entirely.
Bill sponsor Rep. Sean Eberhart calls the proposal a good compromise since such hunting preserves have operated unregulated in Indiana since a court ruling a year ago that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources didn’t have the authority to do so.
DRUG SENTENCING
An Indiana Senate committee is set to vote on a bill that mandates tougher sentences for some convicted drug dealers.
Bill author Republican Rep. Greg Steuerwald of Avon said the bill being considered Tuesday would keep the worst drug dealers off the streets for longer periods.
The measure comes nearly two years after lawmakers passed a sweeping overhaul of the state’s criminal code and less than a year after they earmarked $30 million to boost mental health and addiction services.
Opponents say it’s too early to revisit criminal sentencing since the effects of the overhaul and health program investment cannot yet be measured. Lawyer groups also have opposed the bill, saying it takes power away from judges who are in the best position to decide sentences.