GREENFIELD — As the Indiana General Assembly prepares for its short session starting next week, Hancock County’s representatives are working on legislation that addresses issues like mental health, sexual abuse and tobacco addiction.
Members of the Indiana House of Representatives can introduce up to five bills during the short session, while members of the Indiana Senate can introduce up to 10.
Rep. Bob Cherry, R-Greenfield, said he has drafted approximately 10 bills he is considering introducing during the session, including one that would raise the legal age for smoking tobacco products and vaping to 21.
Cherry said the policy, supported by Gov. Eric Holcomb in his 2020 legislative agenda, would be an important step toward fighting addiction among young people.
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“Young people are getting hooked, and we’re having many deaths,” Cherry said.
Cherry also plans to introduce legislation that would allow Hancock County’s Vernon Township to employ full-time firefighters via a one-time tax levy increase. Vernon Township, which includes Fortville and McCordsville, moved to centralize its fire operations in April. The township currently employs 15 part-time paid firefighters, while volunteers also remain on the force.
The increasing population of the township makes it essential to ensure firefighters are always available to respond to calls, Cherry said.
Another bill Cherry plans to introduce would change the way a school’s average daily membership is calculated, which affects school corporation funding. The change would include high school students who graduate early in their school’s count until their expected graduation date. Cherry said the change would prevent schools from being financially penalized for students’ early graduations.
Sen. Mike Crider, R-Greenfield, said he has plans to file several bills about “weighty issues” and hopes to start important discussions that may carry over to the budget discussion later in 2020.
Inspired by consultations with advocacy groups, Crider will file two bills aimed at deterring sexual crimes against children. One would increase the penalty for purchasing sexual services from an individual under the age of 18, making it a Level 4 felony that could carry a fine of up to $10,000 or a jail sentence up to 12 years.
The other would eliminate the statute of limitations for sex crimes against a victim who is under the age of 18 when the crime is committed. Currently, the law requires that several sex crimes — including child molestation, vicarious sexual gratification with a minor, solicitation of a child, seduction of a child or incest — must have charges filed by the victim’s 31st birthday for prosecution to take place.
Crider said he was approached by advocacy groups, including the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) about changing the statute of limitations because of his work on “Jenny’s Law.” Senate Bill 94, which he sponsored in 2015, was ultimately signed into law by Gov. Mike Pence and created several circumstances in which prosecutors can bring rape charges after the state’s five-year statute of limitations has expired.
“Some of this stuff doesn’t even come out until later in life,” Crider said. His bill would eliminate the time factor entirely in such cases.
Crider also plans to introduce bills related to the issue of mental health, including one that would amend a bill he wrote earlier this year that established a grant program for school corporations to provide mental health services. The amendment would require school corporations to partner with an approved mental health provider to access funds.
Senate Bill 266 was incorporated into the state budget in the House of Representatives, expanding the state’s safe schools fund to provide $10 million in grants for mental health services.
Crider also plans to address legislation that would require health insurance companies in Indiana to provide reports disclosing what they are doing to comply with the Mental Health Parity Act and Addiction Equity Act. The federal legislation requires insurers to cover mental health and addiction treatment at the same rate as treatment for physical conditions.
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, though, there’s no mechanism for regulators to learn whether insurers are actually complying with that requirement. Crider’s bill would require companies to submit an annual report about their policies on the issue to the state.
“We’re trying to find out where Indiana stands in that regard,” Crider said.
Crider said mental health is an important issue for him, in part because he saw the effects of mental illness firsthand while working as the head of security at Hancock Regional Hospital.
“It’s a really significant challenge with individuals and families,” Crider said.
Another bill Crider intends to file would increase the penalties for injuring or killing a police canine. Causing injury to a police dog is currently classified as a Class A misdemeanor, while causing the death of one is classified as a Level 6 felony; the change would elevate those offenses to a Level 6 felony and a Level 5 felony, respectively.
Crider said his bills may be controversial, as the mental health grants for schools were in 2019; nineteen of Crider’s fellow Republicans and one Democrat voted against it in the Senate. However, he sees Holcomb’s agenda, which includes health care reforms and support for the proposed change to the school grants program, as aligned well with his own priorities.
“We’ll hopefully get some good things done,” Crider said.
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At a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Terre Haute in December, Gov. Eric Holcomb unveiled a list of legislative priorities he asked lawmakers to consider during the 2020 session. They include:
- Raising the legal age for smoking and vaping from 18 to 21
- Banning drivers from using cell phones and other electronic devices unless they are hands-free
- Removing a mandate that teachers complete 15 of 90 required professional growth points by working in an outside environment
- Not penalizing schools for the results of the 2018-19 school year’s ILEARN proficiency test, meaning low grades across the state would have no effect on teacher evaluations or school corporations’ letter grades for the year
- Establishing an all-payer claims health care database to allow prospective patients to learn what prices hospitals are charging, with the goal of avoiding surprise medical bills
- Requiring reimbursement for the services of emergency medical providers when they respond to a call that does not require transporting a patient
- Requiring employers to provide workplace accommodations for pregnant workers, including more frequent breaks or temporary job restructuring
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