So What’s the Other Important Legislation?

In trying avoid talking about the “legislation that will not be named” I thought I would bring up other pieces of legislation that could very well see the light of day during this session. I mentioned yesterday that immigration and further government consolidation in Marion County could be part of the heated legislative discussion, but are there others that could sneak out? Possibly.

According to the Indianapolis Star, 770 bills have been filed in the Indiana House and Senate that cover topics such as whether pharmacists can refuse to fill prescriptions because of their beliefs (SB-3) and predatory loans (HB 1211), to others like regulating hair removal (I’m serious about this one, I just don’t have a bill number) and making all restrooms in public places available to the public.

(I’ll go on record now and say that if any of those last two get a hearing, I may have to break my silence on “the legislation that will not be named” do to the fact it has already been refused a hearing in the House. But enough about that…and I mean it!)

Admittedly, I’m rooting for Jeb Bardon’s (D - Indianapolis) and Mike Murphy’s (R - Indianapolis) HB 1211 to make it to the Governor’s desk and here’s why. For the last three years I have served on the Board of my Home Owners Association, with one year as President. As a newer neighborhood (finished just two years ago) we’ve had our fair share of home foreclosures over time because people got caught in the middle of mortgages that they could never afford. In my opinion it was the fault of those who signed, but it was also the mortgage lenders fault as well. These mortgage offers were ridiculous and targeted the unsuspecting. Now my neighborhood is in a mini-crisis with homes popping up throughout that have been foreclosed on while at the same time forcing property value to plummet at no fault of my own. Many of my neighbors are worried as well and they should be. Indiana, last time I heard, was second to only Ohio in the number of home foreclosures. It’s my hope that legislation like HB 1211 could help curb this ever growing problem.

With plenty of legislation to go through, I may highlight one a week that I feel it’s worth the General Assembly’s time to review.

I will say that even though I don’t support the “legislation that will not be named” from a purely fundamental Federalist perspective, I do believe it does deserve a hearing if in fact any other piece of legislation is heard. The argument that “there’s no time to discuss it” doesn’t pass muster if even one of the other 770 bills, outside of property taxes, is given a hearing in both chambers.

But I do ask that since there are plenty of other topic threads that deal with the “legislation that will not be named” if you want to talk about them, go there. Let’s talk about other issues here. In fact, if you want, suggest a piece of legislation that you want me to highlight and I might do that.