As they head into the second half of the Indiana legislative session, lawmakers reflect on what they’ve done, what they haven’t done and what they still hope to accomplish.
In the coming weeks, bills that originated in the state House or Senate will now make their way through the opposite chamber.
Bloomington’s elected officials, Democrats Rep. Matt Pierce and Sen. Mark Stoops, said they are disappointed with the outcome of the first half of this year’s legislative session.
Pierce said lawmakers are not dealing with the important issues.
“It’s been a very sleepy session,” Pierce said. “The general assembly doesn’t seem to be tackling the big issues.”
Pierce said he was disappointed legislators had done nothing to address funding issues and income inequality. He said he would have liked to see a bill that would have increased the minimum wage.
He also would have liked to see legislation to fix the gender pay gap in Indiana and to establish an independent redistricting commission.
Pierce, like many other Democrats, criticized lawmakers for not doing more to fix issues in the Department of Child Services.
He said legislators seem to be content with waiting for an independent assessment into DCS to finish before enacting any legislation. Pierce said something needs to be done sooner rather than later to ensure children are protected.
Stoops said the session has had a lot of what he calls “statement bills,” bills that are authored by legislators up for re-election this year. Many of these bills are also backed heavily by special interest groups.
He added it is often difficult in a short session to get legislation passed because of pressure from special interest groups.
Stoops criticized lawmakers for not doing enough during the first half of the session.
“I would not call it a success in any means,” Stoops said.
Stoops said he wished he had seen more focus on improving education opportunities both in pre-K and K-12 schools. He said he wished the legislature would have focused more on increasing the ability for people to actually go to college.
“That’s what our stated goal in Indiana is, but we’re not really good at following through on that priority with actual statutes and programs and funding them,” Stoops said.
Stoops and Pierce specifically criticized bills concerning workforce development. Stoops said rather than focusing on properly funding education and teachers’ salaries, legislation has focused on implementing programs and language surrounding workforce development into the school curriculum.
He said legislators should have been working to increase teaching salaries to make it more competitive or expanding pre-K programs, which have a direct influence on children finishing high school and going to college.
Pierce called the current workforce development bills “hodge-podge bills,” which put off any real changes in policy until next year.
Both Pierce and Stoops said they were disappointed in the failed passage of a hate crime bill.
Stoops said one of the main reasons why the bill did not get a hearing was because the language included sexual orientation and gender identity. He said it was another example of special interest groups controlling legislation.
“The religious right refused to let legislators vote for that language,” Stoops said.
Despite disappointment in the first half of the session, Pierce said he’s going to continue working on some of the same things in the second half of the session that he did in the first half, such as advocating for legalization of CBD oil and working to improve addiction treatment options.
“I’m going to keep working on the same things and follow them all the way through to the end,” Pierce said.
Stoops said the biggest takeaway for people, especially students, to recognize is problems with campaign finance or special interest groups are not only happening at the federal level. He said the state legislature is the most important level of government.
He encouraged people to vote, even during midterm elections and even for local or state offices.
He said it’s easy for people to get discouraged thinking their vote doesn't count. Citizens should not only vote for local or state offices, he said, but they should also continue to follow what’s happening in those offices.
“They can be discouraged but what they need to do is wake up and vote,” Stoops said.
