INDIANAPOLIS — As state lawmakers enter the second half of this year's legislative session, some controversial bills are among dozens moving forward. Some, however, did not make it to the second half of this year's session.
Here's an overview look into both categories.
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The following bills have advanced to the session's second half:
- House Bill 1041, a ban on transgender girls playing girls sports in grades 12 and below
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- House Bill 1134, a ban on teachers using material that causes students "psychological distress," which could mean potentially anything but is targeted at lessons dealing with racism and gender identity
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- Senate Bill 17, which makes it easier for parents to get so-called pornographic books out of school and public libraries, but which in other states has been used to target books aimed at helping LGBTQ youth.
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Others were killed for now, including the following:
Senate Bill 320, which would have given people who rent their homes more power to get their landlords to make repairs to their properties, was killed shortly after a tenant's rights rally at the Statehouse.
House Bill 1053, a bill that would have let cities restrict the personal use of fireworks to the eight days surrounding the Fourth of July, is also a dud.
A proposal to make school board candidates run under a political party banner was also stopped in its tracks.
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Some lawmakers claimed voters deserved to know whether a board member is a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green, Constitutionalist, party for Socialism and Liberationist or a Prohibitionist.
The races will remain non-partisan for now.
Additionally, none of 13 marijuana-related bills advanced out of committee, meaning Hoosiers will have to wait at least another year for marijuana to be legalized, decriminalized or permitted for medical use.
Before the session began, Democrats said they expected marijuana to be a “hallmark issue” for the 2022 state and midterm elections if the matter was not settled at the Statehouse.
Recreational marijuana is legal in 18 states, including Illinois and Michigan, plus Washington, D.C., and it is legal for medicinal use in Ohio.
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