Antisemitism, reading and child care: 5 takeaways from week two of the legislative session

Indiana lawmakers zipped through the second week of the legislative session with dozens of committee hearings, some hours long, at the Statehouse.

Major priority bills for Republicans in both the House and Senate made moves in committees and full chambers this week.

At this point in the process, all of the Senate bills have been referred to committees. Here are some takeaways from the second week.

A heated state v. Indianapolis fight

Nary a session goes by without some sort of feud between state lawmakers and Indianapolis, and more specifically, IndyGo.

This week, Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, brought back the fight over dedicated bus lanes on Washington Street ― and this time, House Speaker Todd Huston says he’s open to acting on it if it gets to his chamber.

The dispute centers around whether IndyGo can accomplish its goals —which include infrastructure improvements, pedestrian safety and more reliable bus schedules —without dedicated lanes. But the hours-long debate also prompted frustration from Democratic senators, who felt the bill is an overreach of state government.

“If we wanna be councilors, let’s quit being state senators and run at the local level,” said Indianapolis Sen. Fady Qaddoura.

Senate Bill 1, key reading bill, progresses

Senate Bill 1, lawmakers' response to the state’s literacy crisis, cleared its first hurdle Wednesday after the Senate Education and Career Development committee voted to move the bill to Appropriations.

The bill would enforce holding back third graders who, despite intervention efforts, fail the third-grade reading test known as IREAD. There are exceptions for kids with learning disabilities or other circumstances. The bill adds intervention efforts, such as giving the IREAD to second graders and requiring schools to offer summer school for students who are struggling.

The key tension between Democrats and Republicans rests on whether it's too soon to enforce those retention efforts, given the ongoing rollout of the science of reading that was passed into law just last year.

Reading bills: Here's what Indiana lawmakers want to do to improve third graders' reading literacy scores

Education Secretary Katie Jenner told lawmakers districts may need about two years to fully implement the science of reading across all schools.

Democrats, believing schools need more time to adjust before the state makes additional changes, voted against the bill.

Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger and the bill's author, said the state can't afford to delay and allow more third graders who are not proficient at reading to pass on to fourth grade.

“We’re at a crisis level,” Rogers said. “We can’t wait. We have to move forward as it is now.”

Senate child care bill unchanged for now

The Senate’s key child care bill passed its first committee with no issues and just one change: A 16 or 17-year-old can be counted as a staffer only if assigned to a supervisor who is at least 18.

Senate Bill 2 attempts to address the supply side of child care through several proposals: enabling workers to qualify for child care vouchers for their own children, decreasing the minimum age requirements for working with children, and creating a new type of facility ― a “micro facility,” which is smaller, has fewer regulations attached and will quickly address access issues in certain areas of the state.

Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, who authored the bill, said last week he considers the legislation an “infrastructure bill” due to the issue’s impact on “every aspect of our economy.”

“We have families that are in a catch-22,” Charbonneau said. “A family with a young child, they either bite the bullet, really cut back on everything to be able to afford to put their infant child into a child care center or give it up. Give up the job and stay home to be a parent with the child.”

House unanimous on HB 1002

The House on Thursday unanimously passed one of its priorities this year in House Bill 1002, which would define antisemitism as religious discrimination and ink into state law that Indiana provides educational opportunities free of discrimination.

The final vote was met with chants of “Shame on you” and "Free free Palestine" from protesters outside the chamber who were opposed to the bill. One of the protesters was removed from the House chamber by State Police after shouting "Resistance is not antisemitism."

The bill uses the same language that Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers, introduced in 2023, which also unanimously passed the House, but died in the Senate.

Latest on HB 1002: Indiana House passes bill to fight antisemitism on campuses. Will it pass the Senate?

Jeter told lawmakers he believes it is important for Indiana to show support for Jewish students in Indiana both on K-12 and college campuses, especially in light of the Israel-Hamas War.

Senate Pro Tempore Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, hasn't made any promises publicly about the bill's future.

"It's a really really important issue right now, obviously, that has come to light since early October and the conflict that's going on over in the Middle East," he told reporters Thursday. "So we'll discuss it in light of that and see if it's something the Senate wants to move forward with."

Movement on alternative drugs

A House committee on Wednesday passed a bill to legalize the sale of hemp ― a form of cannabis that has less than the legal limit of 0.3% THC and is legal federally ― to Hoosiers 21 and over. House Bill 1079 would also set up a regulatory framework for other cannabis products, such as Delta 8.

Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, has carried this bill for the last several years. It's gotten stuck in the Senate in the past.

Because some see the bill as a step in the direction of full marijuana legalization, lawmakers have strong opinions on both sides of the issue.

Something that's less controversial: magic mushrooms. The Senate Health and Provider Services committee unanimously passed a bill to establish a state fund for researching the clinical use of psilocybin, a schedule I drug extract that the U.S. Food and Drug administration has given "breakthrough therapy" status to enable clinical research.

The bill had universal support from the medical community, who pointed to a vast body of research proving psilocybin's effectiveness in treating depression and other mental illnesses.

Contact IndyStar's state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter@kayla_dwyer17.

Rachel Fradette is a suburban education reporter at IndyStar. Contact her at rfradette@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter at @Rachel_Fradette.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana General Assembly: 5 takeaways from the second week of session