SB 327 having to do with Indiana specialty license plates is dead, according to Nikki Kelly, writing for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. (Discussed here previously).

Like I said, I’m in favor of getting rid of specialty plates. The proliferation was bad 15 years ago when I was drafting license plate bills and is getting worse. But, this year the politics was troublesome. It looked more like an attack on the Indiana Youth Group plate because some lawmakers were apparently concerned the state would be perceived as insufficiently hostile to gays.

On the other hand, the pending amendment to SB 327 allowing for a Girl Scouts plate was kind of funny, in light of Bob Morris’ warnings that the group is a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, promoting feminism, lesbianism, and Communism. (Reminds me of the old SNL bit about the gay communist gun club, “for people who are gay, communist, and love guns.”)

On second reading, there was a lot of chatter about how the amendments made HB 1149, the smoking ban statute worthless. I decided to go through the amendments and see how bad they were. They weaken it, sure, but honestly it still looks like an o.k. bill in my subjective opinion. Here is what went in on second reading.

Senator Leising: A health facility, a residential care facility, group home, retirement community, state hospitals, community mental health centers, and community mental retardation and other developmental disabilities centers; and: Bars and taverns that open after June 30, 2012; and facilities hosting bingo, raffles or other charity events.

Sen. Alting: Cigar or hookah bars that are open and allow smoking prior to July 1, 2013. (Previously the grandfather clause was cut off at June 30, 2012.) Sen Alting also clarified that the statute wouldn’t supersede a more restrictive ordinance already in place; also non-profit clubs.

Sen. Nugent: Local organizations can’t impose more restrictive requirements on gambling establishments.

Sen. Young: A business located at the owner’s residence. Local organizations can’t impose more restrictive requirements on this one either.

Here is the version now being considered by the Senate on third reading. It prohibits smoking in a public place (structure in which the public is invited or permitted), place of employment, state owned vehicles, and 8 feet of the entrance to a public place or place of employment.

The exceptions, generally speaking are: gambling facilities, non-profit clubs that serve food and/or alcohol to only its members, tobacco stores, hookah and cigar bars, over-21 bars and taverns, churches and the like when they’re holding bingo or raffle type events, and residential health care facilities of various kinds.

My preference is to be in a bar that’s smoke free; but I can’t get too upset at an exception for those locations. I don’t go to all that many bars anymore; and, if I do, generally I’m with people who share my aversion to cigarette smoke.

Sen. Hume’s SB 329 changes the deadline for a landowner in an eminent domain action to file an exception to the assessment of benefits or damages in an eminent domain action. Currently, it’s 20 days from when the clerk mails out the notice of the appraisers’ report, and under the new legislation, it increases to 45 days.

The general eminent domain procedures are here. But, basically, appraisers are appointed by the court and charged with determining the fair market value of property and improvements to be acquired and damages to remaining property by virtue of taking out the part sought to be acquired. The landowner can take the money or file exceptions, challenging the determination of the appraisers.

Sheila Kennedy has a blog post entitled Those Hits Keep Coming which discusses the latest committee amendment to SB 327. (The committee amendment is not yet online.)

The amendment to that bill apparently has a veneer or neutrality but comes in the wake of the freak out over the Indiana Youth Group license plates and, not coincidentally, would have the effect of preventing those gay-friendly plates from coming into existence.

In an effort to cloak the new rule with a veneer of impartiality, the measure requires–as a condition of approval–a burdensome amount of financial information from the petitioning nonprofits, 500 signatures of Indiana residents, and evidence of a “statewide public benefit from the use of the money the group would receive from the sale of license plates.” And each plate would have to be sponsored by a lawmaker and individually approved.
. . .
In order to prevent the predictable calamity that would occur if license plates bearing the legend “Indiana Youth Group” were allowed to roam freely over Indiana highways, the committee eliminated plates for the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police, IU Health, Indiana Soccer, the Zoo, the Marine Foundation and Ducks Unlimited. (Just as well. You can’t ever tell what those ducks might be up to…)

I’m no fan of specialty plates. I wasn’t when I was drafting specialty plate legislation 15 years ago. Their proliferation was out of control then and hasn’t gotten any better since. The General Assembly should return to exactly one message neutral plate that serves its bureaucratic function and no more. But, if we’re going to have “In God We Trust,” “Choose Life,” and the rest of it, then the General Assembly shouldn’t get in the business of setting up a system that endorses only conservative-neutral-to-friendly messages for the plates.

Indiana: One Class Basketball, One Standard Time, One License Plate. Hmm, I wonder if a legislator would be willing to endorse that slogan for a specialty plate.

Sen Kruse’s SB 88 would allow a county auditor to require proof that the property on which a taxpayer claims a homestead deduction is the person’s principal residence. It says that the auditor may limit the acceptable proof of that fact to a state income tax return, a valid driver’s license, or a valid voter registration card.

It repeals 50 IAC 24-3-2 (pdf). That administrative rule is much more permissive on the types of acceptable evidence, allowing:

(1) An Indiana identification card issued by the state of Indiana.
(2) An Indiana driver license or permit with a photo issued by the state of Indiana.
(3) An Indiana gun permit.
(4) A bank statement issued within sixty (60) days of application.
(5) Form W-2 (federal or state) or Form 1099.
(6) A state or federal tax return.
(7) A computer generated pay check stub.
(8) A valid employee identification card with a photo.
(9) A valid Indiana professional license.
(10) A valid insurance card.
(11) A Medicare or Medicaid card.
(12) U.S. military discharge or DD214 separation papers.
(13) An Indiana residency affidavit.
(14) A voter registration card.
(15) A valid Indiana vehicle or watercraft title or registration.
(16) Any other document with the applicant’s name and the address of the residence for which the applicant claims the
homestead standard deduction that provides information with reliability factors similar to the documents listed in subdivisions
(1) through (15) and that tends to show that the residence is the applicant’s principal place of residence.

Back in 2006, I wrote:

[T]he amount of time the legislature spends on license plates is absurd. Like I said, we have more than 30 listed in the Indiana Code and I think there are a fair number of other plates issued under a BMV administrative procedure. Why don’t we just require every Hoosier to design their own individual license plate and be done with it. It’s government identification, not a fashion accessory.

Mike Kole had similar thought, put in a catchier way, “the license plate serves a particular function, and the bumper sticker goes on the bumper.”

Anyway, Indiana having gotten into the state endorsement of causes via license plate business, Rep. Jeff Thompson now wants a laundry list of causes the state can’t approve in this fashion:

(1) Use of illegal drugs.
(2) Use of tobacco or tobacco products by a minor.
(3) Sexual activity involving a minor.
(4) Sexual activity outside of marriage not in accordance with IC 20-30-5-13. (This pertains to school curriculum on abstinence and STDs & pregnancy)
(5) Use of pornography.
(6) Abortion.
(7) Disrespect for parents, the family, religion, healthy behavior, or good citizenship as described in: (A) IC 20-30-5-5; or (B) IC 20-30-5-6.
(8) The undermining of the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of Indiana.
(9) The (A) undermining of the law; or (B) overthrow; of the government of the United States.
(10) A lifestyle that is contrary to: (A) IC 20-30-5-13; or (B) marriage between one (1) man and one (1) woman.
(11) The use of alcoholic beverages by an individual less than twenty-one (21) years of age.

Rep. Thompson’s proposed amendment seems to be of the “bury the lede” variety. The part about “marriage between one man and one woman” which I have put in bold seems to be the real point of the exercise. He either shares the anxiety of or is carrying water for the likes of Micah Clark with the American Family Association of Indiana (Caution: may not actually be beneficial to Americans or Families). Clark is irritated by the Indiana Youth Group license plate.

The Indiana Youth Group was “founded Founded in 1987 as a response to the needs of self-identified Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning youth” and provides programs protecting the mental and physical health of Indiana’s LGBT youth. So, you know, just like illegal drugs, porn, and overthrowing the United States. But, Mr. Clark doesn’t like this kind of organization because of teh gay.

Somewhat of a digression, but it ties in pretty well I think, is an article by Sabrina Rubin Erdely entitled, “One Town’s War on Gay Teens.” that is absolutely infuriating. It tells of an area in Minnesota, the Anoka-Hennepin School District where the anti-gay culture has become oppressive. The school district had adopted a policy stating that “homosexuality not be taught/addressed as a normal, valid lifestyle.” This, apparently, tied the hands of teachers to do anything about the incessant bullying of gay students in an area where other students absorbed the antipathy of their conservative evangelical parents. Being different is going to get a kid bullied just about anywhere; but this place went to a whole new level, it appears, with particularly elevated suicide rates.

Clark and the American Family Association, to me, seem to be part of that small but vocal subset of Christians that wants to mark its territory – not for any kind of spiritual benefits it provides to its members or to the community at large, but simply as a display of that group’s dominance (which makes the periodic howls of persecution when they don’t get their way that much harder to take).

License plates aren’t really the place to fight the culture wars; but if we’re going to have “In God We Trust” and “Choose Life” and whatnot, then a plate that is devoted to an organization that tries to make the lives of LGBTQ a little easier certainly seems like fair game.

Outside of the specific license plate issue, here is where I fundamentally disconnect with members of the American Family Association: I do not believe sexuality is sinful; and I do believe that homosexuality is something intrinsic to individuals who are gay. Neither is a “lifestyle choice.” So much of the culture war seems to come down to sex; whether they’re screaming bloody murder about contraception or proclaiming the sanctity of life that seems to have no particular worth to them between birth and brain death or getting all twisted up about what the gays are up to (with an inordinate number of the culture warriors seeming to be closeted, self-loathing gays.)

If, somehow, we could come to see sex as an inherent part of human existence but not such a Big Deal, I think we’d see a reduction in both the hypersexualization in our culture and a toning down of the culture wars. Without the taboo, sex stops being such an effective hook for marketing: political, commercial, or otherwise. Also, too, if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.

Sen. Alting’s SB 249 is a good housekeeping piece of legislation. Currently a county clerk of courts is required to send the State Department of Health copies of marriage records. This bill allows the Clerk to do so electronically (or continue to do it by paper) and specifies that, if done electronically, it should be either through a system approved by the state department of health or one developed by the judicial technology and automation project. (Struck me as a bit odd that the State Dept. of Health is charged with indexing the marriage records.)

Probably there is a lot of antiquated record keeping in the state that could use updating. And, some thought has to be given to the infirmities of electronic records. But, in any event, this seems like a good bill.

An AP story entitled Indiana House Speaker says he’s killing creationism bill continues the misreporting I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about SB 89.

The most recent bit of bad reporting says:

A bill that would have specifically allowed Indiana’s public schools to teach creationism alongside evolution in science classes has been shelved by the leader of the Indiana House of Representatives.

The good news is that Speaker Bosma is killing the bill. The bad news is that the AP doesn’t seem to have glanced at the bill it purports to be reporting on unless by “specifically allowed” they really mean “no longer says anything at all about.”

Here is what the bill now says, following Sen. Simpson’s amendment on second reading:

[A school] may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.

It says nothing at all about science or science classes. It also no longer even says anything about “creationism.” It just says that schools can teach the origin stories from various religions, so long as they teach those from multiple religions. Which, of course, they can already do.

Rep. Rhoads’ HB 1016 concerning design-build projects passed the Senate and is ready to head to the Governor. It passed 92-1 in the House and unopposed in the Senate. (Rep. Davis is the only one to vote against it, apparently.)

It’s a small change that allows fire protection districts to join state agencies, state educational institutions, local units, body corporate and politic created by state statute, school corporations, and conservancy districts as a “public agency” permitted to use the “design-build” procedure for public works under IC 5-30. That procedure allows you to basically have the same entity serving as architect and builder.