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Monday, February 06, 2012

Ind. Gov't. - "Nonsensical session" writes FWJG

Some quotes from the long editorial today:

Forty years after creating biannual short sessions, any sense that the Indiana General Assembly is confining its work to addressing pressing issues and tweaking fiscal concerns stemming from the previous year’s budget session has long since passed.

As lawmakers head into the second half of their legislative session, among the efforts still alive are bills to allow teaching creationism in schools; legalize switchblade knives; conduct drug tests on welfare recipients and legislators; and give schools more authority to punish students for conduct that has nothing to do with school.

For progressive Hoosiers who want to see the legislature improve the state, perhaps the best news from last week was Senate President Pro Tem David Long’s announcement that the Senate would not consider an ill-advised effort to legalize high-fenced “canned” hunting that many hunters oppose.

This section of the editorial particularly caught my eye:
A bill largely under the radar would change current law that allows school administrators to suspend or expel students who engage in unlawful activity by striking the word “unlawful” from the law. Seventy-two state representatives decided school officials could banish students for activity away from school if “the activity may reasonably be considered to be an interference with school purposes or an educational function” or “the student’s removal is necessary to restore order or protect persons on school property; including an activity during weekends, holidays, other school breaks, and the summer period when a student may not be attending classes or other school functions.”

The law appears to be a reaction to a successful lawsuit filed against Smith-Green Community Schools for suspending two girls from extracurricular activities for posting photos from a summer slumber party online. Yet a U.S. District Court upheld the girls’ lawsuit on constitutional free speech grounds, and it seems doubtful this heavy-handed attempt to allow schools to regulate students’ behavior in their homes would change the outcome.

That would be HB 1169, which the ILB quoted in full in this entry from Jan. 31st, and included the rollcall.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 6, 2012 10:55 AM
Posted to Indiana Government