Putnam County residents turned out Saturday morning for the final Indiana Farm Bureau Legislative Session. Senator John Crane, R-Avon, was the only member to show, as Representative Beau Baird and State Sen. Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, were unable to attend.
As a result, Crane gave an update on where things stand with the legislative session.
"We just concluded the first week of the second half of the session. If you
think of it as a ball game, there's the first half of session, brief halftime and a second half of the session," Crane said.
With the legislature being in a short session this year, they had about 750 bills filed and have whittled that down to 220, according to Crane.
"Normally up until this year, we have averaged 1,000 to about 1,400 bills that get filed in either the Senate or the House at the beginning of session. This year, that number was down to about 750, which is still a lot. One of the things I was really concerned about was the sheer volume of bills. We both passed out 110 bills, so of the 750, we are now down to 220 that are still in play. We are hearing House bills and they are hearing Senate bills," Crane said.
He told those in attendance that 88 percent of bills making it out of the Senate received bi-partisan support.
"That Hoosier Hospitality thing bleeds into the legislature," Crane said.
During his talk, Crane told those in attendance how bills go from being filed to being enacted and how the public can get involved.
"The House and the Senate filed their bills in their respective chambers and they started at the committee level. That is where the public can come in and testify. A lot of people don't realize that. Probably one percent or less of Hoosiers actually come down and let their voices be heard in the committee process. That is time where you can be involved with the legislative process. We are a level one heavy, like groundwork, heavy process. Second reading is when a bill makes it out of committee and comes to full house or Senate," Crane explained.
And, there is a timetable to be done. For this year, the session has to be done by March 14, and Crane said he believes the session could be done "a little sooner."
Crane touched on Senate Bill 1, which would require certain schools to offer summer school courses for students who are not reading proficient or who have been deemed at risk of not being proficient.
"Twenty percent of students in Indiana are struggling to read by third grade, which is that initial benchmark. We have been talking about it for a long time. Last year, a number of colleagues in the House and the Senate said let's try to tackle this thing," Crane said.
Crane said he believes if a student has to be held back, it is better for the student to be embarrassed on the front end rather than getting pushed forward and not being able to read and be struggling as they get into life.
"One of the things that has come up, and I am in favor of it, is to trying to target the kids struggling sooner, like second grade, so you can address it proactively," Crane said.
Another bill Crane touched on was Senate Bill 4, which pertains to fiscal and administrative measures. The legislation specifies that certain workforce related programs must be reviewed by the legislative services agency at least once rather than every five years and requires the budget agency to biennially prepare a list of dedicated funds that have not been used in the previous two state fiscal years.
"It cleans up the books a little bit, so to speak. There's been some effort to do some of that," Crane said.
One member of the audience, Lisa Cooper, asked about a House measure that would allow students an opportunity to work. House Bill 1062 would allow an exempted minor who is at least 14 years old to work in farm labor during school hours on a school day.
"We are concerned more kids will choose to work rather than do studies that is appropriate or healthy for kids at that age," said Cooper, who serves as president of the South Putnam School Board.
Cooper added she is concerned students may opt for working rather than studying or taking part in athletics or other extra curricular activities.
"My point is some of the families don't have a choice because of economics. I am all about learning to work hard, but if you have a luxury of choosing, do I learn to work hard at this or work hard at academics," Cooper said.
Crane said he has four kids ranging in age 20 to 15 and understands trying to figure out the issue with his own children.
"The question is who decides. Yes, if the parents decide than there is a certain variance of degrees that went into that decision," said Crane.
Putnam County Councilman Phil Glick asked how the state legislature can legislate the matter.
"I am trying to figure out how you legislate something at the state level that a kid who has the ability to do well academically, participate in sports and work, what are you going to do. My point is how do you address the problem you are talking about at the state level. The only way I know to do it is you do it is you say if you are younger than such and such, you don't work because I don't see how you get down to the individual family situation and say this kid can work and that kid can't. You can't do that at the state level," Glick said.
Crane said it goes back to the challenge the state legislature is in.
"I believe there are certain things we have to do and should do. That's our job. There's plenty of other things that people want us to do, and many of which, we agree to do that are not our job. That is the challenge," Crane said.
Crane said it is important to come "not just with the pitchfork, but with a solution from your vantage point."
"Stay engaged, but bringing the solution piece is so helpful. Can you help us figure out how to get this solved? At the end of the day, we are all Hoosiers. We all comes from all kinds of spaces and places, but we all want our state to thrive. We have to work together to figure it out," Crane said.
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