Second Life For Hate Crimes Bill?

There may be a second life for Indiana's hate crimes legislation. Rep. Greg Porter (D) will offer a second reading amendment to SB 45 today to add the language from his original hate crimes legislation, which passed out of the Courts and Criminal Procedure Committee earlier this year on a 9-1 vote but died on second reading after a controversial anti-abortion amendment was offered to it by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R).

SB 45 is authored by Sen. Richard Bray (R) and includes several sentencing-related measures recommended by the sentencing policy study committee. Rep. Linda Lawson (D) is the House sponsor of SB 45. You can contact your legislator today to urge a "Yes" vote on Rep. Porter's amendment by calling the House switchboard at (317) 232-9600, or the toll-free number at 1-800-382-9842.

Also, keep a close watch on the proponents of SJR-7. They may attempt to blast the amendment out of committee today through a procedural vote on the House floor. Such a maneuver would likely take the consent of 2/3 of the House members to succeed. SJR-7 lost on a 5-5 tie vote in the House Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee last week.