Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, uses the ‘Lord of the Rings’ as a visual aide to present House Bill 1002 on Feb. 3, 2024. Photo by Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

By Whitney Downard and Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Using two popular fantasy series as visual aides, Rep. Bob Behning urged his colleagues on Monday, Feb. 4 to greenlight his omnibus bill to strike certain education regulations.

Behning said the current education section of state code was roughly equivalent in length to J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, which has nearly 580,000 words.

Books used by Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, when he presented House Bill 1002 for its final passage before the House Chamber. Photo by Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

His proposal, House Bill 1002, would trim about 35,000 words from that section — or nearly the same number of words in C.S. Lewis’s ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.’

The Indianapolis Republican called much of the language “low-hanging fruit,” particularly expired education mandates, teacher training and other programs.

“I think it’s impactful that we move towards (not) regulating schools in order to give them the ability to do what they do best for those children,” Behning said.

Examples of deleted language include removing “may” provisions, eliminating specific COVID-19 pandemic requirements and striking duplicate code. A release from his office estimated that the cuts would reduce state education regulations by nearly 10%.

Behning’s bill split the Democratic caucus — with 10 members joining Republicans to pass the measure on a 75-16 vote.

It now moves to the Senate for further consideration.

Over In The Senate

Senators tackled their own agenda Monday, Feb. 4, moving forward Republican priority legislation to add oversight to water withdrawal projects around the state. The body accepted an amendment reducing the amount of water that triggers oversight from 30 million gallons daily to 10 million.

Just one senator nixed a move that would make certain reckless driving activities, known as “sideshows,” a Class B misdemeanor. Such activities occur on populated streets and can include dangerous car stunts like burnouts or drifting.

It would not impact such activity on private property such as parking lots.

“If they want to race, we have drag strips all up and down the state of Indiana … but not in the middle of an intersection,” said author Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville.

Sen. Andy Zay, R-Huntington, was the sole ‘no’ vote on Senate Bill 13 — but didn’t explain his vote.

Senate Bill 157, defining “squatters” and empowering law enforcement officers to remove someone from a property, also passed with near-unanimous support — though a Democrat was the sole dissenting vote.

Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, maintained that such additional duties made police the “judge, jury and executioner” over unwritten tenant contracts — meaning someone with an oral leasing agreement could potentially be evicted at a property owner’s whim.

“This is not something that law enforcement wants to do. (We’re) putting them in a state of peril,” Pol said. He said another bill dealing with trespassing would better address the underlying issue.

Author Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, said this bill wasn’t a “landlord-tenant” issue, but rather a “property owner versus a squatter.”

He said many Hoosiers are “snowbirds” who live in Florida over the winter. “Imagine if you come home and find someone in your house. You don’t want a court hearing or an emergency possession order — you want that person out of your house immediately,” Gaskill said.

All three Senate bills will receive further scrutiny in the House.

Two bills seeking to combat the toll of Indiana’s drug epidemic also got approval on Monday, Feb. 4. In the House, members unanimously advanced a measure to allow nurses convicted of felony possession to continue working as peer recovery coaches. Current law prohibits health providers from hiring employees with such felonies.

Senators unanimously voted for a bill decriminalizing test strips, which can be used to test if substances are laced with dangerous fentanyl or xylazine. A House version has already moved forward and the two bills will likely be combined.