Community, business and religious leaders called on state lawmakers to strengthen a pending bias crimes bill by restoring a list of specific protections removed by the Indiana Senate last month.
Representatives from Cummins Inc., Columbus Regional Health, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus, as well as Mayor Jim Lienhoop and a wide range of advocates spoke at the Thursday afternoon event. The gathering drew more than 100 people at The Commons in downtown Columbus.
The speakers emphasized that the bill’s current language would result in an unenforceable law and would make it harder for companies to recruit and retain top talent in Indiana.
“I’m here to urge that the Indiana House of Representatives fixes Senate Bill 12 by adding protected classes, known as the list, back into the bill,” said Mark Osowick, Cummins vice president of human resource operations. “We were extremely disappointed when the Senate voted to remove the enumerated characteristics from the bill, but we’re also very hopeful that the House will strengthen the bill and pass comprehensive bias crimes legislation.”
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The controversy centers around the current language of Senate Bill 12, which is pending in the House. The bill would allow judges to increase the length of a criminal sentence if it is determined that a crime was committed with bias.
Senate Bill 12 initially included specific protections for crimes found to be motivated by bias against the victim’s race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, among other categories. On Feb. 19, the Republican-led Senate voted to remove the protections. Two days later, the Senate voted 39-10 to pass the bill without the protections and send it to the House.
Indiana is one of five states without a bias crime law. Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Wyoming also do not have such a law. The Georgia House of Representatives, however, passed a hate crimes law with a list of protective classes on March 7. The bill is currently pending in the Georgia Senate.
“We believe that without a list, without identifying those who should be listed within bias crimes legislation, there is no law at all,” said the Rev. Nic Cable, Universalist Congregation of Columbus minister. “What’s the point without a list? No list, no law.”
Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop said it is time for Indiana “to do the right thing” and pass a bias crimes bill with a list of protected classes.
“You may think today that these protections and this message don’t apply to you,” he said. “You may also think that (protected) classes are created for others and not for you. Well, you or a loved one may become a minority sooner than you think. Please consider how your stance might change if your son or daughter came out as gay or should your grandchild be of mixed race.”
More than 100 people, including local public officials, community leaders and advocates attended the event, including Lydi Davidson, president of Bartholomew County Democratic Women, who said a hate crimes bill is long overdue in Indiana.
“Today, there’s more hate that’s being reported than in my history of following it,” she said. “(The hate crimes law) is just so needed.”
Bob Hyatt, Bartholomew County Democratic Party chairman, who also attended the event, said not having a hate crimes bill shows that “Indiana is still in the woods a bit.”
“It’s an important issue,” Hyatt said. “Cummins knows that. All the companies know that.”
Thursday’s event was the latest high-level response to Senate Bill 12.
On Feb. 27, Cummins Inc. Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger, along with a coalition of 21 other influential Indiana employers — ranging from the chairman and CEO of drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. to the president of the NCAA — signed a joint letter urging state lawmakers to reinstate the list of protected classes.
“The bill in its current form is unacceptable, unenforceable and harmful to the state’s economy,” the letter said. “We urge (state lawmakers) to strengthen the bill by adding enumerated classes back into the legislation and establish a strong bias crimes law in Indiana. Indiana is currently in the national spotlight because we are one of five states without bias crimes protections.”
The current version of the bill also has been criticized by activists, who say the current language of the bill is unenforceable. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana said removing the protections would defeat the initial purpose of the bill and make it “ineffective and difficult to enforce.”
Indy Pride, which advocates for central Indiana’s LGBTQ+ community, has said that it is “saddened” by the removal of the specific protections, according to its website.
Mike Leppert of Indiana Forward, a bipartisan statewide campaign for passing a comprehensive hate crimes law in Indiana, who spoke at the event, said this is the fourth consecutive legislative session that he has fought for a hate crimes bill in Indiana.
“We have almost 1,000 organizations across the state of Indiana who have decided that we’ve had enough,” he said. “There’s no reason for us not to do this. There’s no obstacle that is meaningful enough for us to wait any longer to pass this law.”
The bill’s supporters, however, argue that listing specific protections in the bill is redundant because Indiana judges already have the power to enhance a criminal sentence if a perpetrator is found to have committed a crime with bias. To support their position, the bill’s proponents point to the 2003 Indiana Supreme Court case, Witmer v. State of Indiana.
In that case, convicted murderer Alex Witmer challenged the length of his 65-year sentence for his role in the racially-motivated murder in Elkhart of 19-year-old Sasezley Richardson, an African American, in 1999. The Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s ruling that “the perpetrators’ racial animus was a grounds for enhancing the sentence,” according to the Supreme Court’s decision.
On March 4, Senate Bill 12 was sent to the House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code. If the bill makes it out of committee, House members could restore the protections and send the bill back to the Senate, pass the bill without protections or drop the bill altogether.
Gov. Eric Holcomb, who has voiced support for the list of protected classes, has yet to signal whether he would veto the bill if it arrived on his desk without the specific protections.
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Senate Bill 12 would allow judges to increase the length of a criminal sentence if they determine that a crime was committed with bias. The bill initially included specific protections for crimes found to be motivated by bias against the victim’s race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, among other categories. On Feb. 19, the Republican-led Senate removed the protections. Two days later, the Senate voted 39-10 to pass the bill without the protections and send it to the House.
Indiana is one of five states without a bias crime law. Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Wyoming also do not have such a law.
On March 4, Senate Bill 12 was sent to the House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code. If the bill makes it out of committee, House members could restore the protections and send the bill back to the Senate, pass the bill without protections or drop the bill altogether.
Gov. Eric Holcomb has voiced support for the list of protected classes.
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