Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus
Bartholomew County residents will have four opportunities in the coming months to hear from their state legislators on action at the Statehouse.
The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce will have its first Third House Session of the year at 8 a.m. Jan. 23 via Zoom. Additional sessions are scheduled for Feb. 6, March 6 and April 3. These will also be conducted virtually, said Chamber President Cindy Frey.
More information, including Zoom links for the sessions, is available at columbusareachamber.com. Questions for legislators can be emailed to [email protected] prior to the event.
All state legislators who represent any part of Bartholomew County have been invited to participate in these sessions, including Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, Rep. Ryan Lauer, R-Columbus, Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour and Rep. Jennifer Meltzer, R-Shelbyville.
Third House sessions will begin with each legislator giving a short set of remarks on their priorities for the legislative session, said Frey. Legislators will then respond to questions sent in by the public.
“This year is a budget year, so there’s always a great deal of engagement as we look at the education budget, for example, because it’s an every other year budget process,” said Frey. “So anyone who has a pet project or a pet program is working very hard to get money into the budget.”
Also, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. is seeking budget increases for items such as small business development and entrepreneurship, which will be of interest to the local chamber.
They’re also interested in what decisions will be made in regards to the state’s education budget.
“We know that kids have been harmed during COVID and there’s a lot of remediation that needs to happen, so I think we’ll be watching that very carefully, because that’s our future workforce,” said Frey.
Another piece of proposed education-related legislation is Senate Bill 12, which would remove schools and certain public libraries “from the list of entities eligible for a specified defense to criminal prosecutions alleging (1) the dissemination of material harmful to minors; or (2) a performance harmful to minors.” At the same time, the bill would add colleges and universities, as well as college and university libraries, to the list of eligible entities.
The bill would also change a piece of Indiana Code that currently provides a defense if “the matter was disseminated or displayed or that the performance was performed for legitimate scientific or educational purposes.” The proposed legislation removes the words “or educational.”
Another bill of note is Senate Bill 144, which would change the minimum age to carry a handgun to 21 years.
