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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

New state laws implemented

Beginning Wednesday, the laws passed in the most recent Indiana legislative session went into effect throughout Indiana. Paul Helmke, a professor of practice at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, discussed some of the changes Hoosiers can expect:

Religious Freedom Reformation Act

The most controversial of the new laws is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This law allows businesses to refuse service, due to their religious beliefs.

Because of the national outcry about the law’s discriminatory nature, a clarification was quickly added in the form of Senate Bill 50, which stated the law could not be used to justify discrimination against gays and ?lesbians.

“People probably won’t see anything change on a day-to-day basis with regards to RFRA,” Helmke said. “I think what’s going to happen is you’re going to see people try to push extreme beliefs or try to test the law to get publicity.”

Many legislators promised anti-discrimination laws would be passed in the next session to protect people who identify as gay or lesbian. Gay rights were not chosen as an issue to research before the next session, raising some skepticism as to whether legislators actually plan to take further action on the issue.?

Driving

Other legal changes will affect Hoosiers behind the wheel. Indiana police are now able to ticket drivers for driving too slowly in the left lane. The maximum fine for this infraction is $500.

“I’ve been testing this one today, and I haven’t seen it take affect yet,” Helmke said. “There are a lot of slow drivers in the left lane. It’s going to be interesting to see how police enforce this one.”

It is also now illegal for any driver younger than 21-years-old to use their phone for any reason while operating a motor vehicle.

This means young drivers cannot be looking at their phones for music or driving directions. The only exception is for calling 911 in the case of an emergency.

Decapitation

State legislators also passed a law making the decapitation of a living victim an offense punishable by the death penalty.

“They’re reacting to the ISIS tapes,” Helmke guessed. “A lot of what the legislature does is that they take something they see in the news that may or may not be an actual problem, and they react to it.”

Construction Wages

The Common Construction Wage Law was repealed, meaning contractors and businesses can pay skilled workers lower wages. The Indiana Democratic Party said this change will widen the wage gap in Indiana, which already ranks 38th in income wage per capita.

The idea was that, because the workers can now be paid less, the tax-payer will spend less money, but Helmke said he fears companies will spend the same amount of money and still pay lower wages.

Rape

The state government has extended the statute of limitations to five years for rape charges. This means when certain types of evidence come to light, people can still be convicted of rape up to five years after the crime took place.

“Basically, the new law reflects the fact that we now have DNA testing that can tie someone to a rape incident years later and the fact that people sometimes tape these things on cell phones,” Helmke said.

Guns

It is now legal in Indiana to own a sawed-off shotgun, or a shotgun capable of spraying bullets in a wider area.

“This bothers me,” Helmke said. “We’ve again weakened our gun laws, which I don’t personally think there’s a need for.”

Helmke said only 12 people have been convicted of owning one of these guns in the last five years.

“Making it legal will only draw attention to this type of gun and encourage more people to buy it, which can’t be good,” he said.

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