Indiana's lethargic legislature

Indiana has a habit of stepping backward instead of forward.

The Hoosier state has been in the news for treating gay men and women like they aren’t people, restricting women’s access to abortion or pushing for education reform that doesn’t do anything.

When we elect legislators we expect them to legislate. We expect them, additionally, to legislate effectively.

Unfortunately, our representatives and senators in Indianapolis aren’t being effective. Nor do they even seem to be in touch with what Indiana residents need from their government.

Our legislature is instead so lethargic and so self-involved that they’ve seemingly decided that their job doesn’t affect those of us who put them into office in the first place.

Indiana and her residents face a myriad of problems and challenges every single day.

Problems such as how Indiana education has been continually falling in national rankings since 2010. We’re continually one of the least healthy states, with some of the highest rates of obesity, smoking, diabetes and lack of child immunizations.

Perhaps the state legislature would be interested to know that, according to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Assault Committee, one in five women in Indiana have been raped. Maybe the fiscal conservatives would like to know that Indiana is one of the worst states for entrepreneurs, too.

Every two years, the Indiana Legislature is in session for only 91 scheduled days, with 61 of those days being dedicated to the state budget and the remaining 30 in short session years.

Logically, and perhaps a bit naively, we’d like to think our government would, in this short amount of time, be passing meaningful education reform, effective health programs, sexual assault prevention strategies or fiscal stimulus for small business owners.

And of course, we’d be wrong.

Instead, the Indiana Statehouse has been busy tackling issues they feel are much more important then educating our children or preventing rape.

House Joint Resolution 3, the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Indiana, has taken up a large amount of time in the statehouse.

Sen. Jean Leising R-Oldenburg has decided that cursive is so important to Indiana education that she’s proposed the same law — which mandates cursive be taught in all Indiana schools — for the third year in a row.

State Rep. Jim Lucas R-Seymour has proposed a bill to allow licensed gun owners to keep firearms locked in their vehicles on school campuses. The bill died in committee within a few days of proposal.

I am sick of our Indiana Legislature mirroring the U.S. Congress. Our legislature has a only short amount of time to make a positive change in the lives of Hoosiers.

And regardless of your opinion on gay marriage, cursive or guns on college campuses, they won’t solve our problems. The news is always reporting on big bills meant to solve issues about energy, education, healthcare or drug-reform in other states.

Meanwhile, Indiana only gets in the news for moving backwards and wasting time.

We deserve better.

­— ajguenth@indiana.edu
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Andrew Guenther on Twitter @GuentherAndrew.