The "Dirty Dozen" bills in Indiana House and Senate
A way to help Hoosiers use their voice during Indiana's legislative session
Yesterday two members of our grassroots group ( Sharon Boller and Angie Foreman) testified at the House committee hearing on Indiana SB76, which, among other things, requires local police agencies to cooperate with ICE in detainment of individuals suspected of being here without proper documentation. Both women spoke eloquently about the harms this bill will cause to our communities and to legal immigrants who will face targeting simply because of skin color. Both noted that the bill actually hinders public safety rather than improving it. It misuses our local police agencies and encourages racism within communities and individuals.
In pondering SB76, bill, we realized we needed to make it easier for Hoosiers to know how to use their voice and their presence as citizens. The active bills in the legislature number in the two hundreds (213 as of today). This amount of legislation is overwhelming for any one person to digest. We decided to provide some help.
Our grassroots group used the bill tracker from MadVoters Indiana to review the bills they are monitoring, which is a large subset of the 200+. From THEIR list, we culled our Dirty Dozen: 12 bills that have a huge impact on an entire Hoosier group or major institution (e.g. women, immigrants, the poor, public education, our library system, our legal system, and our healthcare system).
Starting immediately, we will push out a daily or almost-daily “flood the phones” or “show up” action via our social media channels (Instagram, Facebook). Our social media messages will make it easy for people to download a graphic that contains all relevant details so they can then share out the action with those in their own networks. The action item will look something like this. Phone calls require a minute’s time. Showing up obviously requires more - but you can submit written testimony in lieu of personally coming to Statehouse.
The Dirty Dozen
Our daily call to action will offer a highlight of the ONE bill out of the 12 that needs most urgent action. The MADVoters Bill Tracker enables you to see a summary of these bills and where they are in the legislative process. The links below take you to the actual bill so you can read it in its entirety.
SB236 Abortion Inducing Drugs and Abortion Reports - Targets pregnant women, healthcare providers
SB182 Gender Issues - Targets transgender individuals
SB 285 Housing matters - Targets the homeless
SB76 Immigration Matters - Targets immigrants, people with black and brown skin color
SB001 Human Services Matters - Targets: the poor
SB002 - Bail Procedures. Targets people accused of crimes that have not yet had any hearing or trial.
SB088 Various education matters - Targets freedom of religion; separation of church and state
SB200 Public School Matters - Targets right-wing political organizations and providing them an entry-way into public schools.
HB1423 Indanapolis Public Education Corporation - Targets IPS school board
HB1099 Foreign Adversaries - Targets legal immigrants who come here to study or to work
SB008 Library Budgets - The target: removal of final budget approval from a public library board to local government
SB277 (Indiana Dept of Environmental Mgmt) - The target: Protections for our environment
Could you post flood the phones graphics on this Substack too? Some of us are taking Meta breaks.