Dear Editor,

Last month, the 2023 session of the Indiana General Assembly came to a close. While there were a few thoughtful pieces of legislation passed, this session quickly went off the rails with hateful culture war bills that once again make our state look unwelcoming.

First, the positives. Democratic state Rep. Maureen Bauer of South Bend authored HB 1219 to address polyfluorinated substances, or PFAS. PFAS are known as forever chemicals, because they do not naturally break down in the environment. The Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams at Grace College has warned about the harm PFAS would do to our local lakes. You can read their report here. Bauer’s bill will create a pilot program to monitor the levels of PFAS in firefighters across the state. PFAS is currently the leading cause of cancer among firefighters.

Secondly, Democratic state Rep. Earl Harris of East Chicago authored HB 1449 to automatically enroll all eligible Hoosier schoolchildren into Indiana’s 21st Century Scholars program. Created in 1990 by then Democratic Gov. Evan Bayh, 21st Century Scholars pays 100% of the tuition at any Indiana public college and part of the tuition at private institutions. Thanks to this program, over 45,000 low-income Hoosier students have been able to attend and graduate from college. Unfortunately, because students had to opt-in by the eighth grade, many didn’t know about the program until it was too late. However, thanks to Harris, all eligible students will now be enrolled!

Now the negatives, and unfortunately there were too many to list in one letter, so I’ll highlight the worst of the worst. Under HB 1447, school librarians could face prison time if a parent doesn’t like a book that is in their child’s school library. This bill is modern-day censorship and will have a chilling effect on libraries right here in Kosciusko County. It will undoubtedly explode the list of banned books. Sadly, our community has a dark history of book burning, as we made national news in 1977 for a public book burning in front of the Center Lake Pavilion. A poem describing the event was published in the New York Times in 2018. You can read it here. Disappointingly, every Republican who represents Kosciusko County voted for this bill.

To satisfy zealots in his party worried about so-called “woke capitalism,” Kosciusko County Rep. Craig Snow co-authored legislation that makes radical changes to the state’s pension program. When first written, Snow’s HB 1008 was estimated to cost Indiana’s pension system a staggering $6.7 billion dollars over 10 years. At issue is what is known as “environmental, social and governance,” or ESG, scores most publicly traded companies are assigned. These scores grade a firm’s exposure to each of these three risk factors. ESG scores allow investors to avoid expensive litigation over pollution, labor violations and more. Unfortunately, thanks to Snow’s bill, forward-looking risk avoidance is no longer possible, and the Hoosier pension system will suffer. For example, Texas passed a similar bill that has cost taxpayers $416 million.

It’s clear during this past session, Democrats delivered, while Republicans chose division.

Brian Smith