Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signs bills into law in a photo taken March 7, 2022. Photo pulled from Holcomb’s official Flickr.

By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANA — Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a whopping 75 bills into law on Wednesday, March 13, including a heavily debated proposal that conservative proponents hope will spur “intellectual diversity” in publicly funded college classrooms.

Other bills he approved will offer retirement bonuses to former public employees, relax some child care regulations, block underage Hoosiers from accessing pornographic content online and more.

Six bills remain that Holcomb can sign, veto or allow to become law without his signature.

Faculty and students overwhelmingly contended Senate Enrolled Act 202 would micromanage their institutions and have a “chilling effect” on free expression.

Holcomb, in a statement Wednesday, March 13, said the bill aligns with his track record of “encourag(ing) diversity, inclusivity and respect for all” by “ensur(ing) freedom of expression” for faculty and students.

“The bill requires free inquiry and civil discourse programming for new students, strongly encourages academic freedom and protects faculty to express differing viewpoints from their colleagues and university leadership,” Holcomb continued. “The Senate Bill statutorily recognizes faculty tenure and tasks each institution to develop its own review process.

“I have faith in our public universities to faithfully implement this law to foster the successful growth and intellectual vibrancy of academia while protecting the rights of all individuals,” he concluded.

The bill’s supporters say conservative faculty members and students are increasingly ostracized at progressively liberal college and university settings — or at least perceive such shunning.

It makes changes to the institutions’ diversity-oriented positions and their policies for tenure, contract renewals, performance reviews and more. It also establishes new reporting and survey requirements based on “free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity.”

Author Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, celebrated the signature in a statement.

“Indiana just sent a strong signal that our state is committed to academic freedom, free expression and intellectual diversity for all students and faculty,” he said. “Universities that fail to foster intellectually diverse communities that challenge both teachers and learners fail to reach their potential. This measured bill makes it significantly less likely that any university will shortchange our students in that way.”

Deery lauded the bill for making the creation of “truly diverse” communities an “expectation across the state.” He said it neither mandated nor prohibited any content, and wouldn’t interrupt “minority student” university recruitment and retention efforts.

“This bill pushes our universities to improve with minimal disruption to how they already operate, and I am grateful to the governor and my colleagues for helping me to make it state law,” Deery added.

Other Items Signed

Former public employees are expected to win big under legislation Holcomb also signed into law.

An estimated 175,000 — according to the Indiana Public Retirement System — will get a one-time benefit bonus by October. And they’re guaranteed to get annual 13th checks or cost-of-living adjustments for the foreseeable future, under a compromise lawmakers struck on the final day of the legislative session.

It came after weeks of tussling over policy goals and years of differences in preferred approaches to additional benefits.

Sen. Brian Buchanan, who carried the long-term plan that his chamber inserted into House Enrolled Act 1004, said he was “thankful” Holcomb signed the legislation into law.

“This new law ensures public retirees will be taken care of and makes INPRS more sustainable for future generations,” Buchanan, R-Lebanon, added.

Holcomb signed dozens of other bills, including:

• House Enrolled Act 1084, which lets four state officeholders carry handguns in and around the Statehouse. It also seeks privacy for firearm owners and fairness in transactions for firearm businesses.
• House Enrolled Act 1093, loosening teenage labor laws.
• House Enrolled Act 1102, relaxing child care regulations in a bid to improve the state’s seat shortage.
• House Enrolled Act 1137, requiring schools to approve parental requests for students to leave class during the day for religious instruction.
• Senate Enrolled Act 17, requiring that websites hosting pornographic content verify a user’s age before allowing access.
• Senate Enrolled Act 282, which seeks to crack down on absenteeism in schools.
• Senate Enrolled Act 234, which limits how long a governor can call a statewide disaster emergency without legislative approval to 60 days.

Attorney General Todd Rokita applauded the emergency powers change, saying “Glad to see Hoosiers will no longer be controlled by any governor’s view of what qualifies as a state of disaster emergency for months on end like we did in 2020. Now, our local elected leaders in the General Assembly will have the power to vote on this and make appropriate decisions for their constituents.”

Holcomb has yet to sign 6 bills, including measures defining and banning antisemitism in public education, constraining the state’s public access chief, limiting “foreign adversary” land buys, ending a long-running local lawsuit against firearm manufacturers and altering an Indianapolis-based financial district.

He is scheduled to sign the sixth, which legalizes restaurant happy hours and carry-out alcohol orders, on Thursday afternoon at an Indianapolis establishment.