State of the State

On Tuesday evening, Governor Holcomb gave his annual State of the State Address where he highlighted his legislative priorities for the upcoming year. We are pleased to see he supports increased funding for public health initiatives in our state to address mental health supports and maternal and infant mortality. We are also excited to see his priorities to increase funding for education so that teacher pay can continue to rise and schools are provided with proper resources to help students thrive. He also hopes to pass legislation that would waive school curriculum fees and automatically enroll eligible students into the 21st Century Scholarship Program.

Click on the link below for his full address.

Old issues are back

Every year, many similar bills are introduced as the previous year, perhaps because they didn't pass or because legislators want to expand on a bill. This year, two legislative issues from last year have reappeared:

Bills to politicize school board elections are back this year which would require school board candidates to identify as a Republican, Democrat, or Independent. MCCOY strongly opposes any bill that attempts to politicize school boards. Those elected to serve on school boards should do so without inserting partisanship in how schools are governed.

Additionally, a bill is back that would criminalize librarians and teachers for sharing books that could be deemed offensive to parents. We oppose this bill, because this could lead to censorship or book banning. MCCOY opposes any efforts to ban books and supports the processes already in place for schools and libraries to address book challenges.

Gender affirming care

Legislators have introduced several bills that harm LGBTQ youth by restricting gender affirming care and supports. The Trevor Project reports that fewer than 1 in 3 transgender and nonbinary youth found their home to be gender-affirming and a little more than half (51%) found their school to be affirming. The Trevor Project’s research consistently finds that LGBTQ young people report lower rates of attempting suicide when they have access to LGBTQ-affirming spaces. MCCOY opposes any bills that attack LGBTQ rights in Indiana because we believe EVERY young person in Indiana deserves the opportunity to thrive, learn, engage and contribute.

The bills we are specifically concerned about are HB1220, HB1231, and HB 1232.