INDIANAPOLIS—Tuesday was third reading deadline for the Indiana Senate. Senate Democratic Leader Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis) released the following remarks, reflecting on the first half of the 2022 Legislative Session:

“We’re already at the midway point of session, and I have mixed feelings about where we are at this point,” Sen. Taylor said. “We’ve seen a mashup of legislation pass out of the Senate: some good, some bad and some very bad.

“I’m proud of the legislation my caucus has been able to get passed so far. We’ve advanced legislation to study the availability and affordability of child care and a study to review apartment health and safety standards to protect basic tenant rights.

“We’ve gotten bills passed to make it easier for delinquent properties to be turned around and used productively in their communities. The Senate also passed a bill that Sen. Breaux has worked on for a while to protect living organ donors from being targeted by insurance.

“I’m proud that my own bill to promote bone marrow donations was also approved out of the Senate. My bill would allow the Indiana Department of Health to create a bone marrow recruitment program and share information about the program on their site. My goal is to make it easier for Hoosiers to both donate bone marrow and find matched when it’s needed.

“Unfortunately, I do think the Senate has missed the mark in a few critical areas. We spent hours discussing government censorship in schools and universities, but not youth suicide prevention. We’re moving a bill that allows for religious statements on school walls but are not acting in the ways of Jesus by protecting low-income families or removing textbook fees.

“We’re taking away local citizens’ right to vote by controlling locally elected officials we don’t like but not doing anything to make our constitutional right to vote any more accessible.

“We’re creating criminal penalties for teachers, but not helping them with the costs of maintaining a classroom.

“We talk about reducing crime, but we’re not doing anything to give Hoosiers a living wage, heal our communities or promote the general wellbeing and health of our residents.

“We’re going to be fighting over a bill that discredits life-saving vaccines soon, but we’re not discussing medical marijuana or addressing racial disparities in healthcare.

“We’ve stripped Hoosier families from receiving an extra $90 in food assistance, but we haven’t discussed creating a Child Tax Credit program to continue helping get funds directly to our Hoosier families.

“There’s been a lot of things to be concerned about so far, but thankfully, this session is only at its halfway mark. There’s still time to stop some of these bad bills and work in the best interest of the people. My caucus will continue fighting to get critical quality-of-life bills passed and to defeat proposals that do nothing to move Indiana forward or help Hoosiers.”