Bills, Bills, Bills
I’ve been glancing at some of the proposals being introduced in the Indiana General Assembly. Here are some of the more interesting ones.
SB 18 – Ban sending a text message while driving, says nothing about reading them.
SB 25 – Bans property owners from prohibiting firearms on their land if the weapon is locked in a vehicle. So much for private property rights.
SB 31 – Puts limits on the height of motorcycle handlebars; born to be mild.
SB 59 – Allows great-grandparents to visitation rights with great-grandchildren under certain circumstances. Great.
SB 68 – Allows Sunday motorcycle sales. Now if only I could get that for alcohol.
SB 95 – Bans smoking in public places. Haven’t we gone down this road already?
SB 111 – Not only bans texting while driving, but qualifies you for the habitual traffic violator status.
SB 118 – Allows Election Day alcohol sales. Now let’s see if drunk Hoosiers get better results than sober ones.
SB 163 – Confiscates the gaming winnings of individuals who owe back child support. The bright side of this is that you can get out of arrears in one slot machine pull if you’re lucky.
Having followed legislative bodies for more than 15 years I wonder sometimes what went down to make some these bills necessary, and then I realize I really don’t want to know.
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SB 59, though well-intentioned, reaches far beyond the situation that drove it, which was grandparents who raise their grandchildren for years due to parental unfitness and then are cut off from them. It will foster terribly damaging and counterproductive litigation. The emotional and financial strain of such litigation can be devastating to the children it’s meant to protect. If visitation is ordered over the parents’ fervent objections, the child is caught in a years-long emotional cross-fire.