Jim Bratten
Republicans, like Democrats, always campaign using the expression “fighting for you” or “fighting for your _____ (fill in the blank with an issue). The candidate promises what you want to hear to gain your vote for the furtherance of their political career. What they promised as “being a champion of” is quickly forgotten after the oath of office is taken and they receive their coveted committee assignments. Then their loyalties switch from you, a coveted constituent, to their cash cow donors, who will finance their next campaign. The donors need to be placated; you, on the other hand, merely need to be pacified until the next election.
In the 2022 session of the Indiana General Assembly, this reality was very evident in the games played to the detriment of “the People’s” safety and security. Our best interests were sold; bartered for with corporate or union donors until the original intent of the legislation proposed was difficult to recognize. There were two important exceptions to this nonsense: HB 1190, a campus free speech guarantee; and HB 1217, forbidding coerced abortions. Both passed by considerable margins and were signed into law, both badly needed.
But two other bills had different fates. Here’s what happened to two of the most important bills offered this session, both filling a need to address important issues. At least a sizeable number of voters thought so. Enough establishment Republicans didn’t think so, at least after they were lobbied by corporate interests. One emasculated bill was signed into law as a meaningless gesture and the other was vetoed by a weak Republican governor.
HB 1001
Dealing with vaccine mandates, this bill was severely weakened in the Republican Senate, which took a good House bill on medical freedom, featuring strong religious exemption language for vaccines, and watered it down. Senate bill SB 114 was considered stronger than the House bill but was denied success by Senate Republican leadership. The weakened HB 1001 passed and was signed by the governor, for what little good it will accomplish.
HB 1041
Named the “Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act,” this bill provided protections from biological male competition in girls’ sports programs in Indiana, grades K-12. Besides requiring players to sign up with teams based on their sex at birth, it would have enabled civil actions and possible criminal liability against schools that did not comply, to protect Title IX teams.
Instead of urging Senate Republicans to ADD college-age protections to the original K-12 ages during the process of 
amending HB 1041, Gov. Eric Holcomb waited until after passage. Then after a long delay to consult with his biggest donors and gauge his fear of potential lawsuits by Democrats and their legal arm, the ACLU, the governor vetoed the bill. Competition among biological females in Indiana can now be destroyed by biological males.
As former Indiana attorney general Curtis Hill wrote in The Federalist on March 24, “Eric Holcomb’s wokeness is especially loud as his veto falls just days after one of the biggest controversies in women’s amateur athletics.” (Hill was referring to biological male Lia Thomas’s NCAA Division I national swim championship for 500-yard freestyle.)
One elected Indiana Republican saw the gross error made by Gov. Holcomb and voiced his concern for Republicans who abandon common sense and principle for political pandering. On March 21, Congressman Jim Banks made the following comments regarding the Indiana governor’s veto of HB 1041:
“I’m disappointed with Gov. Holcomb’s veto of a common sense bill that frankly doesn’t go far enough to save Women’s Sports. My hope is that the Indiana General Assembly will meet soon to override the veto and send a message to the 
rest of the nation that Indiana values women.”
This veto NEEDS an override, and soon. Majority leaders in both chambers of the state’s General Assembly have scheduled a meeting May 24 to right this wrong and both the House and the Senate need only a simple majority to override the governor’s veto. Eleven states have passed legislation restricting transgender athletes and several have it pending, waiting for a governor’s pen. Utah has already overridden their governor’s veto (another Republican) to become the twelfth state. As usual, Indiana’s governor waits to see what everybody else does.
If the Republican super-majority continues their weak-kneed pandering, they’ll be the minority.
Hoosier Patriots, Inc. is an educational and organizational non-profit for restoration, preservation and defense of the Constitution. We provide conservative commentary on public policy and government action across a variety of issues concerning the well-being of the republic. For more information go to www.vc-tpp.org or subscribe to the newsletter at hpnw.jimb@gmail.com.
