Smith bills focused on education, civil rights, killed by house supermajority

Last week, the 2024 legislative session officially reached the halfway mark. State Rep. Vernon G. Smith (D-Gary) filed bills to address systemic issues in our state that did not progress to the Senate for further consideration. Smith’s priorities specifically included behavior in schools, attacks on school curriculum, retirement options for Hoosier retirees, civil rights and bail reform. 

As the ranking minority member in the House Education Committee, Smith aimed two of his bills at Hoosier education. 

“From my 20+ years as a school administrator, I am deeply troubled by the behavioral issues I see in our schools today,” Smith said. “Time spent dealing with behavioral outbursts in the classroom is time taken away from academic achievement. I am thankful that my colleagues across the aisle were willing to start the discussion of addressing behavior in schools. Although House Bill 1262 ultimately did not come to fruition the way I had hoped, I look forward to future bipartisan efforts to make progress on this issue.

“The second education bill I offered was an effort to call attention to recent efforts to rewrite history. We have seen bills moving in several traditionally conservative states that attempt to erase atrocities in our nation's history, particularly slavery and the genocide of the Native American people. House Bill 1017 was a reaction to that movement and was intended to serve as a wakeup call that erasing these historical events from school curriculum is erasing history.”

Smith’s next priority was recognizing Juneteenth as a legal holiday in Indiana. 

“June 19, 1865, marked the end of slavery as a legal institution in the United States,” Smith said. “In 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday. While it is observed by Indiana, it is not a legal holiday. House Bill 1018 sought to proclaim Juneteenth an official state holiday, recognizing that this day is just as significant and worthy of recognition as other holidays.

“Juneteenth is both a day of celebration and reflection on the progress our nation still needs to make. Establishing this holiday supports the precept that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Next, Smith turned his attention to criminal justice reform as he proposed a bill to get rid of Indiana’s bail system.

“Requiring people to pay bail creates a two-tiered justice system that allows those with money to return to their communities while those without money remain incarcerated,” Smith said. “Money bail disproportionally hurts communities of color and criminalizes poverty. This practice has been found to exacerbate racial disparities in pretrial outcomes, and therefore should no longer be upheld in the state of Indiana. House Bill 1263 sought to end this system, and I hope in years to come that we can bring an end to the use of money bail once and for all.”

Finally, Smith sought to protect Hoosiers public employees who choose to work past the age of retirement. House Bill 1261 opens public employees to a program known as a Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP). DROP provides that an employer will set aside annual payments to an interest-bearing account in exchange for workers continuing to work past the eligible retirement age.