There are rules for the legislative session and how bills are moved through the legislature.  Each bill must pass through both chambers, the House & Senate. This year is a short session, and everything is a little faster than what it was last year.  Legislative session will only last for about 2 months total.

This neat graphic shows how bills move through the legislature, but more on that later.

You can visit the Indiana General Assembly (IGA) website to see the deadlines under session or via the chamber’s daily calendar. When looking at the calendar you can see that the deadline for “committee reports” for senate bills is Jan 27th. Today Jan 25th is the deadline for House Committee reports.

It means that all bills in the chamber must have had a “committee report” completed prior to that day.  The committee report entails the first reading along with the first vote. If a bill passes the first reading it moves out of committee, gets a report, and is sent to the full chamber for 2nd reading.
 
Even though the Senate date isn’t until the 27th, these bills die earlier. Tomorrow Wednesday Jan. 26th is the last committee meeting for Health & Provider Services in the Senate and the last chance to be heard. Public comment is only taken during committee hearings or “1st reading.” Committee chairs are required to give at least 48 hours’ notice to the public prior to hearing a bill.  That means that any bills not already on the committee calendars are not eligible to be heard.
 
This year multiple Medical Liberty bills were filed, I am pretty sure there are more that what I listed.

This is a hard question to answer. It is probably a combination of factors. First, the legislature knows that Medical Liberty is the hottest issue of the time. Over the past year Hoosiers have made it perfectly clear that they do not want to be forced to take a vaccination.
 
That explains why so many were filed, but not as to why they weren’t heard. The answer to this can be found in so many of our blog posts. The Indiana State legislature seems to be snared by corporate interest groups, lobbyists, and the chamber of commerce. These entities do not want the rights of the individual preserved over the rights of business.
 
Representatives Curt Nisly and John Jacob have both worked with H4ML over the past two years to bring about Medical Liberty. Time and again their amendments and bills are discarded and avoided at all costs. We are now seeing this type of behavior against other bills offering Medical Liberty protections. Some wonder if the only way that Medical Liberty will be permitted is if it is under the watchful eye and discretion of special interest groups.

This is another tough question, in part- we need to take a long look in the mirror. For decades most of us (as a culture) have been politically apathetic. We have blindly trusted our Indiana “Republican supermajority” to represent conservative values of Indiana. While we have been off living the American dream corporations, lobbyists, and greed have been able to swoop in and control the thoughts, values, and voting habits of our legislators.
 
We must take ownership of the mess we are in. Only through our involvement and continued accountability for our legislature will we see proper representation.
 
The purpose of this was not to chastise or discourage you. It is quite the opposite. I hope this encourages you to stay involved and become an active member of the organizations that align with your values.
 
If you are looking for a no-nonsense Medical Liberty group you are in the right place. We are going to keep writing these blogs, exposing truth, and educating our followers. We want you to feel empowered to take an active role in our government. This is the only way out of the tyrannical mess we are in.
 
We invite you to become a member of Hoosiers for Medical Liberty, make sure you are on our contact list, and of course, share with your friends!
 
Thank you for your attention and I hope this helps clear up some confusion.
 
Thank you,
Ashley

A little more on how bills become a law:

First someone has an idea and they present that idea to a legislator. The legislator weighs the pros and cons and if they like it they draft and file a bill.
Once filed the bill is assigned to a committee in the chamber the legislator belongs to.

In committee lucky bills get to be heard- this is also called “1st reading.”
Bills are not guaranteed to have a first reading or vote. One of the most common ways for bills to die is in committee. Bills that do have first reading can be amended or “refined” in committee.

If the bill passes then it moves “out to the full chamber.” During 2nd reading any member of the chamber may offer amendments and each amendment can be voted on. Once the amendments are voted on the chamber votes to move the bill to 3rd reading. 3rd reading is when a vote is taken on the final version of the bill before sending over to the other chamber.

Once the bill “flips” to the other side the whole process starts over again. 
If the bill is amended in the second chamber the author can approve the changes or challenge the changes. If challenged the bill versions go to “conference committee.” In conference committee a small number of legislators from each chamber are brought together and decide on a final draft before passing. If an agreement is not able to be reached the bill fails.
If a bill makes it through both chambers unchanged it moves on to the Governor for signature.

Once on the Governor’s desk, he or she can sign or veto the bill.  If the bill is vetoed, then it goes back to the originating chamber and can be voted on again. 

That is a crash course in how a bill becomes a law.

Hoosier cries for Medical Liberty protections have fallen on deaf ears for over a year. The Indiana General Assembly (IGA) flat out refused to adopt SB74 last year, scrambled for political cover, only to fall short by passing a worthless vaccine passport ban.
 
It looks like they might be trying their hardest to do nothing more than the same this year, but they want you to think they are “striking balance” between the rights of the people and the rights of the businesses. 

2022 legislative session started two and half weeks ago. It feels much longer because Hoosiers have been getting empty promises with major strings attached for the past two months. 

Despite over 14 hours of testimony the House Republicans refused to make any positive changes for medical liberty on HB1001 and INSIST on bowing down to dangerous demands set forth by the governor.

HB1001’s exemptions are no more protective than federal protections currently available and has its fair share of strings attached. The bill includes provisions that would allow an unelected official to accept federal funding and “any other federal law, regulation, guidance or policy pertaining to COVID-19 relief.” This is giving the federal government an open door into our state governance. The IGA has the capability to end the state of emergency without adding these stipulations into law. The administrative aspects of this bill are a threat to Liberty!

On Thursday Jan 13th HB1001 was open for amendments and brave Representatives Curt Nisly and John Jacob offered up amendments that would have corrected the flaws of the bill.

Yet neither of them were passed.
 
I encourage you to go back and watch the footage.

Representative Nisly’s amendment would have stripped out the governors demands. House Republicans seem to carry too much loyalty to the king… err Governor than to do the right thing and end the state of emergency via a House Concurrent Resolution. Instead, they choose to continue to promote the poor fiscal decisions of the Biden administration and open Hoosiers up to the potential for increasingly tyrannical rule. The amendment was defeated when nearly all House Representatives voted against it.

Next Rep. John Jacob brought forth an amendment for Bodily integrity. This amendment would have fixed all the issues Medical Liberty Activists saw in HB1001’s vaccination portion of the bill. It was beautifully crafted and Rep. Jacob’s speech was heartfelt and compelling. However Representative Leonard made a point of order stating that the amendment was in violation of rule 118.

Rule 118 is also referred to as “Bill pending.” Meaning that you can not write an amendment that looks like a current bill.  At the time of filing the amendment, there were NO bills in the house that looked similar. Yet on January 13th HB1408 appeared on the IGA website and was eerily similar to Rep Jacob's amendment.  In this story the order of events is incredibly important.

But there is more to this story. When watching session, you don’t get to see everything that happens. While the House “stood in recess” Representative John Jacob went to bat for your medical liberty. Stating that he would withdraw the amendment if the committee chair that HB1408 was assigned to would publicly announce the bill would be heard and VOTED on. Both Representatives Todd Huston & Representative Leonard were reported to appeared to be appalled at his request and DENIED it.

Take an objective look at these facts and decide for yourself.

HB1001 passed through the House and has been referred to the Senate where Senators Messmer and Charbonneau are sponsoring the bill. 

These two senators have not previously been champions of medical liberty, in fact Senator Charbonneau is the chair of health and provider services committee. This particular committee has historically had close relationships with the hospital association and pharma. 

Some might say that the assignment of HB1001 to Sen. Charbonneau was an intentional death sentence, especially after Senate Pro Temp Rod Bray’s negative public comments about the bill.

Senator Charbonneau’s committee has already passed Senate Bill 3 which covers the dangerous administrative portions of the HB1001 without the exemption portions.  SB3 will be heard on second reading today (Jan 20th).

Hoosiers for Medical Liberty drafted an amendment and attempted to get several Senators to file it on behalf of Hoosiers. Unfortunately, Senator Kruse is out of town ineligible and with the help of Dr. Dan Stock three other Senators were approached without anyone willing to take up the amendment.
 
My expectation is that HB1001 will die in Charbonneau’s committee and SB3 will pass through and transfer over to the House rapidly while HB1001 sits to die.

Hoosiers deserve Medical Liberty and they certainly deserve transparency of government.

Call your House Representative & Senators TODAY and tell them:

“I am sick of political games and misdirection. It is time to deliver TRUE Medical Liberty protections. It's time to live up to your role. I am asking you to take a stand, do what is right, help bring transparency to politics.”

If you need help finding your elected officials text 260-286-0988 the word: FIND

• H4ML will continue to expose the inner workings of the IGA so that we can fight for Medical Liberty here in the Hoosier state.
• H4ML will continue to work with our legislators to gain policy.
• H4ML will continue to add resources and information to this website.
• H4ML will continue to share news articles on social media outlining the most recent topics so you can stay informed.
• H4ML will continue to educate Hoosiers on their right to file an exemption and how to do it.
• H4ML will continue to support Hoosiers facing job loss, looking for assistance, & needing to share their stories.
• H4ML will continue to facilitate FACL trainings to ensure more of our citizens are prepared to take political action.

But H4ML needs your help. In order to reach the legislators who don't take Medical Liberty seriously we need to continue to organize the constituents in their districts.  We need to make sure they have NO EXCUSE to avoid representing the people the way they ask.

H4ML needs you to share these calls to action.
H4ML needs you join the mailing & texting lists. (you can do this on the right hand side of this page!)
H4ML needs you to invite your friends to a meeting.
H4ML needs you to help find Local Partners to help host in person meetings!

We couldn't be more thankful for the way you have helped get H4ML up off the ground and supported our continued growth. Hoosiers have all worked so hard and are starting to see the fruits of our labors. Now is absolutely not the time to back down. We must continue to grow this momentum and exceed all expectations. 

I have faith in our great state.
I have hope for our future.
I know we will triumph over tyranny.

Thank you for all you do!

For Liberty,
Ashley Grogg MSN-RN

P.S. Don't miss our meeting tonight Jan 20th at 7pm EST. Register here.

P.S.S. Do you like what you see here? Be part of the change and support H4ML financially through Membership or donation. Thank you for your generous and ongoing support!

H4ML Call to Action!

Are you concerned about the quality of care in Hospitals?

Staffing shortages have been exacerbated by vaccine mandates and the House is trying to correct shortages via dangerous HB1003 through temporary licensing & cutting back on student clinical hours without addressing mandates.

Here is the breakdown of issues with this bill:

1. The bill addresses temporary licensing for Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurses, Respiratory therapists, and Pharmacists. It creates a temporary fix but may actually cause a bigger problem once it expires. The bill ends the last day of the quarter in which the federal emergency ends. That means temporary licensees and their employers could have notice of any where from 3 months to as little as 3 days notice that the license expires. This could easily create a vacuum effect and cause immediate staffing issues.
2. Nursing students can get a temporary license prior to completing NCLEX, the MINIMUM competency licensing test. There are also no parameters on how long a student is permitted to work without completing the exam. This is very concerning, hospitals are desperate for staff and may take advantage of students in these positions. While working large numbers of hours to earn money and please their new employer students may not prioritize the exam over work. Students may also be at higher risk for burn out, mistakes, and moral injury.
3. The bill also offers temporary licensing to foreign nurses. We don't hold anything against foreign nurses, however the state has seen issues with language barriers creating dangerous situations for patients. This could be fixed with a simple amendment to require English competency.
4. The bill addresses nursing education allowing qualifying nursing programs to "increase enrollment at any rate the program considers appropriate." This is asking for trouble. Nursing faculty is difficult to obtain and there are no guidelines to keep the programs from over enrolling to increase. The bill adds that programs may be mostly staffed by part-time faculty and allows the school to replace important clinical hours with simulation lab up to 50%. This is astounding, clinical hours imperative for students to learn how to interact with patients and learn the skills that cannot be taught out of a book. This has significant potential to impair the education of our future nurses. These students may care for you or your loved ones.
5. Finally, they NEVER address vaccine mandates for students. It seems the House Republicans want to go above and beyond to allow licensing loopholes and potentially allow for bad practices in nursing education, yet they can't address the elephant in the room. Far to many students in health care tracts are being bullied, harassed, and even removed from their programs for not taking the vaccination. This seems incredibly unfair, once in the medical profession these students will have the right to exemptions for medical and religious reasons. Other students are choosing career paths outside of healthcare to avoid vaccine mandates.  This injustice must be corrected!
   

Call the Authors & your Rep and tell them: "HB1003 needs to be amended. Vote YES on Rep. Nisly's amendments calling for respect of religious exemptions for health care students and increased safety in temporary licenses and health care education."

Make 4 calls before 1pm this afternoon!

1. Ethan Manning 317-232-9619
2. Your State House Representative (learn who it is by replying: Find)
3. Brad Barrett 317-234-2993
4. J. Michael Davisson 317-232-9619

Don't forget to tell your friends, especially if they are in a medical profession.

Join us via Zoom to learn more about what is happening. In case you missed our last email our meetings have changed to the 3rd Thursday of the month.

That means we will be meeting Thursday Jan 20th at 7pm EST

Register here

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you,
Ashley