Issues getting summer study

Jay County’s state representatives will serve on three interim study committees this summer and fall. The committees deal with issues ranging from the environment, insurance, civil rights and the courts.
Rep. Greg Beumer (R-Modoc) will serve on the Interim Study Committee on Environmental Affairs.
“Being vice chair of house environmental committee, that makes sense,” Beumer said of the assignment.
No specific topics are assigned to the committee, but Beumer indicated that that it will likely look at the issues of solid waste and water availability and contamination.
Beumer said those issues hold importance to this district, especially with the continued expansion of confined feeding operations.
“The question of water availability in both Jay and Randolph, and Delaware counties as well as water contamination questions are very important here, I would say for our district, even though we don’t have major lakes or recreational areas, he said. “When you have the type of concentration that we are developing in Jay County in particular, those questions are very important.”
The committee is chaired by Rep. David Wolkins (R-Winona Lake).
Sen. Travis Holdman (R-Markle) has appointments to the Interim Study Committee on Courts and the Judiciary as well as the Interim Study Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance.

Holdman is the highest-ranking senator on each committee, and he is serving as vice chair of both.
The courts and judiciary committee is charged with studying requests for new courts or changes in jurisdiction of current courts, the Circuit and Superior Court Motion Clerk Pilot Program, and visitation and communication with protected persons.
It is also tasked with civil rights issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation. That issue is not new to Holdman.
He authored two bills related to the issue this past legislative session.
The first was Senate bill 100, a bill that would’ve prevented discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but also offered exceptions for religious institutions and small businesses.
The other was Senate bill 344, which eliminated transgender from the equation and moved it to a summer study committee
Neither reached the Senate floor after they faced intense opposition from segments on both sides of the aisle.
“I look forward to continuing the discussion on balancing civil rights protections and religious liberty for all Hoosiers,” Holdman said in a press release.
The financial institutions committee has no assigned topics.
In a phone interview, Holdman said he didn’t know specific issues that might come up for the committee to discuss.
Study committees are assigned by the bipartisan Legislative Council, and include members of both the House and Senate. This year they are being chaired by members of the House of Representatives.
Some committees have already started meeting, but no meetings have been scheduled for the Holdman and Beumer’s committees, according the Indiana General Assembly’s website.
“There’s no big rush if it’s not a hot issue for the committee to address,” Holdman said.
Among key issues being reviewed by summer study committees this year are LGBT civil rights, the state’s heroin epidemic and ISTEP testing.