Editorial Roundup: Indiana
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. January 13, 2024.
Editorial: State must be more sophisticated in limiting access to porn
Pornography isn’t for kids. But since the early days of the internet, easy access to the digital world has stirred concern that children will stumble upon sexually explicit images they are too young to understand, or that violent depictions of sex will influence their interpretation of what healthy sexual relationships look like.
The Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday unanimously passed Senate Bill 17: legislation that would limit children’s access to online adult content. Authored by Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, the bill proposes adult-oriented websites hosting content “harmful to minors” first must verify a user’s identity before allowing access.
But can the bill pass constitutional muster? Last year, federal judges in Arkansas, Texas and Montana temporarily blocked similar laws from taking effect on privacy and free-speech grounds.
The bill, co-authored by Fort Wayne Republican Sen. Liz Brown, also would make it easier for parents or caregivers to sue adult- oriented websites that violate the verification requirement. Those not verifying ages would commit a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by as much as one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Senate Bill 17 also prohibits those conducting age verification from retaining any personal, identifying information, and permits an individual to sue the age-verification operator for holding such data. Still, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana told lawmakers the bill would subject Hoosiers to potential surveillance and put their personal information at risk.
“(A state) can limit a minor’s access to adult material. However, you can’t do that in a way that impermissibly burdens an adult’s access to the same material,” said Chris Daley, the ACLU’s executive director.
In August, Pornhub — the largest online platform sharing sex videos — sued Texas to keep the age-verification requirement from taking effect. A federal district judge sided with porn-industry plaintiffs, claiming the law to protect children from accessing adult content likely violated the First Amendment.
But a high percentage of children, 59%, is viewing online pornography once a week or more, according to a recent poll.
Benenson Strategy Group, on behalf of Common Sense Media, surveyed 1,356 U.S. teens between the ages of 13 and 17 between Sept. 12 and Sept. 21, 2022. It found nearly 3 in 4 teen respondents (73%) had been exposed to pornography, either accidentally or intentionally. The average age when those surveyed first consumed pornography was 12, but 15% said they had seen online pornography before they turned 10.
Results of the survey should cause every parent and caregiver to talk about pornography with their teens, the same way they have conversations about sex, social media, smoking, or drug and alcohol use.
Setting up filters on the technology children use is a good way to keep them from seeing sexually explicit videos, according to Common Sense Media. Phones, tablets, desktops, laptops and internet service providers offer parental controls to filter content deemed inappropriate for children.
Indiana lawmakers should have the authority to limit child access to adult material and products, but those limits cannot prevent adults from consuming them, as is their First Amendment right, or force adults to risk sharing their personal information to gain access.
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Terre Haute Tribune-Star. January 12, 2024.
Editorial: Voters deserve respect, representation from their legislators
The 2024 session of the Indiana General Assembly convened on Monday with a supermajority of Republicans in control of both houses of the legislature. That’s 70 of the 100 seats in the House of Representatives, and 40 of the 50 seats in the Senate.
Those lopsided numbers suggest that Indiana is a deep red state where voters overwhelmingly choose Republican candidates to lead their state at a clip of 70-80%.
Yet that’s a faulty notion. Hoosiers tend to be politically conservative, but they are far more moderate in their views than those legislative numbers suggest. Just look at vote tallies in recent statewide elections. GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb won reelection in 2020 with 57% of the vote, about the same as GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who was an incumbent at the time. Those were solid numbers, but not supermajority numbers.
It is fair to say that many Hoosiers aren’t well represented in the legislature, especially on major issues such as voting rights, abortion, reforming marijuana laws, restrictions on gun ownership and using public money for private schools.
Lawmakers could demonstrate a greater commitment to broader representation by proposing and adopting laws that better respect a Hoosier majority. Here is where they should start:
Make voting easier, not harder
Indiana consistently reports low voter turnout. Many factors contribute to poor participation, but restrictive voting laws are a contributor. The legislature could send a powerful message to potential voters by enhancing access to voting through such measures as mail-in voting for all, same-day registration and expanding voting hours on Election Day.
These are not radical ideas. They’ve been adopted and used successfully by a number of states. And voter turnout tends to be greater in states with such election laws.
Call a truce on culture wars
Hoosiers are never served well when their legislators get sucked into the political vortex of social issues. Attacks for the sake of ideology on the rights of women, LGBTQ citizens or minorities are destructive to cultivating a welcoming culture and aren’t worth the collective energy spent on them in the Statehouse.
Legislative leaders in the dominant part should muster the courage to stand up to the radical fringe of its caucus and quell its disruptive instincts.
Listen to the voters
What the majority of Hoosiers want from their legislature is often not what they get. Rather than responsiveness, lawmakers instead do what’s in their own interests to hold power.
To show they’re willing to listen to voters on matters of high importance, lawmakers should discuss a change in law to allow for citizens to petition for placement of referendums on election ballots.
Discard extreme partisan gerrymandering
The best way for the legislature to become more responsive to voters is to end partisan gerrymandering of voting districts. It is a key reason why Indiana’s legislature has become so politically imbalanced.
Lawmakers should begin laying the groundwork for establishing an independent, nonpartisan commission to oversee redistricting in 2030.
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Jeffersonville News and Tribune. January 12, 2024.
Editorial: ‘Naughty list’ a nice boost for transparency
Santa Claus isn’t the only one keeping track of who’s naughty and nice.
The Indiana State Board of Accounts will post on its website a “naughty list” of government agencies that fail to cooperate with procedures for financial audits. It’s part of a state bill that went into effect Jan. 1, and it’s a win for transparency and good government.
Audits aren’t entertaining reading, but they are a vital safeguard for public interest and taxpayer money. State auditors annually review financial transactions for government entities, noting discrepancies and deficiencies in bookkeeping. A quick internet search provides a plethora of examples of auditors discovering faulty practices ranging from forgivable oversights to criminal coverups.
The State Board of Accounts is an important watchdog agency, and the “naughty list” gives the department more teeth.
The list will include government agencies that aren’t providing paperwork and reports needed by auditors for their work. The public posting may not carry the full weight of enforcement, but it’s a useful tool in nudging government officials to do their jobs.
Visit the State Board of Accounts website and search for audit reports in your community. You’ll likely find that even the most compliant government agencies in your neck of the woods were dinged by auditors for failing to follow universal bookkeeping procedures.
The audit findings are discussed with government decision-makers and law enforcement. They give officials a playbook for ensuring tax dollars are tracked and spent appropriately. The reports also give the public a report card for local government financial oversight.
It would be near impossible to keep track of the millions of dollars that flow into local governments each year without audits. Lawmakers should consider further strengthening compliance rules with more consequences for government agencies that don’t abide by reporting regulations.
Until that happens, the public serves as a line of defense against rule-breakers. Bookmark the State Board of Accounts website at in.gov/sboa.
Visit it regularly. Keep an eye on any of your local government agencies that land on the “naughty list.” Contact your local officials and urge them to comply with the rules. If they’re not providing information to auditors, the obvious question is, why not?
In cases where smaller government agencies truly struggle to comply with audit requirements due to staff sizes, the state should provide resources to aid them.
But there’s too much at stake to allow officials to skip out on their duties of accounting for every dollar their agency spends. It’s your money, and there’s no excuse for local governments to skirt responsibility.
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