INDIANAPOLIS — The amended hate crimes bill, the subject of much discussion, arguing and drama on Tuesday, passed the Indiana Senate Thursday afternoon.
The hate crimes bill was amended on Tuesday to remove a list of traits that judges could use for aggravated sentencing, such as gender identity, sexual orientation and race. Instead, the bill would add the words “including bias” to the part of Indiana code that states that judges can add time to a person’s sentence.
Indiana Senate Democrats were upset over the changes to the bill.
They say the list is necessary because just using the word bias is too broad and too vague. An aggravated sentence could be used for somebody who attacks another person for arbitrary reasons, such as their favorite sports teams.
Before the vote, many senators, including Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, spoke about the bill and the changes that were made Tuesday.
“In this country, hate crimes have increased 17 percent,” Taylor said. “Don’t deny it. Recognize it. I don’t know what I need to do or what needs to happen to change your mind. I’ve given up on that.”
One of the authors of the original bill, Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, said he couldn’t support a bill that didn’t have gender identity and sexual orientation. He said he wanted the version with the list to pass.
Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, said he didn’t believe the original bill would pass, so he tried to propose something that could get through.
"I sat here Tuesday not knowing if we had the votes to pass it," Freeman said. "Friends, I thought the bill was going to fail. ... I proposed to my colleagues a middle ground. Compromise. Alternatives. Something foreign to [Washington] D.C., something foreign to the world in which we're living. I stand up -- I offered an amendment. Here's something that can pass."
The bill will go to the Indiana House of Representatives.
