INDIANAPOLIS — A bill that would allow Indiana schools to hire chaplains as counselors is hanging on by a thread following a House Conference Committee meeting Monday.
The bill, SB 50, was previously passed in the Senate but died in a House committee. In a bid to save it, a Senate committee later inserted the language of SB 50 into another bill (HB 1137) as an amendment — a change that did not go unnoticed.
”I think the chaplain language needs to be refined a little bit more,” State Rep. Kendell Culp (R-Rensselaer), who wrote HB 1137, said.
Following the House Conference Committee meeting that he chaired, Rep. Culp said he was concerned SB 50 was inserted into his own bill — an amendment he said he’d like to get rid of.
”Anytime you have legislation or an amendment that doesn’t pass both chambers, it kind of, it can cause a little bit of concern,” State Rep. Culp said.
His original bill would require principals to accommodate any parent who wants their child to receive off-site religious instruction. While Indiana democrats were split about that part of the bill, they all agreed the chaplains amendment had to go.
”I think that we should just kill the language altogether,” State Sen. J.D. Ford (D-Indianapolis) said.
According to State Sen. Ford, the SB 50 amendment could end up violating more than the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
”I also believe it violates our Indiana Constitution in terms of taking money from the treasury and giving it to a certain particular religious entity, which would be the chaplain in this case,” State Sen. Ford said
Sen. Ford said the bill’s final report will be released in the next few days. Both chambers must approve that report before the bill can go to the governor’s desk.
