Seated in the rotunda of the Allen County Courthouse this afternoon, Gov. Mike Pence signed into law a short-term road funding plan that also provides state money for the Regional Cities Initiative.
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Pence called the bill “a comprehensive pro-life measure that affirms the value of all human life”. The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights backed a lawsuit challenging the North Dakota law, but it went unresolved because the Fargo clinic decided instead to focus its fight on another abortion ban.
In addition to banning abortions due to fetal genetic abnormalities, the law will prohibit abortions done because of a fetus’s race, sex or ancestry and mandate that the only way to dispose of an aborted fetus is through burial or cremation.
A statement from Pence’s office emphasized a need for IDEM having flexibility to take action when necessary.
The legislation signed Thursday follows an audit a year ago that found that the bureau had overcharged customers more than $60 million since 2013.
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled earlier this month Notre Dame’s police department is a public agency and should have to comply with records requests. House Enrolled Act 1022, authored by Rep. B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, would have allowed private universities’ police departments to refuse to release records in cases that involve suspected crimes that did not include arrests, accidents or complaints.
In a story published by Indiana Public Media on March 14, Pence said he would give “very careful and thoughtful consideration” to the measure.
Pence also vetoed a measure that would have prevented state environmental standards from being more strict than federal requirements.
But opponents said it would handcuff the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and prevent the state from reacting to environmental and public safety threats.
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Pence says he vetoed the bill to maintain Indiana’s safe drinking water.
