Indiana Senate declines to re-insert second sentence in HJR-3
Earlier today, reporters noted that Senator Mike Delph (R-Carmel) and Senator Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) planned to introduce amendments to Indiana’s marriage discrimination amendment, HJR-3. They planned to re-insert the controversial second sentence, which read:
A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.
Critics, including most of the state’s largest employers, universities, and business groups, argued that the sentence would prevent them from offering benefits to same-sex partners. A bipartisan vote in the Indiana House stripped that sentence on January 27.
But shortly before today’s vote, Senator Delph tweeted:
HJR3 second sentence is officially dead in the 2014 IGA. Not enough support to reinsert it on 2nd reading.
— Mike Delph (@MikeDelph) February 13, 2014
And when HJR-3 was called down for a second reading, no amendments were offered. That means that HJR-3 will most likely be given a third reading and a final vote on Monday. And that means the short version of the amendment would have to pass the next state legislature
, too, before it would head to Indiana voters for approval in 2016.