INDIANAPOLIS—On Tuesday, the General Assembly officially adjourned for the 2022 Legislative Session. Senate Democratic Leader Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis) released the following remarks reflecting on this year’s session:

“This session has been a whirlwind of partisan culture wars and wasted time discussing bad policies, but I’m extremely pleased with the work from my caucus and applaud their commitment to prioritizing quality-of-life legislation for Hoosiers. I also want to applaud Hoosiers throughout the state for their active engagement at the Statehouse this session.

“Because of the voices of teachers and community members, we were able to get Senate Bill (SB) 167 and House Bill (HB) 1134 killed—protecting our teachers, schools and students from government censorship in our classrooms. We also defeated language that would have targeted librarians and teachers by penalizing them for offering certain books and materials to students.

“I’m extremely grateful that we were able to kill anti-public transportation language. I spoke against two amendments targeting public transportation and was happy to see them both successfully defeated.

“While my caucus was not in favor of tax cuts for wealthy corporations, I am pleased that language in HB 1002 was scaled back and that business personal property taxes were left alone. I do wish that my colleague, Sen. Lanane, would have found success in his joint effort with Rep. Porter to remove the excise gas tax for Hoosiers as well. This would have helped residents who are paying extreme gas prices right now, and I’m disappointed that provision was not accepted.

“I’m also disappointed by the shameful vote to block our poorest residents from receiving additional federal SNAP benefits after April as well as tonight’s vote to advance permitless carry language against the wishes of Hoosiers and law enforcement. Both of these bills will harm Hoosiers.

“The effort to ban our trans girls from playing school sports under HB 1041, is even more disgraceful, and I look forward to the promised ACLU lawsuit against this hateful proposal.”

“Ultimately, this session saw too much time focused on divisive and regressive topics—topics that don’t move our state forward. It’s a real shame that we had to put so much energy toward fighting bad policy when there’s so much other important work we could have been doing.”

“I am grateful that several members of my caucus were able to get bills passed out of the Senate this session, and that my colleague Sen. Lanane and I both had important proposals signed into law. Sen. Qaddoura also had important language cutting taxes for Hoosier seniors amended into another bill that’s headed to the Governor’s desk. This was a hard session, but I’m pleased with the victories from my caucus and the civic engagement from our Hoosier communities.”