INDIANAPOLIS — Members of the Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus, Indiana House Democratic Caucus and Indiana Black Legislative Caucus are calling for a special legislative session.
It came during a news conference to address recent racial violence and the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The caucus members said there needs to be legislative oversight on how the state is using federal money in the COVID-19 response. They called for more testing, more people working on contact tracing, and using the state surplus to help those who have lost their jobs and cover housing and health care expenses.
The caucus members also addresses racial violence, which they said is far more prevalent than most realize. They said in the last legislative session, they introduced bills to address racial bias in police stops, guidelines for police stops and diversity in courts. The members said Republicans stopped all of those measures.
They also said after meeting with Gov. Eric Holcomb during the spring protests, he is not making any steps to show he is willing to work on Black issues. They called for Gov. Holcomb and Republican lawmakers to take action to revise police procedures to ban chokeholds, racial profiling and no-knock warrants.
When asked about what the caucus members said, Gov. Holcomb said this is the first he's heard of them calling for a special legislative caucus. He said he will look at what they are proposing.
