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Newsletter - April 17, 2025

LWVIN | Published on 4/17/2025

INDIANA STATE CONVENTION 2025

GRAND WAYNE CONVENTION CENTER AND HILTON FORT WAYNE

Only 49 more days until the 2025 Biennial Convention of the League of Women Voters of Indiana! The Convention convenes in Ft. Wayne Indiana on Friday, June 6, and ends on Sunday, June 8. It will be held at the Grand Wayne Convention Center, with hotel rooms at the adjoining Hilton Fort Wayne.

Here is what you need to know. Registration is open on theLWVIN website. Local league leaders received a coupon valued at $100 to help local leagues lower the cost of convention. This is a one-time use only coupon to be applied towards registration. If you require a special diet, please note that on your registration. Registration closes onTuesday, June 3.

A block of rooms has been reserved at a special rate of $139 plus tax. This block of rooms goes away on May 14. You may register for a room on theLWVIN website,or call the hotel and let them know you are with the League of Women Voters to receive the special rate.

The Special Events Committee has been meeting all year to make this a great convention. The League of Women Voters of Fort Wayne, our host, and especially President Betsy Kachmar, are looking forward to welcoming local league members from across the state. You may want to take in German Fest and sample the food, maybe a beer, and the entertainment.

Brush up on your LWV history. Prizes courtesy of the Visitors Center will be offered throughout the event. We are also looking forward to seeing what creations will be contributed by local leagues and individual league members to the Silent Auction. The bidding was very competitive in 2023 for many unusual and stunning items.

We are especially pleased that Celina Stewart, CEO, League of Women Voters of theUnited States will be joining us in Fort Wayne.

As speakers are confirmed and the panels are finalized, information will be posted HERE. There will be updates to the program, speakers, etc. as well as tips on local places of interest.

We look forward to seeing you in Fort Wayne, June 6-8^th.

Paulette Vandegriff, Chair

Special Events Committee

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE SAVE ACT FROM LWVUS

The SAVE Act — passed the House last week.
Statement: A Dangerous Step Backward for Our Democracy: League of Women Voters Responds to Passage of the SAVE Act in the US House
Thank and Spank: Members should use a NEW action alert to the US House, which allows them to thank those that voted against it and “spank” those that voted in favor.Also use LWVIN's ACTION NETWORK.
Keep using our action alert, talking points, and letter-to-the-editor template to pressure your senators to vote against this bill.
LWVUS blog: The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is a Trick
Op-ed in Teen Vogue: What Is the SAVE Act? The Trump Admin's Attempt to Strip Voting Rights From Women and Young People

Linda Hanson

Watch this 10:27 minute video entitledTwenty Lessonsand read by John Lithgow. For those who haven't read Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny:Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,this is an instructive and powerful summary for our path forward. Access it HERE.

EDUCATION

HB 1001:School funding.Removes language that would make vouchers universal. Reduces complexity moneys to public schools to support the education of disabled andhigh poverty students.Increases funding for vouchers and charters. Assigned to Conference Committee

SB 1: Property tax cuts.Closes Union School Corp. in Randolph Co.Public schools lose millions in tax revenue.FIND OUT THE LOSS TO YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT here:https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/indiana-senate-bill-1-house-amended-property-tax-impact-on-schools. Governor signed.

SB 287: Partisan school boards. Assigned to Conference Committee.

HB 1002: Deregulation of public education.Elimination of requirements for State Superintendent. Ends social emotional learning training; art education requirement, grants for guidance/mental health, oversight of charters, and more. Passed the Senate.

HB 1348: Noncredited/homeschool diplomas must be considered equal to an accredited school diploma. Signed by Governor.

SB 255: Student release-time for religious instruction doubled. House passed.

SB 442: Intervenes in local decisions about sex education curriculum and process. House passed.

SB 373: Requires public schools to share transportation and facilities with charters. Piloted first IPS. Proposed expansion in 2029. Ends local control, ownership, and financial oversight over transportation and facilities. Creates an appointed countywide taxing authority board-over transportation and facilities. House passed.

SB 289: Anti-DEI. House amended narrowing its impact. Bill perpetuates fear and controversy labeling DEI discriminatory. Returned to Senate to concur or sent to Conference Committee.

HB 1515: Cancels local zoning approval for where charters locate. Passed by Senate.

Advocate Nan Polk:nanpolk@hotmail.com

NATURAL RESOURCES

Please take these actions:

>HB 1037-Tell your legislators to vote NO (both your senator and your representative) because, if passed soon by the full Senate, the bill would return to the House with amendments. Reminder:This bill wouldleave construction sites that are less than one acre – which describes almost all single-family home sites – completely without local erosion control measures that protect our water resources.

>SB 4-Thank your legislators for supporting this bill which among other things requires reporting of water transfers that exceed 10 mgd (million gallons a day). The data generated will be a good beginning step for moving toward future statewide water management planning.

>Unwelcome update: LWVIN opposed SB 423, SB 424, and HB 1007 on SMRs (Small Modular Nuclear Reactors) because rate payers would disproportionally cover costs. SB 424 is now law.Final action on the others is likely before you receive this Voter, so stay tuned for the aftermath.

Kristina Lindborg, Cheryl Chapman, and Liz Solberg
Please email us to receive our updates: kristina.lindborg@gmail.com

VOTER SERVICES

SB 10/SEA 10: Student IDs invalid AND I.D.E.A. to be promoted by Secretary Morales. Call Governor Braun to veto. 317-232-4567

SB 137: Requires clerks to compare BMV list of temporary credential holders with voter roll. Problem: BMV records are not reliable for accuracy. Sent to Governor.

SB 199: Allows for an increase in the number of poll watchers present during primaries. Signed by Governor.

SB 287: Partisan School board elections. Senate rejected House changes. Assigned to a conference committee.

SB 450/SEA 450:Sets parameters for Indiana’s delegates who attend the Article V Convention. The directives have no teeth. On the Governor’s desk.

SJR 21:Congressional term limits via Article V. Indiana wants to add its name to the list of states calling for a Constitutional Convention. No Gov’s signature is needed but must pass again in the next session.

HB 1633:Study-Should municipal elections be changed to the presidential election year? Should all counties to use vote centers. Sent to Governor.

HB 1679: Restricts referendums to the general of the presidential election year.Increases voter maintenance requirements and verification of residences. Passed Senate 4/15.House must concur with changes or dissent.

HB 1680:Puts restrictions on assistance a voter can be given, requires that absentee ballots be dated to be counted, and adds additional checks for proof of citizenship.House voted not to accept the Senate’s changes. Assigned to a conference committee.

Sign up for future notifications at voterservicelwvin@gmail.com

WOMEN’S HEALTH

SB 2 Medicaid matters. OPPOSED The Senate struck down a 36-month life-time limit for HIP 2.0 health coverage. The House Public Health Committee removed a provision limiting coverage to 500,000 recipients. The House approved work requirements, though that change will require federal approval. On April 10 a motion to concur was filed.

SB 289 Unlawful Discrimination. OPPOSED Education institutions, state agencies, health licensing institutions, public and charter schools, public service employment and more are not allowed to utilize DEI actions in their work or training. The bill had a third reading in the House on April 14 and passed by a vote of yeas 67, nays 27. Returned to Senate with amendments.

HB 1004 Nonprofit hospitals. NEUTRAL This bill has been amended to phase in a system of pricing requirements for certain large nonprofit hospital systems from July 1, 2025 through June 20, 2027. Afterward there will be benchmarks and penalties. On 4/15 it passed with a vote of 29 yeas, 19 nays. It was returned to the House with amendments.

HB1148 Confidentiality of birth and stillbirth records. SUPPORTED Provides that a registration or certificate of a birth or stillbirth is open to public inspection and copying upon the request of any person that occurs 99 years (instead of 75 years) after the record is created. Signed by the Governor April 3.

Pam Locker, Bri Glidden, Joanne Evers, Amy Mickschl, and Betsy KachmarEmail us to be added to our regular updates:lwvin.womenshealthadvocates@gmail.com

Billboard magazine January 3, 1942.Dorothy Toy and Paul Wing in 1942.

London's Evening Standard July 11, 1939. Many newspapers, like London’sEvening Standardin 1939, called Dorothy and Paul “Chinese dancers.”

FORGOTTEN FOREMOTHERS
Profiles of lesser-known heroines in the fight for women's rights

Dorothy Toy/ Shigeko Takahashi

An audience of devils applauds as Satan, their caped emcee, sits in his tall, peaked throne on a dais in 1937’s musical short “Deviled Ham.”

“Who waits without?” Satan asks as a horned messenger in short Spanish breeches hands him a scroll. “Toy & Wing, jazz dancers from the Orient. Burned up two dance floors covered with asbestos.” Satan gives a chuckle as he reads. “Very good. Started a forest fire by stamping their feet.” Presumably these fictional crimes are what have qualified these dancers to perform for this band of demons.

Satan approves. “Bid them enter,” he tells the messenger. With the bang of a rather stereotypical gong, a woman and man enter carrying gilded fans and wearing sequined Asian-style robes.

The woman soon sheds the robes to reveal a short, sparkling dress with long sleeves, and she takes to the dance floor. With impressive speed, she trots in a wild circle, entirely on pointe in ballet shoes, only to follow that display by dropping into squats and leaps. Again, entirely on pointe.

The “Toy” of Toy & Wing was Dorothy Toy, all of 20 years old when she danced on her toe tips before the Devil. She was born on May 28, 1917, in San Francisco, Calif., and while Dorothy was one of her given names, Toy was not her family name. Dorothy was also called Shigeko Takahashi.

Like Yuri Kochiyama, Dorothy was Nisei, or second generation. Her parents had immigrated from coastal cities in Japan, her father from Wakayama and her mother from Yokohama. In 1924, when Dorothy was seven years old, the family relocated from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where her parents opened a restaurant called the Cherry Blossom Café.

Across the street from the family’s café was the Regent Vaudeville Theater. While their parents worked, the children often played, and for Dorothy, playing usually meant dancing. She showed a special skill for dancing on her toes. A Regent theater manager who regularly dined at the Cherry Blossom Café suggested to Dorothy’s parents that she should be given dance lessons. Her parents listened. They enrolled both Dorothy and Helen in classes.

You can read this entire article HERE.

Kathryn S Gardiner

Dorothy and Paul signed with the William Morris Agency soon after moving to New York City in 1939.

Pam Locker, Editor, LWVIN Voter

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