Several bills passed in the 2022 Indiana General Assembly have already become law after they were signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb. Some of those include amended vape tax, the constitutional carry provision in handgun law, coerced abortion, as well as bail restrictions.
Here are the details concerning these changes.
Table of Contents
Increased Vape Tax
Vape products will be sold at a higher price. E-cigarette carts, otherwise referred to as vape pods, will attract a tax of 15 percent of the wholesale price. This is less than the original 25 percent that Senate Bill 382 proposed.
Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, who authored the bill, states that the reduced rate provides additional parity between the entire taxes on various vaping products by capping keeping the taxes at 15 percent.
Most health professionals poked holes in the change, claiming that it may encourage adults to continue smoking and young people, too, would follow suit.
“We have ended up with a final product that I think moves us backward on tobacco control policy.” Claimed Brian Hannon, Indiana government relations director for the American Cancer Society. “It felt like a disservice to public health when lawmakers have been hearing from us that you need to raise the tobacco tax.”
Constitutional Carry
It is no longer a requirement for Hoosiers to have a permit to be armed with a gun courtesy of House Bill 1296. People who are 18 and above will no longer be subjected to a background check to carry firearms.
Hoosiers intending to acquire a permit can still get one. That would help especially moving around states where you are required to have a permit.
Individuals who are raising their voices concerning Second Amendment rights term this a great milestone for gun owners. But law enforcement stakeholders claim that this could complicate their jobs, adding that the legislation subverts their capability to decide the qualification for someone to carry a firearm in the state. Therefore, officers’ ability to confiscate handguns is limited, which could give rise to crime, police claimed.
Coerced Abortion
Indiana legislators waited to enact any significant amendments touching on abortion laws in waiting for the ruling from the Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe V Wade. Indiana legislators, however, passed House Bill 1217, which focused on safeguarding women against forced abortion.
Those intending to do an abortion will now have to inform the clinics whether they are being forced into it. In case the clinic finds out that someone is being coerced, they will have to share it with law enforcement, to pave way for investigation.
Anybody consciously or deliberately forcing a woman to undergo abortion could be subjected to two and a half years behind bars and a fine of up to 10, 000 U.S. dollars.
Bail
Those who advocated for the Indiana House Act 1300 claimed that the law was inspired by the need to bring to an end several violent crimes following the rising number of homicides that were witnessed in Indiana in the previous years, The Indianapolis Star reported.
The act restrains the number of individuals a nonprofit bail group may serve in a month. In addition, they are only permitted to involve in cases involving people who have been found guilty of nonviolent offenses and with a bail of 2,000 U.S. dollars and below.
Senate Minority Leaders Greg Taylor said that “it will limit the number of people they can bail out to two or three, and it would create a system where nonprofits would have to register with the department of insurance.”
Taylor added that there was a need to take care of that since the individuals served by nonprofits do not have the ability to get for-profit cash bails. And that there was going to be a large disparity for poor people and more so those
