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“If at first you don’t succeed,” should be the motto of Republican Speaker of the House of Indiana, Brian Bosma. The House Judicial Committee heard testimony earlier this month on HJR3, a bill that would allow voters to decide on whether they want to enshrine discrimination into the state constitution by banning same-sex marriage, civil unions, and even domestic partnerships.
But clearly there were not enough votes to pass the bill, authored by Rep. Eric Turner on to the full House, so Speaker Bosma did what any power-hungry leader does: he threatened the committee members with kicking them off the committee.
LOOK:Â Photos: Hundreds Rally To Oppose Indiana Anti-Gay Bill
That apparently didn’t work, so now Bosma has done the unthinkable: he’s pulled the bill and handed it over to a committee that is loaded with conservatives who will vote to pass it onto the full House.
#BackdoorBosma #HJR3 Retweet! pic.twitter.com/s3qYqKm9kD
— Todd Grooten (@savvylibrarian) January 22, 2014
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So, three hours of testimony from the public was wasted (perhaps they should send Bosma invoices for their time and travel expenses?) and now, today, starting at 3:30 PM ET, the House Elections and Apportionment Committee — which in 2011 passed the bill — will get to go through the charade of “listening” to both sides, before deciding to send the bill to the House floor.
You can watch the proceedings live, here. There may be a slight delay, specially if there are a lot of people tuning in.
(Note: if that link does not lead to video, go to the House’s main page, look for the Upcoming Meetings section on the right, then 3:30, and click on (H) Elections and Apportionment.)