Same-Sex Marriage Amendment Moved To A New Committee

Satff Report - TheStateHouseFile.com

House Speaker Brian Bosma has moved a constitutional amendment to define marriage to another committee in hopes of getting the controversial proposal passed to the full chamber for a vote.

Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said he heard over the weekend from a majority of the members of the Republican caucus who said they wanted a chance to vote on the amendment, which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

“This seemed like the best way to do it,” Bosma said. He called it the “least intrusive, most respectful of the process.”

Bosma moved the amendment from the Judiciary Committee, where it had a three-hour hearing last week, to the Elections Committee, which will have its own hearing. He said Judiciary Chairman Greg Steuerwald, R-Avon, told him he wasn’t confident the amendment could pass the committee.

Meanwhile, Elections Committee Chairman Milo Smith, R-Columbus, had been lobbying to have it in his committee, Bosma said. “It is a referendum issue,” he said.

Bosma said he wasn’t sure the bill would pass the Elections Committee but it had a “likelihood of making it to the floor with this route.”