(Indiana) Lawmakers delay vote after gay marriage ban debate

[Newsjock]

Source: Indianapolis Star

In a surprise move, a House committee chairman decided not to take a vote today on the hotly debated proposal to add a gay marriage ban to Indiana's constitution.

Rep. Greg Steuerwald, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said just last week that the panel of 13 lawmakers would vote on the proposed marriage amendment today, but after three-and-a-half hours of testimony today he ended the hearing without a vote.

The committee also took no action on a companion bill intended to clarify the amendment's intent. That measure states that the amendment is not intended to deny employer health benefits to same-sex couples or to circumvent local ordinances that forbid discrimination.

Read more: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2014/01/13/indiana-house-panel-debates-gay-marriage-ban/4450469/

[MNBrewer]

1. Wouldn't the language contained in the Constitutional Amendment

over-rule the language in the companion bill, rather than vice-versa?

[24601]

2. Changing the Indiana Constitution will have no effect on interpretation by Federal courts if the

decision basis is the US Constitution.