Phillip "Phil" L. Boots is an American politician from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He was a Republican member of the Indiana Senate, representing the 23rd District between 2006 and 2022.

Education and business career

Boots graduated from New Market High School and

Milligan College Milligan University is a Private university, private Christianity, Christian university in Milligan College, Tennessee. Founded in 1866 as the Buffalo Male and Female Institute, and known as Milligan College from 1881 to May 2020, the school has ...

.Phil Boots for senator?
''Crawfordsville Journal Review'' (February 2, 2006) (February 2, 2006). He owns several central Indiana businesses,Dan Carden
State senator favors religion-based hiring
''The Times of Northwestern Indiana'' (February 27, 2014). and is president of Boots Bros. Oil Co., Inc., an operator of convenience stores.

Political career

Before being elected to the state Senate, Boots was a Montgomery County commissioner. In the state Senate, Boots has proposed eliminating the

board of county commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...

for all of Indiana's 91 counties (in 2008), cosponsored civil forfeiture reform legislation (in 2017), was the sole member of the state Senate Public Policy Committee to vote against

hate crimes A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

bill (Senate Bill 12, in 2019) and was the sole Republican to join with the Democrats in voting against a bill to ban dilation and evacuation abortion (in 2019). In 2015, he sponsored legislation that would legalize the placement of low-stakes video gambling terminals in Indiana bars and

truck stop A truck stop, known as a service station in the United Kingdom, and a travel center by major chains in the United States, is a commercial facility which provides refueling, rest (parking), and often ready-made food and other services to motori ...

s. Boots voted in favor of a adding a ban on same-sex marriage to the

Indiana Constitution The Constitution of Indiana is the highest body of state law in the U.S. state of Indiana. It establishes the structure and function of the state and is based on the principles of federalism and Jacksonian democracy. Indiana's constitution is su ...

in 2011, but voted against the proposed ban in 2014. In 2013, Boots introduced a " nullification" bill that would purport to authorizes the Indiana General Assembly to declare federal laws unconstitutional and would have declared the 2010

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

(ACA) to be unconstitutional and unenforceable in Indiana. The supposed doctrine of "nullification" was expressly repudiated by the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in ''

Cooper v. Aaron ''Cooper v. Aaron'', 358 U.S. 1 (1958), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which denied the school board of Little Rock, Arkansas, the right to delay racial desegregation for 30 months. On September 12, 1958, th ...

'' (1958), and the ACA was upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 2012 ruling. In 2014, Boots proposed an amendment to allow employers to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion; Boots's proposal prompted vehement objections from Democrats. Boots has sponsored legislation in 2016 to block local governments in Indiana from passing ordinances requiring employers to provide employees notice of their scheduled hours in advance, and sponsored legislation in 2017 to block local governments in Indiana from enacting "

ban the box Ban the Box is the name of an American campaign by advocates for ex-offenders aimed at removing the check box that asks if applicants have a criminal record from hiring applications. Its purpose is to enable ex-offenders to display their qualificat ...

" ordinances. In 2018, Boots, as chairman of the state Senate Pensions and Labor Committee, blocked an equal pay bill (introduced by Democratic Senator Jean Breaux) from receiving a hearing by the committee.Equal-pay law sought by Indiana lawmakers
''Indianapolis Star'' (January 17, 2018).

References

External links

Official profile
from the Indiana General Assembly website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boots, Phil Living people Republican Party Indiana state senators 21st-century American legislators Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Indiana politicians