Statehouse bills that made us do a double take

Here are a few odd bills that caught our attention this year:

🛸 It's illegal to sneak cell phones, drugs, alcohol and other "contraband" into correctional facilities, but it's not (yet) illegal to fly a drone over one.

Driving the news: Sen. Eric Koch (R-Bedford) has filed a bill to update the state's law prohibiting trafficking with an inmate to include doing so with a drone.

• During a committee hearing, Koch said it's already a problem.
• A drone with a backpack stuffed with tobacco, marijuana, cell phones and chargers tied to it was found inside the fence of an Indiana correctional facility.
• Another drone delivered a soccer ball stuffed with meth, plus cell phones and chargers.

The latest: The bill passed the Senate yesterday.

🙀 There's a bill titled "taking bobcats."

Yes, but: That doesn't mean taking them home to cuddle on the couch.

Driving the news: Sen. Scott Baldwin (R-Noblesville) filed a bill to create a bobcat hunting season in Indiana.

• Our only resident native wild cat was recognized as an endangered species in the state until 2005 and populations have since rebounded, though there is debate about whether it's grown enough to support a sustainable hunting season.

The latest: It awaits a vote in the Senate.

🇺🇲 Things that won't fit on a license plate, for 250.

Driving the news: Rep. Matt Lehman has proposed a limited-time specialty license plate to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, also known as the semiquincentennial.

• The yet-to-be-designed semiquincentennial license plate would come with a $25 fee, which would fund a newly established semiquincentennial trust fund to be spent by the semiquincentennial commission.

The latest: It is scheduled for a committee hearing tomorrow.

🤔 This is the Hoosier state — no doubt about it. Just in case, though, Rep. J.D. Prescott (R-Union City) has filed a bill to make it official.

Driving the news: Prescott's bill would establish Hoosier as Indiana's official nickname in honor of its supposed namesake, Harry Hoosier.

• Hoosier became a highly respected preacher in the late 1700s, despite having been born into slavery, and his followers brought his name and faith to Indiana, according to the bill.

Yes, but: There's no evidence that Harry Hoosier is the reason for the state's nickname.

• That's what a historian said last year, when Prescott first filed the bill.

The latest: It hasn't been scheduled for a committee hearing yet.

✍️ If Sen. Jean Leising's effort to mandate cursive writing was a human, it'd be old enough to be flocking to Sephora for luxury skin care products.

Driving the news: For the 13th year in a row, Leising has filed a bill to mandate schools teach cursive writing.

• This year's effort includes print handwriting and spelling, too, as part of a school's required curriculum.
• She's gotten it past the Senate before but it's never made it through the House.

The latest: It hasn't been scheduled for a committee hearing yet.