“Hailey’s Law” and a bill to fund a proposed Bear’s stadium in Northern Indiana are key issues heading into the final stretch of the legislative session.
Speaking with reporters Thursday, House Speaker Todd Houston (R-Fishers) discussed a wide range of legislative topics, focusing on a few major issues moving through the statehouse.
One of those topics was a proposal to create a new “pink alert” system that could be used when a child goes missing and there is evidence of grooming or coercive communication that led to the disappearance.
Dubbed “Hailey’s Law,” the move comes less than a week after the body of Fisher’s 17-year-old Hailey Buzbee was found after a weeks long disappearance. Buzbee’s family has urged lawmakers to support the measure.
State officials, including Gov. Mike Braun and Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith, have joined in the call for changes to state law in an effort to “prevent further tragedies.”
House Speaker Todd Huston told reporters on Thursday that since new bills cannot currently be introduced due to legislative deadlines, lawmakers are looking at adding language to bills currently moving through the statehouse.
“They've identified opportunities to put new language in in the second half that would, again, maybe clarify that issue around the alert system,” Huston said.
The family also wants to see “modern predator awareness education” in Indiana schools, according to the family’s change.org petition that has now garnered over 98,000 signatures.
Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder (D-Bloomington) agreed that action should be taken to prevent further child grooming, but accused Republicans of wasting time on other bills that don’t help Hoosiers.
“It's a lot of virtue signaling that we're seeing in some of these bills. And when you have something so devastating happening to our state, we need to be having that conversation right now,” Yoder said.
Northwest Indiana Bears Bill
Huston also took time to discuss where things stand with legislation to bring the Chicago Bears to Indiana.
Huston told reporters he is now the House sponsor of a bill that recently passed over from the Senate.
“I am now the sponsor on that bill, if that tells you my interest in getting it done,” he said. “I'm going to spend the next two days up in Lake County, and Porter County, having conversations with local elected officials to do everything we can.”
The legislation aimed at attracting the Bears to Indiana would create a stadium finance authority in charge of acquiring land and financing the construction of a facility.
The bill passed overwhelmingly out of the Senate with just two no votes.
“We’ll do everything we can,” Huston said. “I think it’s an incredible economic development opportunity for Northwest Indiana and for the State of Indiana and hopefully we’ll be moving something forward soon.”
Economists have long questioned whether stadiums are a good economic investment, but state lawmakers say the state has been good at developing financial plans that don’t hurt taxpayers.
The legislative session is anticipated to end by the end of February.
Contact Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org and Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org