INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Ryan Hatfield (D-Evansville) has been selected to serve on a national commission designed to encourage uniformity in laws across the country, with an initial assignment of examining potential responses to the problems created by breaches in personal data.

Hatfield recently was appointed to the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), and has been additionally selected to the group’s new Study Committee on Data Breach Notification.

The ULC, established in 1892, is designed to provide states with non-partisan legislation that attempts to bring clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. To serve on the commission, a member must be qualified to practice law. The more than 300 law commissioners include legislators, judges, and law professors.

“The value of an organization such as this is to try and find a common response to many of the problems that face our states,” Hatfield said.

“In that light, you can certainly say that finding ways to answer the rising tide of personal data breaches that are taking place across this country is something that demands a unified approach toward a common solution,” he continued. “These breaches are affecting millions of Americans, and it would seem to make sense that we should work together to find ways that protect us all from identity thieves.”

U.S. Rep. Luke Messer (IN-06) joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in urging the Trump Administration to either drastically change President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal or exit the deal altogether.

Reached in 2015 during the Obama administration, the Iran nuclear deal lifted critical economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for promises to reduce the regime’s development of nuclear weapons.

“The Iran nuclear deal was a giant mistake. It has been bad for our national security, bad for Israel’s national security and bad for the world,” Messer said. “More than a year after the deal, Iran is still working toward a nuclear bomb and is building missile factories to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. These are unacceptable threats that should have been anticipated when the deal was first made. I join Prime Minister Netanyahu in urging the Trump Administration to either make major changes to the deal or abandon it altogether.”

Netanyahu has been an outspoken critic of the deal, saying last week, “Our position is straightforward. This is a bad deal. Either fix it — or cancel it. This is Israel’s position.”

A longtime champion of pro-Israel policy, Messer met with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel in 2013, and met with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer in Washington in July.

“Hoosiers are united in their support for the Jewish state,” Messer said. “President Obama’s defection from Israel and deal-making with its enemies was unconscionable. With a new President in the White House, we have the opportunity to undo damage made during the Obama years and stand strong with our longtime friend and critical ally, Israel. Rescinding the Iran nuclear deal or substantially changing it is an important first step.”

Every three months, President Trump is required to inform Congress whether or not Iran is in compliance with the agreement’s ban on the development of nuclear weapons. The next deadline is Oct. 15.

Earlier this month, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that President Trump would have grounds to stand on should he choose to not certify Iran’s end of the deal.