INDIANAPOLIS ­­– A new legislative website launched just in time for the 2014 session of the Indiana General Assembly – but not without encountering problems with reliability and speed.

George Angelone, the executive director of the Legislative Services Agency, the issues should be resolved by the end of next week.

“I would say that we are probably at the B, B+ level, not at the A level, and we are working to get it to the A level. To the extent that we’ve inconvenienced the public, we apologize, but we expect these problems to be resolved within the next week or so,” Angelone said.

The changes were requested by the leadership of the General Assembly who wanted to create a system that provided previously unavailable services.

“We undertook this new project in order to essentially bring the General Assembly into the 21^stCentury,” Angelone said.

In 2011, the LSA began working on pilot projects with electronic devices such as iPads, to see if they could effectively provide information to the legislature and the public.

But, two years into the project, Angelone said the agency realized it couldn’t provide the new services with their limited amount of staff. An outside provider with legislative systems experience was brought in to help initiate the program.

The system was designed to distribute information more quickly and on a broader scale than the old one could provide.

“Some of the services that (lawmakers) wanted were to make sure that the public received notices and information about the legislature on a real-time basis. Under the old system the best we could do was anywhere from three to 24 hours after an event would occur,” Angelone said. “For some parts of the legislative process that’s information, with that lag, that is way too late for the public to respond to what’s going on in the General Assembly.”

The new program was also designed as a transition to a completely electronic system that goes far beyond a new website, and should reduce the amount of paper documents used by legislators and their staff members.

“One of the most difficult process problems with the legislature is that you end up with piles and piles of paper and, as things change, it’s difficult to store and to find the most recent and the most relevant pieces of paper that are dealing with the legislative process. We printed, for example, 3 million pages last year,” Angelone said.

Messages back and forth between the House and the Senate used to be on paper and walked back and forth but now all messages can be sent and received electronically. Amendments and amendment packets are also being distributed electronically to members and updated whenever changes take place.

The amendments will be offered online to the public as soon as they are made available.

While more additions to the newly minted system are in the works, they aren’t expected to be introduced until during or after next year’s legislative session.

Jacob Rund is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. 

TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS — Commercial tanning beds may soon be off limits to Hoosiers younger than 16 under a bill approved Wednesday by a Senate committee.

Sens. Ron Grooms, R-Jeffersonville, and Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, listen Wednesday during testimony about a bill to ban anyone younger than 16 from using commerical tanning beds. Photo by Brandon Mullens, TheStatehouseFile.com

Senate Bill 50 – unanimously passed by the Senate Health and Provider Services Committee –would repeal a provision that requires minors 15 years of age and younger to be accompanied by a parent or guardian when using a tanning bed at a salon. The bill also requires 16 and 17-year-olds to have a parent or guardian’s written consent given in front of tanning salon operators before being allowed to tan.

SB 50 now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, no other state has specifically banned tanning for minors under 16, although 33 states have some sort of regulation on tanning for minors and five states have gone as far as completely banning minors from tanning.

All who testified in Wednesday’s committee meeting supported the bill being passed.

Dermatologists David Gerstein, left, and William Hanke tell the Senate Health and Provider Services Commitee about the dangers of tanning. Photo by Brandon Mullens, TheStatehouseFile.com

Dermatologists William Hanke and David Gerstein spoke to the committee about the dangers of allowing minors to use indoor tanning methods. The doctors cited a study published in 2011 that found a 69 percent increase in the risk of basal cell carcinoma due to tanning, a risk that is even higher for those who tan prior to turning 16.

The two also discussed the widespread nature of melanoma, which is the most common cancer in people ages 25 to 29 and the second most common cancer in people ages 15 to 29.

Hanke cited data from the American Cancer Society which estimated that there were 1,470 new cases of melanoma in 2013 and approximately 230 deaths in Indiana alone.

“For all these reasons, no amount of UV exposure from tanning beds is safe. There is no such thing as a safe tan,” Hanke said. “By definition, a tan in evidence of skin damage.”

Gerstein and Hanke urged the committee to see that stronger laws are needed due to the damage that can be done by tanning.

“We as physicians can only educate the public so much,” Gerstein said. “Our government restricts the minors’ use of tobacco and alcohol. We do not have parental consent permission for use of cigarettes or alcohol for teenagers. For something that’s classified as dangerous of a substance as cigarettes, why do we need to consent to ultraviolet radiation exposure when tanning?”

Ryanne Wise is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.