Indiana Lawmakers Advancing Legislation on Protecting Kids

STATEHOUSE–Lawmakers at the Statehouse say they have been working with public safety leaders to deliver what they call a multifaceted approach to strengthen protections for Hoosier children, especially online.

What’s ignited this move has been the recent death of 17-year-old Hailey Buzbee in Fishers. Police say she met a man while online gaming, went missing, and was later found dead. A House Bill was recently amended to expand the defintion of a missing child to include a “high-risk missing person,” allowing law enforcement to act more quickly with greater coordination in cases involving heightened safety concerns.

Republican State Representative Chris Jeter, who represents a portion of Fishers, says the intent is to give law enforcement more discretion to issue an Amber Alert when a child may be in immediate danger.

“Today we’ll be inserting language into House Bill 1303 that expands the disrection law enforcement has to issue Amber alerts when they know and have reason to know early that children are in danger or have been enticed, they aren’t just runaways. To be clear, this is part of a larger effort that we’ll engage in to make sure that our endangerment and child welfare laws are updated to reflect the impact of social media and online sites to child welfare,” said Jeter.

House Speaker Todd Huston said legislation that recently passed the House would strengthen parental oversight and approval of social media use for adolescents and crack down on addictive and harmful features.

“Our goal is to help put parameters in place to better protect our kids when they’re online. I think we have a good amendment that will continue to put more protections in to support our young people as they’re on those platforms,” said Huston.

Both Huston and Jeter say they are focused on honoring Buzbee’s legacy by giving law enforcement and parents the ability to detect and respond to these threats earlier.