DONATE
House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) spoke with reporters Monday, Feb. 9th, about proposed amendments to protect children against predators. The amendments are in response to the death of Fisher’s teen, Hailey Buzbee.
Ben Thorp/WFYIThe recent disappearance and death of Fishers' teen Hailey Buzbee has prompted Indiana lawmakers to amend legislation moving through the statehouse. Several Fishers’ lawmakers held a press conference Monday to discuss the amendments with reporters.
17-year-old Hailey Buzbee disappeared from her Indiana home on Jan. 5th. After weeks missing, Fishers police announced they believe Buzbee is dead, her body identified in Ohio.
An Ohio man, Tyler Thomas, has been arrested for allegedly possessing sexually explicit materials of Buzbee, according to the IndyStar. Law enforcement believes Buzbee left her home with Thomas the night of her disappearance.
Buzbee and Thomas reportedly met on an online gaming app and had been speaking for over a year.
“This tragedy has also sparked conversations at the statehouse about what we can do better to protect Hoosier kids,” House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) told reporters.
One change lawmakers have introduced would alter the state’s Amber Alert system.
Amber Alerts are used in cases where law enforcement believes a person has been abducted or is in serious danger of harm or death. Runaways often don’t meet those criteria.
The update to the state’s Amber Alert system would allow it to be used in instances like Buzbee’s, where law enforcement believes the missing person is a “high risk”.
That amendment isn’t the “Pink Alert” system some advocates had been asking for. That system would allow law enforcement to issue an alert if there were evidence of online grooming connected to a person’s disappearance. A petition for “Hailey’s Law” currently has over 1,000 signatures.
Huston said lawmakers will study the issue over the summer, but are worried about too many alerts going out, rendering them meaningless.
“You don’t want to have so many alerts that they are unimpactful and people aren’t aware of what they should be looking for,” he said.
Rep. Chris Jeter (R-Fishers) said the language of the amendment will offer law enforcement more discretion in issuing alerts when they know children aren’t runaways.
“This is part of a much larger effort that we'll engage in over the next year to make sure that our endangerment and child welfare laws are updated to reflect, you know, the impact of social media and online sites to child welfare,” he said.
Another amendment revives parental permissions around social media use for teens.
That amendment would require children 15 or younger to receive parental permission to sign up for social media. The bill wouldn’t have directly helped Buzbee, but lawmakers seem interested in creating protections for children online.
Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn (D-Fishers) said she has a 17-year-old daughter of her own and had a visceral reaction to Hailey’s death.
“We are very much united in ensuring that the necessary safeguards are put in place in social media, that our children are not victims,” she said.
The two amendments have the support of Buzbee’s parents.
Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org
Support WFYI. We can't do it without you.