January 03, 2018 12:54 PM
UPDATED 1 MINUTE AGO
The Latest on the convening of the 2018 Indiana legislative session (all times local):
12:45 p.m.
An Indiana legislator is proposing legislation that would allow for expanded use of baby boxes in which a mother could anonymously give up her newborn.
Republican state Sen. Travis Holdman of Markle announced Wednesday his bill would allow fire departments that are continually staffed to install the devices.
A state law passed last year allows for such boxes at hospitals, though proponents say none have been installed yet. Two fire departments that previously installed such devices were also grandfathered in under the law.
Baby boxes are heated and contain an alarm that alerts when a baby is placed inside. But child welfare authorities have voiced concerns about a lack of safeguards in place to ensure the safety of the boxes.
Holdman says his latest effort helps address those concerns by only allowing the boxes to be installed continuously staffed locations.
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5:30 a.m.
Legislators are returning to the Indiana Statehouse to begin this year's General Assembly session.
Members of both the Indiana House and Senate will meet on Wednesday to formally start the session that must end by mid-March.
The Republican-dominated Legislature could face contentious debates over issues such as ending Indiana's longtime ban on Sunday carryout alcohol sales and repealing the state law requiring licenses to carry handguns in public.
Conservative social activists have already attacked Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma for not taking up a constitutionally questionable bill that aims to ban abortions by defining human life as beginning when a human egg is fertilized by a sperm.
Democrats are pushing for a state hate crimes law and an independent commission for drawing congressional and legislative election districts.
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