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House committee backs bill letting DHS do risk-based inspections and streamlining ignition-interlock oversight
Summary
Lawmakers passed House Bill 1202 to give the Indiana Department of Homeland Security flexibility to use risk-based inspections for fire and building safety, to allow sharing of EMS background checks for licensing, and to consolidate ignition-interlock device oversight under the State Toxicology Department.
Representative Ethan Lawson asked the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and Public Safety to approve House Bill 1202, which he said modernizes decades-old provisions for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, the Criminal Justice Institute and the State Department of Toxicology.
Lawson told the committee the bill enables DHS to adopt a risk-based inspection schedule rather than being tied to calendar deadlines, reduces duplicative reporting requirements at CJI, and locates the ignition-interlock registration program with the State Toxicology Department to streamline manufacturer registration while keeping existing safety standards.
"This bill largely allows DHS to take a risk-based approach to inspecting compliance with fire and building safety laws," Lawson said in opening remarks, and added it "removes some unnecessary rules and reports" while supporting EMS professionals.
Alyssa Schroeder, legislative director for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, told lawmakers the measure is not a rollback of inspection authority but a way to let DHS prioritize higher-risk facilities. "If we've been to a certain entity and they haven't had a violation in the past five years, maybe our resources would be better used going more frequently to entities that are most likely to have violations," Schroeder said.
The bill also clarifies that DHS will continue to inspect childcare centers before they open and may inspect at any time afterward, but that routine inspection timing should not interfere with FSSA license-renewal schedules.
After brief questions from committee members, the committee moved to pass the bill. The roll call was taken on the record and the committee reported House Bill 1202 as passed (roll-call vote recorded in the transcript 12–0).
