INDIANAPOLIS— Today, the Senate Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed Senator Rodney Pol’s (D-Chesterton) SB 424 requiring that public access points on Lake Michigan have rescue equipment available and that the local government report drowning deaths within 100 feet of their piers or public access sites. Senator Pol offered the following statement on the bill’s passage:

“This legislation is about saving lives. Lake Michigan is one of our state’s great resources, but its undertow can be dangerous for any swimmer. We’ve lost at least 52 lives to drowning in Lake Michigan over the last decade in Indiana. Making rescue equipment easily accessible at public access points will save lives. These drowning cases are all too familiar to those of us in Northwest Indiana, and we have a duty to do everything we can to make our beaches safer, which is what SB 424 does. I appreciate the dedication of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project for their work and for bringing this initiative forward. I would also like to thank Senator Glick and the members of the Natural Resources Committee for their support and will continue working to get this legislation signed into law.”