Bipartisan legislation that U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly helped introduce and pass in the Senate last fall to protect amateur athletes from sexual abuse was signed into law today by President Trump. The Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act requires amateur athletics governing bodies to report sex-abuse allegations immediately to law enforcement or a child-welfare agency designated by the Justice Department.

Donnelly said, “I’m proud that this bipartisan legislation has been signed into law. I helped introduce this bill that will help prevent sexual abuse of amateur athletes, and requires prompt reporting of abuse to authorities. We have a responsibility to the survivors, to current and future athletes, and to their parents to ensure that these abuses never happen again. This law is a significant step in that direction.”

The bill amends the Ted Stevens Amateur and Olympic Sports Act, which governs amateur athletics governing bodies, to make it safe and easy for victims to report abuse and mandate oversight to ensure strong sexual-abuse prevention policies are implemented.

The bill also reforms the law that allows victims to sue sex-crime perpetrators by extending the statute of limitations because it’s often difficult for children to recognize that they have had crimes committed against them until much later on into adulthood.

The Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act is supported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), National Children’s Alliance, Rights4Girls, University of Utah Law Professor Paul Cassell, Child Sex Crime Victims’ Lawyer James Marsh, Crime Victims Expert Steve Twist, National Crime Victims Center, National Association of VOCA Administrators, Child USA, National Organization for Victim Assistance, ToPrevail, ChampionWomen, National Children Advocacy Center, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence and Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

The legislation also had the support of organizations within the Olympic movement, including the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), the National Governing Body Council and the United States Center for Safe Sport.

By State Sen. Erin Houchin (R-Salem)

As our state faces an increasing drug epidemic that is nearing crisis levels, we must take action. We must combat drug abuse on all fronts, including prevention, treatment, and enforcement. However, we must do so responsibly.

There are a few different treatment options in Indiana, including methadone clinics and Office-Based Opioid Treatment facilities (OBOT). These facilities offer treatment to opioid addicts through medication that seeks to curb cravings and reduce withdrawal symptoms, and aid in the road to recovery. Methadone clinics receive Medicaid funding, and are closely regulated, both at the state and federal levels. They are also under a moratorium, with nineteen clinics currently operating.

Like methadone clinics, OBOTs also receive Medicaid funding. However, unlike methadone clinics, OBOTs are largely unregulated and able to proliferate widely in our communities, while using tens of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding. There are currently around 450 of these facilities in our state, and many are owned by out-of-state companies, without so much as an Indiana licensed physician on site. They distribute opioid replacement medication without even modest regulations, or a path to wean qualifying addicts off drugs completely.

OBOTs commonly use a drug called buprenorphine, which is known by the brand name Suboxone. While it offers hope for recovery to some, buprenorphine does not come without the risk for abuse. According to Indivior, the largest manufacturer of Suboxone, “buprenorphine can be abused in a manner similar to other opioids.” Unregulated distribution of these drugs is irresponsible, and it is dangerous. Suboxone film is highly and easily trafficked into our jails and prisons, and is also sold illicitly on our streets.

This session, I authored Senate Bill 398 with the goal of imposing modest regulations on OBOT facilities, similar to the guidelines methadone clinics must follow. While I want these patients, who are among our most vulnerable Hoosiers at their most vulnerable time, to get access to quality care, I don’t believe we can assure the public that is happening under the current framework. I have no doubt there are providers who are prescribing these treatment drugs responsibly, but I am equally sure there are bad actors. Carelessly throwing new drugs pushed by pharmaceutical companies at a drug problem without safeguards is a recipe for a new epidemic if we don’t take action.

SB 398 was amended by the Senate Health and Provider Services Committee into a summer study committee, but I will continue working with various stakeholders as the bill proceeds through the legislative process.

If you have any thoughts or questions on this bill or other issues, please contact me by email at Senator.Houchin@iga.in.gov or by phone at 800-382-9467.