INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers want to give a state panel two more years to adopt permanent rules intended to prevent a repeat of last year's deadly State Fair stage collapse.
A legislative committee on Tuesday endorsed draft legislation that would give the state's Fire Prevention and Building Commission until 2016 to adopt permanent rules regulating temporary outdoor stage equipment.
Lawmakers imposed temporary rules this year under a law that calls for those rules to expire on Jan. 1, 2014, following approval of permanent rules.
Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt of Indianapolis will sponsor the proposed legislation. He says the building commission needs more time to fine-tune permanent stage rigging rules that protect the public and also safeguard smaller events from burdensome regulations.
