There have been four hearings regarding Ohio HB 173—a bill seeking to require a doctor’s permission for anyone under the age of 18 to tan indoors or via sunless methods. At each hearing, the ITA presented testimony from doctors, health commissioners, salon owners and industry experts asking the committee to defeat the bill, and argued that the bill was unnecessary and would have a negative impact on the industry causing lost jobs and decreased tax revenue.

There was extreme pressure from the proponents of the bill for the committee to bring it to a vote by June 30; thankfully that did not happen. The legislature will return to session in September and run through December. The HB 173 debate will continue in the House Consumer Affairs and Economic Protection Committee (we suspect in October) with the goal of bringing the matter to a vote before the end of the year.

That means that we need to keep the pressure on legislators during the summer to further build our case for the fall session. The numerous letters of support and signed petitions were crucial to presenting the industry’s perspective. If you have already sent an e-mail to the legislature, you don't need to do so again. But if you haven’t yet sent a letter of opposition, please click here to access the ITA’s preformatted letter, and enter your name, e-mail address, phone number and organization (business name). Beyond that, you can choose to personalize the letter in the message field or send it as it is. Once you click send, the program will direct the letter to the proper offices.

In addition, the ITA has created a second letter for indoor-tanning consumers—ask your friends and family to access the consumer letter by clicking here.

Source:

Indoor Tanning Association (ITA)

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