State Senator Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, has filed for another term representing Senate District 4.

Tallian was appointed to the seat in 2005 and elected to a full term in 2006. Senate District 4 includes portions of Porter and Lake Counties.

“I am excited about seeking another term in the Senate,” Tallian said in a press release. ”Northwest Indiana faces a unique set of challenges. With my background and experience, I think I will continue to be a strong advocate for those concerns.”

Tallian said she has taken a leading role in protecting working families on issues involving labor concerns, health care, property tax reform and environmental protection. She has authored legislation to protect Lake Michigan, to help prevent mortgage foreclosure, and to provide automatic monthly deductions to pay property tax bills. She also has worked to pass driving legislation to ensure teens have enough training before they take to the roads.

Tallian also said she was instrumental in passing legislation last year to fix Indiana’s Unemployment Issue Trust Fund.

“In the coming years we need to work to expand the RDA, lure better paying jobs to the region, more appropriately fund our schools and tackle the growing health care and energy crises that are hurting our families,” she said.

Tallian serves as the ranking minority member on the Pensions and Labor Committee and is a member of the Appropriations, Energy and Environmental Affairs, Corrections, Criminal and Civil matters standing committees.

She has her own law practice in Portage and has served as attorney for a number of boards, including the Porter County Plan Commission. She has also worked as adjunct professor at Valparaiso University Law School where she taught insurance law and has served as president and board member of the Portage Parks Foundation, president of the Porter County League of Women Voters and as a director on the State Board of the League of Women Voters.