Representing portions of Lake and Porter Counties
Democrat – Senate District 4
Term Expires: 2010
An accomplished public servant from Northwest Indiana, State Senator Karen Tallian brings a wealth of experience to the Statehouse.
Tallian was appointed in December 2005 to fill an unexpired term and was elected to a full term in November of 2006.
Prior to joining the Senate, Tallian served her community in a variety of capacities including serving as counsel to the Porter County Planning Commission, the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Portage Township Trustees and the Portage Fire Department Merit Board. She currently practices law from her Portage office.
Tallian was an adjunct professor at Valparaiso University Law School and taught insurance law. She has also served as president and board member of the Portage Parks Foundation, president of the Porter County League of Women Voters and the Director on the State Board of the League of Women Voters. In 2008 she received the Joan Laskowski Legislator of the Year Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
Throughout her law career, Tallian has represented governmental entities and has worked extensively on water and sewer issues, zoning matters, municipal contracts and drafting ordinances. Tallian has experience in both state and federal court and holds law licenses in both Indiana and Illinois.
In the State Senate, Tallian has taken a leading role on issues important to working families, including labor issues, health care, property tax reform and environmental protection. She serves as the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s Pensions and Labor Committee and is a member of the Pension Management Oversight Committee. She is also a member of the Appropriations; Energy and Environmental Affairs; and Corrections, Criminal & Civil Matters standing committees and serves on the Civil Matters Subcommittee.
She serves as an alternate on the powerful State Budget Committee, which provides continuing legislative oversight of state budget implementation. She is also a member of the state’s Environmental Quality Service Council, which has oversight of much of the state’s environmental policy.
Tallian has also been appointed to serve on the Labor and Economic Development Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories.
A 1972 graduate of the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology, the senator’s post graduate work includes an associate’s degree from Chicago’s Harrington Institute of Design. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Valparaiso University School of Law in 1990.
Senator Tallian resides in Portage where she raised her three children. Mike is a Portage firefighter, Christopher works in Chicago and attends school and daughter Aimee is working in Montana for the National Parks Service.
More information on Senator Tallian, her initiatives and other State Senate business is available at www.IN.gov/S4. Senator Tallian can be reached at 1.800.382.9467 or by email at S4@iga.in.gov.