COLUMBUS, Ohio—Every year, hundreds of thousands of people flock to indoor tanning salons to turn a bed into a beach.

• Women under the age of 30 are six times more likely to develop skin cancer if they tan indoors 
• About a third of them begin tanning before the age of 18
• There's a new bill at the Statehouse aimed at banning the practice for minors

“I have a wedding in 30 days,” said Teresa Redman, indoor tanner.

A quick trip to the salon can even out your base, but could come back to bite you down the road.

“Having a tan —you know, glorious golden skin — has been seen, especially among young women, and, you know, that population, as being beautiful, and yet, it comes at a great cost,” said Rep. Mary Lightbody.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, the cost of treating skin cancer resulting from indoor tanning is $343 million annually.

That leads to a total economic loss of $127 billion over the lifetime of those affected.

Studies show that using a tanning bed even once, increases your risk of developing melanoma by 20 percent.

And about a third of indoor tanners begin before the age of 18.

That’s why Representative Mary Lightbody (D-Westerville) is introducing a new bill aimed at banning tanning for those under the age of 18.

“the children in that 14-18 age group, which is gonna be the group impacted by this legislation, are not as cognizant of the long-term impacts of being in a tanning bed,” said Lightbody.

As it stands right now, those under 18 can use a tanning bed with parental permission.

Lightbody’s bill would outlaw it for anyone under 18— permission or not.

Tanning industry insiders say this idea is half-baked.

Joe Levy, of the American Suntanning Association, says he and his group plan on fighting the bill.   

“A bill like this is generally introduced by someone that’s well meaning, but doesn’t understand the nuance, or has not considered the nuance to the issue that the unintended consequences of telling parents that they are not allowed to be a part of the decision of whether their families use a sun bed in a professional setting is that people will use non-professional sunbeds that don’t fall under this regulation,” said Levy.

But regular ray-catchers have their doubts.

“I don’t think you need to start tanning super young because of the effects that it has over periods of time, but I think it’s up to each individual person,” said Redman.

Levy makes the argument that this bill will hurt small business.

“About 70 percent of the facilities are female-owned small businesses, are very legitimately small businesses,” said Levy. “So, removing a very small percentage of the clientele out of a small business like that would definitely hurt some of the smaller tanning facilities.”

But Representative Lightbody says the cost of human lives is more valuable than the cost of business.

“Not only am I aware that it can be difficult to be a small business owner this day in age, there’s lots of regulations out there, there’s lot of concerns, but honestly, whether you’re a male or a female, whether you’re a tanning bed owner or not, having the health of our kids in mind is what’s really at heart,” said Lightbody.

The bipartisan bill now heads to committee, with the hope of getting it to a vote by this fall.