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The Indiana General Assembly moved several criminal justice and court-related bills along this week, and they are getting closer to going to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk for consideration.
From funding for deputy prosecutors to how civil legal aid funding is distributed, here’s an update on the bills The Indiana Lawyer has been following this legislative session.
House action
Senate Bill 120 would require a sheriff to take a DNA sample of a person taken into custody for a felony. Would make it a Class C misdemeanor if a person refuses to provide a DNA sample to a sheriff.
The bill passed the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee unanimously on Wednesday. and awaits action by the full House.
“It came to my attention in discussion with the state police, this is one of their agency bills that there are cases where folks are refusing to submit that DNA sample,” the bill’s author Sen. Michael Crider, R-Greenfield, said in committee. “Then that leaves the sheriff with a quandary as to how to comply with statute and makes it jump through hoops to try to go get warrants and other things to try to get a person to comply.”
Senate Bill 159 would let prosecutors record requests for a warrant made by telephone, radio or other similar electronic means if a judge approves.
Currently, a judge is required to record the request.
The measure also would allow for certain warrant requests to be made electronically rather only by radio or telephone.
The bill would require the prosecuting attorney and a law enforcement agency to maintain all requests for warrants and to provide them to a defendant in discovery.
“This provides a little bit more discretion for who records that,” the bill’s sponsor Rep. Garrett Bascom, R-Lawrenceburg, said.
The bill passed the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee unanimously on Wednesday and awaits action by the full House.
Senate Bill 222 would remove the distribution formula of the civil legal aid statute and have the funds be distributed through a grant-based approach.
The bill passed the House Judiciary Committee on Monday and and awaits action by the full House.
“Moving to this grant based approach ensures accountability for service, quality, outcomes and impacts, stability for funding for civil legal assistance organizations, adaptability to address emerging needs and opportunities, coordination of services for statewide approach or statewide approach and innovation to use technology and other tools to maximize service delivery that perhaps weren’t available before,” the bill’s author Sen. Cyndi Carrasco, R-Indianapolis, said during the committee hearing.
Senate action
House Bill 1006 would establish a special prosecutor unit, a prosecutor review board and a public prosecution fund.
The bill was considered Monday by the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee but wasn’t voted on.
House Bill 1413 was also heard by the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee on Monday but wasn’t voted on.
The bill would establish a rape kit backlog fun to provide assistance to law enforcement agencies and testing labs in eliminating the backlog of untested rape kits.
“Rape kits are a difficult procedure that survivors of rape will go through in order to hold perpetrators accountable, and the least that we can do in the state of Indiana is test those kits and make sure that evidence that is collected is used in the criminal legal process,” Beth White, CEO of the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking, told the committee.
House Bill 1137 would require a court to expunge certain records related to the red flag law if the court finds that an individual is no longer dangerous as it pertains to possessing a firearm.
The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved the measure, which now heads back to the House for review.
House Bill 1626 would require a trial court to include its findings of fact and conclusions on a custody order. It would also require the appellate court to include which appellate decisions it used to rely on in affirming or reversing a custody order.
The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved the measure, which now heads back to the House for review.
House Joint Resolution 1 would amend the Indiana Constitution to open the pool of attorneys available to serve as town and city court judges.
The Indiana Constitution currently requires a city or town court judge to reside in the city where the court is located. The resolution would allow the judges to live in the county in which the town is located.
This would apply to the state’s 54 city and town court judges.
The Senate is slated to vote on the resolution on third reading at 1:30 p.m. on March 17.
The resolution passed the Legislature last year. As a constitutional amendment, it must clear two separate sessions of the General Assembly before voters get a chance to vote on the change in a referendum.
Know of a bill that should be on our radar? Contact The Indiana Lawyer reporter Alexa Shrake at [email protected].
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