IndianaSB 224Second Regular Session 124th General Assembly (2026)SenateWALLET

Department of natural resources.

Sponsored By: Sponsor information unavailable

Signed by Governor

Summary

Defines various terms. Amends and removes various definitions. Makes various changes to natural resources commission procedures. Makes various changes to the department of natural resources (department) powers and duties. Removes the hometown Indiana grant program. Amends various boating and wakeboard regulations. Raises the financial threshold for certain actions in a boating accident from $750 to $2,000. Raises the financial threshold for certain actions in an off-road vehicle accident from $750 to $2,500. Establishes various restrictions on landowner liability to recreational users. Provides that various restrictions on landowner liability do not apply to a parcel of land assessed as residential land. Removes the penalty for a person who acts as a hunting guide without a guide license. Allows the division of water to perform certain functions on behalf of the natural resources commission. Requires the natural resources commission to coordinate with the department for purposes of a reporting requirement regarding conservancy districts. Establishes a consolidated chapter for river basin commission administration. Repeals existing, separate chapters for the Maumee River basin commission, the St. Joseph River basin commission, and the Upper Wabash River basin commission. Creates a new chapter for a river basin commission's conversion into a watershed development commission. Makes technical and conforming changes.

natural resourcesthe house

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

11 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 9 mixed.

Hunting guides lose one licensing penalty

Beginning July 1, 2026, the law removes the Class B infraction for acting as a hunting guide without the specified license. This repeal removes that particular penalty. It does not establish that all other licensing rules or consequences are gone.

Counties can reshape river basin boards

Beginning July 1, 2026, the law establishes Maumee, St. Joseph, and Upper Wabash river basin commissions as separate local public bodies. Counties with basin territory can join or withdraw, and each commission can sue or be sued. Each can become a watershed development commission only with every participating county executive’s approval and substantively identical county ordinances defining its watershed. Approval also requires at least two votes on each three-member county executive, a majority of commission voters, and state natural resources approval. The successor inherits property, rights, duties, and liabilities; Upper Wabash’s successor is established at its first board meeting, and the other new boards cannot meet before state approval.

Operators face updated accident reporting rules

Beginning July 1, 2026, boating accidents require reporting for injury, death, or damage meeting the greater of $2,000 or the federal boating-report database threshold. Operators must immediately notify law enforcement or natural resources dispatch and mail the department a written report within 24 hours. A separate vehicle-accident rule raises the property-damage notification threshold from $750 to $2,500. That rule still requires immediate law-enforcement notice for serious bodily injury or death. The receiving agency must complete and forward an accident report.

State burn staff gain liability protection

Beginning July 1, 2026, natural resources officers, agents, and employees receive civil-liability protection for covered prescribed-burn work. Covered work includes planning, conducting, and helping with burns. Protection also covers running the burn-certification program, including revoking certifications. Indiana’s government-liability law governs this protection, which can limit claims from people alleging harm.

Landowners get notice before floodplain inspections

River basin representatives can enter 100-year floodplain land for surveys, examinations, or investigations of suspected flood-control violations. They can cross land outside the floodplain to reach it. They must give the owner, contract purchaser, or municipal executive 21 days’ written notice. An appeal filed during that period because entry is unnecessary requires a hearing before entry. Representatives must use care to avoid damage to crops and structures.

Recreation liability shields exclude residential land

The law limits some injury and property-damage claims against owners of land not assessed as residential. It covers qualifying recreational visitors, with or without permission, who pay nothing or whose access a state or federal agency pays for. It does not protect malicious or illegal acts, or replace rules for business customers and hazards that attract children. Beginning July 1, 2026, the hunting, fishing, and trapping liability shield also excludes parcels assessed as residential. These limits protect qualifying owners but can narrow visitors’ claims.

Developers need records near burial grounds

Beginning July 1, 2026, covered development-plan applications must be filed with the state division that reviews burial-ground and cemetery projects. Applications need a signed cover letter, applicant and project details, and maps showing construction within 100 feet of burial sites. They also need burial-site history, boundary records, descriptions of adjacent grounds, and recent photos. If existing records do not show boundaries, the division can require remote sensing, archaeological work, or another approved scientific method. These steps add applicant work while supporting burial-site protection.

Counties share river basin funding costs

Beginning July 1, 2026, river basin commissions can accept government grants and appropriations, plus private funding, for their authorized work. They cannot receive funding through the Wabash River heritage corridor commission. Participating counties can budget and pay money for commission purposes. Needed county funding must be split equally or by each county’s certified land area within the basin. The law sets no total funding amount or required county payment amount.

Trappers face timed animal removal rules

Beginning July 1, 2026, owners must check traps designed to capture furbearing animals without killing within 24 hours. They must also remove trapped animals within that period. For traps designed to capture and kill, the limit is 48 hours. The Department of Natural Resources must recommend checking all these traps within 24 hours as a best practice.

Boaters need watchers for towed riders

Beginning July 1, 2026, Indiana’s boating rules cover boats, towed objects, and people being towed. Motorboats towing water skis, wakeboards, watersleds, or similar equipment must carry another person who watches the equipment or rider. That watcher must give the task full attention. The operator must focus fully on driving.

Floodplain projects face possible building limits

Beginning July 1, 2026, river basin commissions can adopt resolutions requiring new construction to hold increased runoff onsite. They can restrict construction in 100-year floodplains and allow runoff waivers for a reasonable developer fee. The Maumee commission can acquire or transfer conservation easements in basin floodplains and wetlands, including adjacent land in the same parcel. It can acquire improvements in or beside floodplains for removal. It can also own, lease, and manage property for flood mitigation, water quality, and soil conservation.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsors

There is no primary sponsor on record.

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 178 • No: 15

Senate vote • 2/27/2026

Rules Suspended. Senate concurred with House amendments

Yes: 45 • No: 4

House vote • 2/24/2026

Third reading: passed

Yes: 85 • No: 11

Senate vote • 1/29/2026

Third reading: passed

Yes: 48 • No: 0

Actions Timeline

  1. Public Law 123

    3/5/2026Senate
  2. Signed by the Governor

    3/5/2026Senate
  3. Rules Suspended. Senate concurred with House amendments; Roll Call 313: yeas 45, nays 4

    2/27/2026Senate
  4. Motion to concur filed

    2/27/2026Senate
  5. Dissent rescinded

    2/27/2026Senate
  6. Signed by the Speaker

    2/27/2026House
  7. Signed by the President of the Senate

    2/27/2026Senate
  8. Signed by the President Pro Tempore

    2/27/2026Senate
  9. House conferees appointed: Lindauer, Burton

    2/26/2026House
  10. House advisors appointed: Abbott, Hostettler, Jackson C, Novak

    2/26/2026House
  11. Senate conferees appointed: Glick, Spencer

    2/25/2026Senate
  12. Senate advisors appointed: Tomes, Yoder

    2/25/2026Senate
  13. Returned to the Senate with amendments

    2/25/2026House
  14. Senate dissented from House amendments

    2/25/2026Senate
  15. Motion to dissent filed

    2/25/2026Senate
  16. Third reading: passed; Roll Call 348: yeas 85, nays 11

    2/24/2026House
  17. Amendment #2 (Lindauer) prevailed; voice vote

    2/23/2026House
  18. Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed

    2/23/2026House
  19. Committee report: amend do pass, adopted

    2/12/2026House
  20. Representative Abbott added as cosponsor

    2/9/2026House
  21. First reading: referred to Committee on Natural Resources

    2/2/2026House
  22. Referred to the House

    1/29/2026Senate
  23. Senator Tomes added as second author

    1/29/2026Senate
  24. House sponsor: Representative Lindauer

    1/29/2026Senate
  25. Third reading: passed; Roll Call 139: yeas 48, nays 0

    1/29/2026Senate

Bill Text

  • Engrossed Senate Bill (S)

  • Enrolled Senate Bill (S)

  • Introduced Senate Bill (S)

  • Senate Bill (H)

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