All Roll Calls
Yes: 178 • No: 15
Sponsored By: Sponsor information unavailable
Signed by Governor
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.
Personalized for You
Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
11 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 9 mixed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There is no primary sponsor on record.
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
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
Public Law 123
Signed by the Governor
Rules Suspended. Senate concurred with House amendments; Roll Call 313: yeas 45, nays 4
Motion to concur filed
Dissent rescinded
Signed by the Speaker
Signed by the President of the Senate
Signed by the President Pro Tempore
House conferees appointed: Lindauer, Burton
House advisors appointed: Abbott, Hostettler, Jackson C, Novak
Senate conferees appointed: Glick, Spencer
Senate advisors appointed: Tomes, Yoder
Returned to the Senate with amendments
Senate dissented from House amendments
Motion to dissent filed
Third reading: passed; Roll Call 348: yeas 85, nays 11
Amendment #2 (Lindauer) prevailed; voice vote
Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed
Committee report: amend do pass, adopted
Representative Abbott added as cosponsor
First reading: referred to Committee on Natural Resources
Referred to the House
Senator Tomes added as second author
House sponsor: Representative Lindauer
Third reading: passed; Roll Call 139: yeas 48, nays 0
Engrossed Senate Bill (S)
Enrolled Senate Bill (S)
Introduced Senate Bill (S)
Senate Bill (H)
SB 239, Various education matters.
Requires the department of education (department) to: (1) compile a list of business and industry partners that provide guaranteed incentives to high school students who earn the honors employment plus seal; and (2) publish the list on the department's website. Provides that, in addition to conditions established in current law to convert an existing public elementary or secondary school, an existing public elementary or secondary school may be converted into a charter school if certain other conditions apply. Allows, if the conditions are met, the governing body of a school corporation to: (1) convert more than one existing public elementary or secondary school within the school corporation; and (2) operate two or more conversion charter schools under a single charter. Allows participating innovation network charter schools to enter into an agreement with more than one school corporation. Establishes the following for or with regard to participating innovation network charter schools that entered into an agreement with more than one school corporation: (1) Requirements regarding the location of a participating innovation network charter school. (2) Terms of a participating innovation network charter school agreement. (3) Duties of the department. Amends certain requirements and procedures that apply to the closure and transfer of covered school buildings. Provides that a lease or sale of a covered school building to a charter school or state educational institution includes certain assets. Requires parental notification if a school determines a student is at risk of not achieving grade level proficiency in mathematics.
SB 204, Various education matters.
Provides that an individual who has obtained a license to teach in a charter school may be eligible to obtain an initial practitioner professional educator license under certain conditions. Removes a requirement that an individual must hold a bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics as a component of certain pathways to receive an initial practitioner license. Provides that academic needs based salary increases may not: (1) apply to all eligible teachers in a bargaining unit uniformly; or (2) be based on certain other factors. Repeals the: (1) state educational institution (institution) annual report to the legislative council (council) and commission for higher education (commission) concerning financial aid; (2) commission report to the general assembly concerning certain institution information; (3) student athlete cardiac arrest provisions; and (4) Ivy Tech Community College report to the budget committee concerning campus information. Expires certain physical facilities reporting requirements on June 30, 2029. Provides that a state educational institution that has been denied approval to continue a degree program may: (1) permit students to enroll in the degree program until June 1 of the year following the denial; and (2) provide students enrolled in the degree program with the opportunity to finish their degree prior to the degree program's closure. Requires the commission to submit an annual report concerning degree program closures to the general assembly. Changes the reporting of disclosable gifts to January 31 and July 31 of a given year (current law requires disclosure on January 1 and July 1 of a given year). Changes certain amounts concerning construction, land purchases, and repair and rehabilitation by an institution to $3,000,000. Voids a provision in the Indiana Administrative Code. Requires each institution to submit a report annually to the budget committee and the commission for higher education listing certain capital projects for the immediately preceding full calendar year that did not receive review by the commission. Specifies the contents of the report. Provides that a student enrolled in a health profession education program may not be required to receive an immunization as a condition of: (1) participating in; or (2) obtaining; clinical training or clinical experience required by the program if a parent of the student or student objects on religious grounds. Adds requirements regarding the principles of the core transfer library.
SB 179, Indiana department of transportation.
Allows the Indiana department of transportation (department) to assume the responsibilities and duties of the United States Department of Transportation with respect to certain federal environmental laws. Provides that the department waives its civil immunity and consents to the jurisdiction of the federal courts for responsibilities and duties assumed under certain federal environmental laws. Amends language regarding a local unit's eligibility for: (1) a grant from the local road and bridge matching grant fund (fund); and (2) a distribution from the fund based on the local unit's share of total lane mileage. Provides limitations for an overweight truck permit that is issued for a single trip. Provides for the use of the Indiana Plane Coordinate System as a means to describe real property. Provides that the department may give preference in awarding grants from the fund to local units that have adopted an enhanced asset management plan. Provides that a county may impose a vehicle excise tax or wheel tax on a vehicle that is registered in the county and not registered in a municipality in the county where a vehicle excise tax or wheel tax went into effect after December 31, 2026. Amends certain requirements for township capital improvement plans.
SB 185, Alcohol and tobacco matters.
Specifies, with respect to a tobacco sales certificate (certificate), that a permitted premises may not include sleeping or living quarters. Provides that a person may not sell a tobacco product or electronic cigarette at wholesale without a certificate. Adds additional information an applicant must provide to the alcohol and tobacco commission (commission) when applying for a certificate. Provides, with one exception, that the commission shall not issue a certificate to a retail location where a certificate was revoked within one year prior to the application. Specifies the circumstances under which the commission must either suspend or revoke a certificate if the certificate holder's employees violate employee identification requirements three or more times in one year. Makes it a Class C infraction for a certificate holder or employee to violate particular identification requirements. Modifies the application of certain statutes concerning vapor pens and e-liquid. Establishes various requirements and penalties applicable to e-liquid, e-liquid products, and vapor devices, including restrictions on the manufacture, sourcing, possession, sale, and distribution of foreign adversary products. Specifies that certain provisions concerning vapor pens and e-liquid do not authorize the manufacturing, sale, possession, or use of a controlled substance or any product containing a controlled substance. Amends the requirements for an initial and renewal application to manufacture e-liquids or e-liquid products. Requires, in a provision concerning the sale of cigarettes, that a buydown be considered in determining the cost to the retailer or cost to the distributor. Specifies an exception. Adds the sale of alcohol without a permit to the violations which may constitute racketeering activity. Changes the infraction of the habitual illegal sale of tobacco products from six violations in a year to three violations in a year. Changes the infraction of the habitual illegal entrance by a minor from six violations to three violations in a year. Specifies that a prohibition on the sale, use, or distribution of flavored nitrous oxide does not apply to a law enforcement agency disposing of flavored nitrous oxide by donation to a nonprofit organization.
SB 80, Code publication.
Addresses unresolved amend-repeal conflicts created during the 2025 legislative session. Repeals and relocates the specific definitions chapters for organization of defined terms by alphabetical order and to provide for future expansion of those chapters. Makes conforming cross-reference updates. Resolves technical conflicts between SB 80-2025 and HB 1088-2025 (the annual Technical Corrections bill) and technical conflicts between various enrolled acts passed during the 2026 legislative session. Makes no substantive change to law.
HB 1424, Farm and homestead food sales.
Allows the executive board of the Indiana department of health to adopt rules concerning time temperature control for food safety, but provides that the rules may not be applied to a homestead vendor or small farm vendor. Provides that homestead vendors and small farm vendors are exempt from specified health regulations applicable to food establishments. Provides that the Indiana department of health, a local unit of government, the health and hospital corporation of Marion County, or a local health department may not impose any rules, regulations, certifications, or licensing requirements on a homestead vendor or small farm vendor that are not required under federal law, but may investigate complaints against a homestead vendor or small farm vendor regarding a foodborne illness derived from the homestead vendor's or small farm vendor's food products. Permits homestead vendors and small farm vendors to sell specified meat products and other foods from: (1) the property of the homestead vendor or small farm vendor; or (2) a farmers market. Requires a homestead vendor or small farm vendor to provide consumers with specified information regarding the homestead vendor's or small farm vendor's food products through signage or labeling. Provides for conditions under which a homestead vendor or small farm vendor may ship or deliver a food product directly to a consumer. Imposes handling, refrigeration, transportation, and storage requirements for homestead vendor and small farm vendor food products. Provides that public buildings used by homestead vendors and small farm vendors are exempt from certain public building and safety regulations. Provides that buildings, structures, or stands used for sale of homestead vendor or small farm vendor food products are subject to specified fire safety, building, and equipment laws.