The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard SB 198 concerning domestic battery authored by Sen. Crider. The author explained that this bill is a recodification bill attempting to clean up the domestic violence statutes and make them more usable and does not substantively alter the domestic violence laws. It specifically removes the sentencing enhancement for battery committed against a family or household member in the presence of a child from the battery statute and places it in the domestic battery statute and specifies that numerous provisions in the battery statute constitute domestic battery if they are committed against a family or household member.
A technical amendment was adopted by consent. A representative from the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence testified in support of the bill. The bill passed as amended 9-0.
Read the bill at https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2016/bills/senate/198