The Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law heard SB 119 on grooming authored by Sen. Dernulc. The bill adds that a sexually violent predator or an offender against children may not work, volunteer, or enter a facility or event that provides entertainment or programming primarily directed toward a child less than 18 years of age. Additionally, this bill renames the offense of “inappropriate communication with a child” to “sexual grooming,” and provides (in addition to the current elements of the offense) that a person commits the offense if the person engages in a pattern of repeated or continuous contact with an individual whom the person believes to be a child less than 14 years of age, with the intent to make the individual less resistant to future sexual conduct.
The Committee amended the bill by consent to remove and replace the language of knowingly or intentionally and remove a reference to “unlawful” sexual conduct.
The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault, American Family Association of Indiana, Raindrops Rising Foundation, and a member of the public testified in support of the bill. The Indiana Public Defender Council testified and is neutral to the bill. Indiana Voices and a member of the public testified in opposition to the bill. The amended bill passed 8-0.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/senate/119