The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 261 on criminal vandalism sponsored by Rep. Bascom and authored by Sen. Young and Sen. Freeman. The bill renames the crime of “criminal mischief” to “criminal vandalism.” The bill also repeals: (1) institutional criminal mischief; (2) cemetery mischief; (3) railroad mischief; and (4) critical infrastructure facility mischief; places them in the “criminal vandalism” statute and preserves the original penalties and defenses. Additionally, the bill repeals and places provisions involving damage to a cave in the criminal vandalism statute, and repeals and places provisions involving depositing refuse in a cave in the littering statute.
The Indiana Public Defender Council testified in support of the bill. The bill passed 13-0.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/senate/261