The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 60 on out of state sex or violent offenders, sponsored by Rep. McNamara and Rep. Washburne. The bill provides that a failure to register as a sex or violent offender for an offense originating from another jurisdiction is a Level 5 felony in certain instances. The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council testified in support of the … [Read more...] about Out of state sex or violent offenders
Sentence modification
The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 64 on sentence modification, sponsored by Rep. Washburne. The bill requires a court to advise a defendant, before accepting a guilty plea, that the court will be bound by terms of a plea agreement both at the time of sentencing and with respect to sentence modification. The bill also provides that a court may not, without the … [Read more...] about Sentence modification
Controlled substances
The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 74 on controlled substances, sponsored by Rep. Steuerwald. The bill adds the substance Mexedrone to the definition of "synthetic drug" and adds additional controlled substances to the existing statutory list of depressants, hallucinogens, and opiates classified as schedule I. The bill was amended by consent to add additional … [Read more...] about Controlled substances
Specialized driving privileges
The House Judiciary Committee heard SB 98 sponsored by Rep. Steuerwald on specialized driving privileges. The bill provides that an individual's specialized driving privileges expire at the time the suspension of the individual's driving privileges is terminated if: (1) the underlying conviction, charge, adjudication, or determination that forms the basis of the suspension is … [Read more...] about Specialized driving privileges
Civil forfeiture
The House Judiciary Committee heard SB 99 sponsored by Rep. Steuerwald on civil forfeiture. The introduced version of this bill was prepared by the interim study committee on Courts and the Judiciary in response to a federal court decision (Washington v. Marion County) declaring Indiana’s forfeiture process unconstitutional for lack of due process. The bill: requires the pro … [Read more...] about Civil forfeiture