New laws will go into effect in Indiana on Sunday. While some of them have received some attention, others have been less publicized and have flown under the radar.
One that has been much discussed is the penny increase in the gasoline excise tax. This comes from a 2017 law that created a 10-cent raise then, but stipulated that the tax will increase by one cent each year until 2024.
Another new law stipulates that lights on a vehicle, the front and backup lights, must be white or amber. Also the vehicle must have two red brake lights and the light illuminating a licence plate must be white.
Yet another states that manufacturing or dealing certain controlled substances resulting in death will now be felony offences. Coroners will be required to report deaths by overdoses to the state department of health.
Local legislators said there are also some other new laws worth noting. One is the addition of children with disabilities being added to the Silver Alert program.
“It’s the same wording as a Silver Alert,” State Rep. Shane Lindauer, R-Jasper, said, “but it now includes young people with mental and physical disabilities, no matter the age. It’s certainly a good policy. It catches the people who may have fallen in the cracks.”
Also, the law regarding cases in which someone harms a woman who is pregnant was also tweaked, State Sen. Mark Messmer, R-Jasper, said. Currently, that person cannot be charged with death of a fetus because the fetus is less than 24 weeks old. Come Sunday, that age stipulation will be removed.
“Regardless of any stage of development, anyone that causes that woman to lose her baby could be charged with murder, involuntary murder, manslaughter or feticide,” Messmer said.
Another law makes it easier for law enforcement to target specific trafficking networks in arrests, and not the victims of the trafficking. “It protects people caught up in it, so that they aren’t charged when they were the ones being trafficked,” Lindauer said.
Also new on July 1, a person of any age who causes death because of driving while intoxicated can be charged with the death. The law stated the person must be 21 to be charged; now that age restriction will be removed.
“If an 18-year-old causes the death of a person because they were driving drunk, they should be charged,” Messmer said. “You would have thought that was the law already.”
Local K-12 school district budgets will be reorganized under another law that starts Sunday. The capital projects, transportation and bus replacement funds will be combined and called the Operations Fund. And the General Fund is being renamed the Education Fund and can be used for more things, so long as those things tie directly into students’ education.
“It allows local school boards to have some flexibility in their budgeting,” Lindauer said. “Boards can move money around from category to category, whether it be capital improvement projects or operating expenses. It allows for more local control.”
Another education matter will help military college students to not lose money when they are called to duty. The law requires state colleges and universities to allow the students a certain amount of time to come back and finish those classes they had to leave because they were called to duty, or be refunded the money paid for the classes.
“I think most schools are doing the right thing,” Lindauer said. “This is more of a preventive maintenance thing.”
Fire departments will also be able to offer carbon monoxide testing on vehicles. This stemmed from a case in which a driver and occupant died in a vehicle that had high levels of carbon monoxide in it, Messmer said.
“So if you want the test, the fire departments have been given the option to test your vehicle,” he said.
A broadband grant program for rural, underserved areas will also be available July 1 through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. An unserved area is one that does not have access to 10 megabits of speed.
“You might have dialup or some kind of wireless product, but if it doesn’t have the capability of 10 megabits of speed, that is an unserved area,” Messmer said.
Companies wanting to expand service to the unserved areas can apply for the grants, once money is available.
“We didn’t put much money in it yet, because this is not a budget year,” Messmer said.