Following false police reports against State Senators amid the mid-census redistricting at the end of last year, a bill has been filed to hold people who commit doxing to face criminal charges.
Doxing is when a person knowingly or intentionally posts information, like an address or phone number, of a targeted person in retaliation. Under Senate Bill 140, authored by State Sen. Vaneta Becker, doxing will become a Class A misdemeanor and a Level 6 felony if the posting of the personal information results in the targeted person or someone closely connected to the person suffering serious injury or death.
Under the bill, doxing would become a Level 5 felony if the posting of personal information of a specific person or someone close to the targeted person results in catastrophic injury or death.
Becker, R-Evansville, said in committee Tuesday she filed the bill because of what many State Senators experienced with doxing and swatting, or false police reports to generate a large law enforcement response, amid the state’s discussion around mid-census redistricting.
In November, Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, announced he would cancel the early December session to take up mid-census redistricting because the chamber did not have the votes to pass the measure.
Two days after the cancellation announcement, President Donald Trump issued a statement on his social media site Truth Social, calling out “RINO” Bray and Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, “for not wanting to redistrict their state, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats.”
Hours after Trump posted his comment, Goode received a swatting call. After Organization Day, when the Senate voted to reconvene in January, six more State Senators – Dan Dernulc, Spencer Deery, Ric Niemeyer, Kyle Walker, Linda Rogers and Andy Zay – received swatting calls.
The Trump administration asked Republican state leaders to redraw Congressional maps to ensure a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 election.
Mid-census redistricting conversations and actions began in August when Texas redrew its Congressional map to give Republicans five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In response, Democratic states, like California, have taken steps to redistrict to gain Democratic seats.
Since August, Trump administration officials have met with Indiana Republican legislators to talk to them about mid-census redistricting.
Ultimately, the Indiana legislature met in early December to take up redistricting. The measure passed the House, in a 57-41 vote, but failed in the Senate with 31 senators voting against and 19 voting in favor.
Committee Chair State Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, said “there is a lot of benefit” to two people who disagree on something having a conversation about it.
“How anybody is 45 years old, living in their mother’s basement, and never having a relationship with anybody and getting on a computer and doing this stuff, swatting on down is the most egregious thing,” Freeman said. “Can we be adults about this?”
If someone disagrees with him, Freeman said they should come to the statehouse to talk to him.
“I am a big boy with broad shoulders. I’m good. I’m not hiding from anybody,” Freeman said.
Zack Stock, legislative counsel for the Indiana Public Defender Council, said the organization is neutral on the bill. While doxing could be addressed under intimidation, “this is a kind of new thing,” Stock said.
“It’s unacceptable,” Stock said.
Madison West, with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Indianapolis, said the organization supports the bill because antisemitism is on the rise, in part through the use of doxing.
“Senate Bill 140 is narrowly tailored, protects free speech, and provides an important tool to address this issue,” West said.
Freeman said the bill will be discussed further next week.
akukulka@post-trib.com
