The House Courts and Criminal Code committee passed three amendments to the doxing bill before passing it Wednesday.
Doxing is when a person who knowingly or intentionally posts information, like an address or a phone number, of a targeted person in retaliation. Under Senate Bill 140, authored by State Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, 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.
The charge could rise to a Level 5 felony if the posting of personal information of a specific person or someone close to the targeted person experienced catastrophic injury or death.
The bill was amended in the Senate to include language about the intent of doxing as the crime.
The House Courts and Criminal Code committee approved three amendments to the bill related to drone use, the posting of personal information, and railroad crew members.
The drone amendment states that if someone operates a drone over someone else’s property with the intent to harass, disturb or injure an animal; dump a substance from the drone; or fly the drone into a building on the property, it would be a Level 6 felony.
The language of the amendment was taken from House Bill 1064, authored by State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer, which didn’t advance into the second half of session, said amendment author State Rep. Alex Zimmerman, R-North Vernon.
Zimmerman offered another amendment that would link doxing with intimidation and require that more than one piece of personal information would have to be posted to prove the intent of doxing. If a state legislator is the subject of doxing, the amendment states that the person posting the information would face a Level 5 felony.
State Rep. Mitch Gore, D-Indianapolis, offered an amendment to state that a railroad crew member’s personal information is redacted from railroad fatality reports.
When a railroad crew member is involved in a fatality, Gore said the crew member’s information is reported in a police report. From the police report, Gore said the crew member could take a hit on his or her car insurance and could face harassment from a victim’s family.
State Rep. Andrew Ireland, R-Indianapolis, said he was concerned about the railroad amendment because some fatalities could’ve been due to negligence of the railroad company or the railroad crew but that information would be redacted.
“It’s a little concerning. I understand the underlying intent here, and I don’t think that’s what you’re trying to get at, but I think the way it’s written we risk that here,” Ireland said.
Gore said railroad accidents are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and redacted police reports wouldn’t impede the investigation.
State Rep. Stephen Bartels, R-Eckerty, asked if the railroad engineer or crews involved in a fatality that doesn’t involve a train — for example driving a work vehicle along the track — would be impacted by the amendment.
Gore said under the amendment a railroad fatality doesn’t include a situation where a crew member was driving a company vehicle.
“The intent is however many members of the crew, the engineers or the operators, essentially inside the engine is the goal there,” Gore said.
All three amendments passed by consent, with Gore stating he was open to cleaning up the language of his amendment when it’s heard on second reading by the House.
The committee passed the amended bill 13-0. It moves forward for consideration by the House.
Becker, the bill author, presented the bill to the committee on Feb. 4 and said she filed the bill because of the threats against state senators amid the mid-census redistricting discussions last year.
State Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, received the worst of the threats, Becker said. Goode was upstairs taking a shower and his wife and son were downstairs taking out Christmas decorations when police knocked down the front door because a report was made that Goode had murdered his wife, Becker said.
“You could imagine what could’ve happened in that particular case,” Becker said.
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 Goode, “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 false swatting call. After Organization Day, when the Senate voted to reconvene in January, at least seven more State Senators — Dan Dernulc, Spencer Deery, Rick Niemeyer, Kyle Walker, Greg 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.
Ultimately, the Indiana legislature met in early December to take up redistricting. The measure passed the House, but failed in the Senate.
Miriam Dant, representing the Anti-Defamation League, testified in support of the doxing bill before the committee on Feb. 4. The organization supports the bill “because it will serve as a critical measure to combat the growing use of doxing here in Indiana.”
“It sends a clear message that when a person intentionally disseminates another individual’s personal, identifying information to subject them or their family to serious harm there is a clear legal consequence. At the same time, the bill appropriately protects free speech while targeting criminal intent,” Dant said.
