INDIANAPOLIS— Legislation to ban individuals from taking pictures and videos at agricultural or industrial operations passed a House committee Thursday — but only after lawmakers made major changes.
Members of the Agricultural and Rural Development Committee amended the bill so that it no longer makes distributing the videos and pictures a crime. But it still bans taking them.
The amendment also strengthens the penalty, changing unlawful taping from a Class A infraction, similar to a traffic ticket, to a Class A misdemeanor.
Rep. Bill Friend, R-Macy, said his amendment is meant to deal with constitutional questions about the bill. House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, has said the bill — as passed by the Senate — could have run afoul of the First Amendment protections for speech and expression.
Friend said that as amended, the bill “is now silent on the dissemination or distribution” of the images.
The bill includes protections for anyone who sends the video or pictures to the police or a media outlet within 48 hours. But Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, said she and the two other Democrats who voted against the bill still have problems with it.
“There was an amendment that did help the bill, but it still does not allow the openness and freedom of expression that we feel it should,” Klinker said.
Bosma said Thursday that there’s a good chance the bill will be amended further when it reaches the House floor. He said the committee changes were “certainly a good step in the right direction.
But he said the bill still isn’t “acceptable to me personally as one member of the House.”
The bill also allows police to change an employee with a Class A misdemeanor if he or she submits a job application to a place of business with the intent to hurt that business using video and pictures.
The bill passed 9-3 and now moves to the full House.
Meth lab cars
A bill that requires dealers to disclose when a car has been used as a meth lab within the past two years moved to the governor’s desk on Thursday.
The bill is meant to protect consumers from purchasing vehicles that have been exposed to the hazardous materials used to make meth.
“If it’s manufactured in a house, it basically becomes a toxic waste site,” said the bill’s author, Sen. Joe Zakas, R-Granger. “Well, in the vehicle, it becomes a rolling toxic waste site.”
The bill requires dealers to pass the information on to the buyer before completion of the purchase. The rules would also apply to car leases.
If buyers or lessees learn the car has been used for meth and the seller did not disclose that information, they would have the right to take further action in court, either by asking for decontamination or money to cover remediation costs.
Gov. Mike Pence can sign the bill into law, veto it or let it become law without his signature.