A database of Indiana properties that have not been decontaminated following meth manufacturing should finally be available to the public on July 1.
However, that is not all that a bill passed this spring and signed into law by Gov. Mike Pence will do.
Real estate sales disclosure statements also would have to give notice if meth had been manufactured at a residence, even if the property has been cleaned.
In additition, the law allows courts to impose restitution when sentencing a person for making meth on someone else’s property in misdemeanor and felony cases.
“People who are manufacturing this meth don’t really care where they are and cleanup can be expensive,” said state Rep. Wendy McNamara (R-Mount Vernon), who sponsored the bill.
Currently, civil legal action is the only recourse for property owners and local governments seeking compensations for those cleanup costs.
The law will finally make good an effort to establish the Internet accessible registry by shifting responsibility for it from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute to the Indiana State Police, McNamara said.
McNamara said the database will list the houses and apartments used to make meth until the properties have been certified as decontaminated. In addition, she said the public will be able to link to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management website to download the certifications detailing a property’s decontamination.
McNamara said the state police methamphetamine suppression unit already maintains the information so funding for it is in place.
“Yes, we will be ready to go July 1,” said Indiana State Police Sgt. Niki Crawford.
Crawford said the state police databases already contains nearly 10,000 records but that she was not sure how many of those met the new statute’s definition of a property.
McNamara expected a link to the database to be made public after a ceremonial signing of the law by Pence on June 17.
Owners will have 180 days to clean up a property before it is added the list. It must be removed from the list within 90 days of decontamination. In cases of multi-unit apartment complexes, only the specific apartment where a meth lab was located can be listed.
Kevin Eastridge, president of FC Tucker Emge Realtors, said Realtors are often just as in the dark about property’s meth lab histories as anybody else.
“This certainly helps. We may walk into a house and nobody knows it is not contaminated from meth. That’s a bad situation,” he said.