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Indiana lawmakers on Monday voted along party lines to advance a bill that bans camping on public property, keeping the legislation alive beyond a mid-session deadline.
Legislators on the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee voted 9-4, with all Democrats in opposition, to advance House Bill 1662. Opponents say the bill, tied to a Texas-based think tank, would criminalize homelessness and create additional barriers for those living unsheltered.
Bill author Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, called it “a proactive approach for people who are visibly struggling on our sidewalks and public property, rather than one that lets them remain in dangerous circumstances.”
The bill says law enforcement may warn a person sleeping on a street or a sidewalk in the first instance of a violation and then charge them with a Class C misdemeanor if they’re found at that location more than 24 hours later. The charge carries a maximum punishment of 60 days in jail.
The bill also allows police officers to provide alternative aid instead of a citation or arrest.
About two dozen people testified on the legislation throughout two meetings of the committee. Just three people spoke in support, including a lobbyist from the Indiana Restaurant and Lobbying Association.
Patrick Tamm, president and CEO of the organization, said members see it as a public safety and public health issue. Tamm said the organization is supportive of the city’s work to build a low-barrier homeless shelter, and that homelessness is a “very serious issue” with causes that “are very significant and should not be ignored.”
“At the same time, individuals that are on the streets doing the wrong things, creating disturbances, we should hold them accountable,” Tamm said.
Rep. Davis said critics of the bill “fear mass arrest will happen” but noted that in Kentucky, which passed a similar measure into law last year, only five people have been charged with a misdemeanor for public camping out of the hundreds of interactions with law enforcement.
Despite that provision, the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association testified against the bill due to the strain additional arrests could put on jail populations.
Mike Biberstine, a lobbyist for the association, told the committee the measure places a burden on county jails and is contrary to recent steps by the Legislature to divert people from entering the criminal justice system.
In explaining their “yes” votes, several Republican lawmakers indicated that some issues still exist within the bill. Reps. Michael Karickhoff, R-Kokomo, and Alaina Shonkwiler, R-Noblesville, said some of the language may need to be tweaked in the Senate. Rep. David Abbott, R-Rome City, said he recognized the concerns of the homelessness advocates who came to speak, but that he believes “what we’ve done so far is not working to the full extent that it should.”
The vote occurred after several people who work with the homeless or were homeless themselves gave passionate testimony.
Dawn Baldwin, a college graduate with a degree in aeronautical engineering and technology, lost everything due to a psychotic break associated with schizoaffective disorder. She spent a decade homeless in Lafayette.
“I started self-medicating to calm my visual and auditory hallucinations. I lost almost everything in the blink of an eye and became a full-blown alcoholic,” Baldwin testified. “I had difficulty staying in the shelters because of my mental health. There were several times that I was not able to stay in the shelter because the shelter was at capacity.”
Baldwin, who has now been housed for six years, noted that she lives within 50 yards of a shelter.
“Homelessness is ugly. I get it,” Baldwin said. However, she said it should be addressed by local law enforcement instead of state law.
Rep. John Bartlett, D-Indianapolis, offered an amendment that would have instead created a study committee on homelessness in Indiana. It failed with a 9-4 party-line vote, with Republicans voting against it.
The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
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These people clearly need help but the answer can’t be parking, camping or dumping on public land, all of those are illegal. I would recommend anyone to drive down pleasant run from the criminal justice center to fountain square and let me know that this is acceptable. Go drive or bike over by the river and see the amount of trash and filth these groups generated. These people need help and the cleanup along the public waterways, lands and trails is going to take at least a decade.
You should see some of the mess that’s been left after they’ve disbanded the homeless camps on the east side. They’ve had to bring dump trucks in and front end loaders to load up the stuff and haul it away.
They don’t want help. The people that need help are the ones that have to deal with them, which is why we need new laws/ordinances that have consequences
Have you seen the trash and dumping on public land by people who have homes, but decide to throw trash out their car windows and dump trash where they want?
I actually haven’t seen much of this, though the rising tide of litter suggests this is probably happening like crazy. Many of the intersection beggars almost definitely have homes and are making this their income source, and they tend to trash things up at their preferred junction. Cite them for it. Beyond that, people with homes and cars tend to litter quickly and secretly.
Meanwhile, most of us HAVE seen the homeless junkies doing this. In fact, it’s their habitat. Further proof that the solution isn’t housing for 95% of them. Give them a Jimmy Carter home and they’ll trash that within three weeks as well. They are addicts; they’re addiction got them where they are, and their inability to adapt to basic norms of civilized society are why laws like this will be necessary.
Public littering is very hard to punish because it’s so difficult to trace to its source…unless the source is living amidst the filth that he or she generates. Bring back the mental health institutions and treat these people of their addictions, so they can return to a life with dignity.
That would take money, Lauren, money that simply won’t be spent.