---
type: "Bill"
title: "Obstruction of justice."
description: "Provides that a person commits obstruction of justice if the person induces a witness in a legal proceeding to: (1) withhold or delay producing evidence that the witness is legally required to produce; (2) avoid a subpoena or court order; (3) not appear at a proceeding to which the witness has been summoned; or (4) give a false or materially misleading statement. Provides that a person commits obstruction of justice, as a Level 5 felony, if the person induces a witness to give a false or materially misleading statement during the investigation or pendency of a domestic violence or child abuse case. Establishes a uniform definition of \"communicates\" for the criminal code. Makes other changes and conforming amendments."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 70"
citation: "Indiana SB 70 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ATTORNEYS", "CRIMES AND OFFENSES", "Offenses Against Public Administration", "WITNESSES"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Erin Houchin", "Michael Crider", "Michael Young", "Wendy McNamara"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 26
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-01-04"
last_action: "2022-03-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4b398139-c55a-4ea1-a5fb-26ac87b22fab"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2022/bills/senate/70"
source_hash: "c22e5d5472a2235e030a1d831c92846ae0cf846f49199d4cb5da54e2a1ec39d4"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-in"]
---

# Indiana SB 70 (2022) — Obstruction of justice.

Provides that a person commits obstruction of justice if the person induces a witness in a legal proceeding to: (1) withhold or delay producing evidence that the witness is legally required to produce; (2) avoid a subpoena or court order; (3) not appear at a proceeding to which the witness has been summoned; or (4) give a false or materially misleading statement. Provides that a person commits obstruction of justice, as a Level 5 felony, if the person induces a witness to give a false or materially misleading statement during the investigation or pendency of a domestic violence or child abuse case. Establishes a uniform definition of "communicates" for the criminal code. Makes other changes and conforming amendments.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Engrossed Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2022/bills/SB0070/versions/SB0070.03.ENGS)
2. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2022/bills/SB0070/versions/SB0070.05.ENRH)
3. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2022/bills/SB0070/versions/SB0070.01.INTR)
4. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2022/bills/SB0070/versions/SB0070.04.COMH)
5. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2022/bills/SB0070/versions/SB0070.02.COMS)

## Votes

- SB 70 - McNamara - 3rd Reading — **93–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Erin Houchin — primary (person)
- Michael Crider — primary (person)
- Michael Young — primary (person)
- Wendy McNamara — primary (person)
- Scott Baldwin — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2022-01-04** Authored by Senator Crider
- **2022-01-04** First reading: referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2022-01-06** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-11** Amendment #1 (Young M) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-failure, amendment-passage`
- **2022-01-11** Amendment #2 (Taylor G) failed; voice vote `amendment-failure`
- **2022-01-11** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2022-01-11** Senator Houchin added as second author
- **2022-01-18** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 16: yeas 39, nays 8 `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-01-18** House sponsor: Representative McNamara
- **2022-01-19** Referred to the House
- **2022-01-31** First reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2022-02-01** Senator Houchin removed as second author
- **2022-02-01** Senator Young M added as second author
- **2022-02-01** Senator Houchin added as third author
- **2022-02-17** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-21** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2022-02-22** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 226: yeas 93, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-23** Returned to the Senate with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2022-02-23** Motion to concur filed
- **2022-02-24** Senate concurred in House amendments; Roll Call 262: yeas 47, nays 0 `amendment-failure`
- **2022-02-28** Senator Baldwin added as coauthor
- **2022-03-01** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2022-03-04** Signed by the Speaker
- **2022-03-07** Public Law 5
- **2022-03-07** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2022-03-07** Signed by the President of the Senate

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4b398139-c55a-4ea1-a5fb-26ac87b22fab`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).