---
type: "Bill"
title: "Unlawful surveillance."
description: "Adds a prohibition against using a tracking device to the list of conditions a court may impose when issuing a protection order. Increases the penalty for stalking to a Level 5 felony if the offense is committed by means of a tracking device. Provides that a person who knowingly or intentionally places a tracking device on an individual or the individual's property without the individual's knowledge or consent commits unlawful surveillance, a Class A misdemeanor, unless certain exceptions apply, and increases the penalty to a Level 6 felony if the person is the subject of a protective order or has certain prior convictions. Establishes a sentence enhancement if a person uses a tracking device to commit or facilitate the commission of a crime."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 161"
citation: "Indiana SB 161 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CRIMES AND OFFENSES", "Offenses Against Persons", "CRIMINAL JUSTICE", "STALKING", "TELECOMMUNICATIONS", "Telephone", "Television", "Radio", "and Internet"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ed Charbonneau", "Michael Crider", "Michael Young", "Wendy McNamara"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 37
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-01-09"
last_action: "2023-05-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d567a487-1530-4ef6-8553-c0e040c4a0f0"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/senate/161"
source_hash: "ea86f9e7e352febee6466a650d9052ca390f329f3fa51dc8cabdaa5d7e548d16"
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 161 (2023) — Unlawful surveillance.

Adds a prohibition against using a tracking device to the list of conditions a court may impose when issuing a protection order. Increases the penalty for stalking to a Level 5 felony if the offense is committed by means of a tracking device. Provides that a person who knowingly or intentionally places a tracking device on an individual or the individual's property without the individual's knowledge or consent commits unlawful surveillance, a Class A misdemeanor, unless certain exceptions apply, and increases the penalty to a Level 6 felony if the person is the subject of a protective order or has certain prior convictions. Establishes a sentence enhancement if a person uses a tracking device to commit or facilitate the commission of a crime.

## Version chain

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

1. **Engrossed Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0161/versions/SB0161.05.ENGH)
2. **Engrossed Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0161/versions/SB0161.03.ENGS)
3. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0161/versions/SB0161.06.ENRH)
4. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0161/versions/SB0161.01.INTR)
5. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0161/versions/SB0161.04.COMH)
6. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0161/versions/SB0161.02.COMS)

## Votes

- SB 161 - Crider - 3rd Reading — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ed Charbonneau — primary (person)
- Michael Crider — primary (person)
- Michael Young — primary (person)
- Wendy McNamara — primary (person)
- Jerry Torr — cosponsor (person)
- John Crane — coauthor (person)
- Mitch Gore — cosponsor (person)
- Vaneta Becker — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-09** Authored by Senator Crider
- **2023-01-09** First reading: referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-23** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-27** Amendment #1 (Freeman) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-passage`
- **2023-02-27** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-02-27** Senator Charbonneau added as second author
- **2023-02-27** Senator Young M added as third author
- **2023-02-28** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 186: yeas 49, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-02-28** House sponsor: Representative McNamara
- **2023-02-28** Cosponsor: Representative Torr
- **2023-02-28** Senator Becker added as coauthor
- **2023-02-28** Senator Crane added as coauthor
- **2023-03-01** Referred to the House `referral`
- **2023-03-06** First reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-23** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2023-03-23** Representative Gore M added as cosponsor
- **2023-03-27** Amendment #1 (McNamara) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-passage`
- **2023-03-27** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-03-28** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 311: yeas 95, nays 1 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-03-29** Returned to the Senate with amendments `receipt`
- **2023-04-03** Motion to concur filed `filing`
- **2023-04-10** Concurrence withdrawn `withdrawal`
- **2023-04-12** Motion to dissent filed `filing`
- **2023-04-13** Senate dissented from House amendments
- **2023-04-14** House conferees appointed: McNamara and Gore
- **2023-04-14** House advisors appointed: Torr, Meltzer, Hatcher and Pierce M
- **2023-04-18** Senate conferees appointed: Crider and Taylor G
- **2023-04-18** Senate advisors appointed: Pol, Charbonneau and Crane
- **2023-04-20** CCR # 1 filed in the House `filing`
- **2023-04-20** CCR # 1 filed in the Senate `filing`
- **2023-04-24** Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the House; Roll Call 475: yeas 92, nays 0
- **2023-04-24** Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the Senate; Roll Call 468: yeas 45, nays 0
- **2023-04-25** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`
- **2023-04-28** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2023-05-01** Signed by the Speaker `passage`
- **2023-05-04** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-04** Public Law 172 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d567a487-1530-4ef6-8553-c0e040c4a0f0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).