---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal vandalism."
description: "Renames the crime of \"criminal mischief\" to \"criminal vandalism\". Repeals: (1) institutional criminal mischief; (2) cemetery mischief; (3) railroad mischief; and (4) critical infrastructure facility mischief; places them in the \"criminal vandalism\" statute, and preserves the original penalties and defenses. Repeals and places provisions involving damage to a cave in the criminal vandalism statute. Repeals and places provisions involving depositing refuse in a cave in the littering statute. Makes conforming amendments."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 261"
citation: "Indiana SB 261 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; Creation of New Offenses", "CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; Offenses Against Persons", "CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; Offenses Against Property", "CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; Offenses Against Public Health", "Order", "and Decency", "NATURAL RESOURCES; Generally", "PROPERTY; Generally"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Aaron Freeman", "Garrett Bascom", "Michael Young", "Scott Baldwin"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 23
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-08"
last_action: "2026-03-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f5394e07-7e8b-4b25-8a15-40ae57cff2a1"
source_url: "https://api.iga.in.gov/2026/bills/sb0261"
source_hash: "1db021a18353305e793f8c91fd51a2257d6c33cba1db6eebbbdfb27646e38aad"
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 261 (2026) — Criminal vandalism.

Renames the crime of "criminal mischief" to "criminal vandalism". Repeals: (1) institutional criminal mischief; (2) cemetery mischief; (3) railroad mischief; and (4) critical infrastructure facility mischief; places them in the "criminal vandalism" statute, and preserves the original penalties and defenses. Repeals and places provisions involving damage to a cave in the criminal vandalism statute. Repeals and places provisions involving depositing refuse in a cave in the littering statute. Makes conforming amendments.

## Version chain

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

1. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2026/senate/bills/SB0261/SB0261.04.ENRH.pdf)
2. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2026/senate/bills/SB0261/SB0261.01.INTR.pdf)
3. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2026/senate/bills/SB0261/SB0261.02.COMS.pdf)
4. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2026/senate/bills/SB0261/SB0261.03.COMH.pdf)

## Votes

- SB 261 - Bascom - 3rd Reading — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 261 - Young M - 3rd Reading — **47–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Aaron Freeman — primary (person)
- Garrett Bascom — primary (person)
- Michael Young — primary (person)
- Scott Baldwin — primary (person)
- Andrew Ireland — cosponsor (person)
- Rodney Pol — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-08** First reading: referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2026-01-08** Authored by Senator Young M
- **2026-01-22** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-26** Senator Freeman added as second author
- **2026-01-26** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-01-28** House sponsor: Representative Bascom
- **2026-01-28** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 126: yeas 47, nays 1 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2026-01-28** Cosponsor: Representative Ireland
- **2026-01-28** Representative Ireland removed as sponsor
- **2026-01-28** Senator Baldwin added as third author
- **2026-01-28** Senator Pol added as coauthor
- **2026-01-28** House sponsor: Representative Ireland
- **2026-01-29** Referred to the House `referral`
- **2026-02-02** First reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2026-02-18** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-23** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-02-24** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 352: yeas 97, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2026-02-25** Returned to the Senate without amendments `receipt`
- **2026-02-27** Signed by the Speaker `passage`
- **2026-02-27** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-02-27** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`
- **2026-03-05** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-03-05** Public Law 132 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f5394e07-7e8b-4b25-8a15-40ae57cff2a1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).