---
type: "Bill"
title: "Crime of swatting."
description: "Specifies that, for purposes of the crime of false informing, hindering a \"law enforcement process\" includes causing a law enforcement officer to be dispatched. Enhances the penalty for making a false report that a person is dangerous to a Level 6 felony if the offense would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 198"
citation: "Indiana SB 198 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; Offenses Against Persons", "LAW ENFORCEMENT; Generally"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Aaron Freeman", "Andrew Ireland", "Eric Koch"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-01-08"
last_action: "2025-05-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/13cd9cac-81da-466e-9dd1-29551a468b0e"
source_url: "https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/sb0198"
source_hash: "9a5db21145e9ffd106adca80831f3e3072f9ff00712179a275fb87defd81b7ea"
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 198 (2025) — Crime of swatting.

Specifies that, for purposes of the crime of false informing, hindering a "law enforcement process" includes causing a law enforcement officer to be dispatched. Enhances the penalty for making a false report that a person is dangerous to a Level 6 felony if the offense would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened.

## 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/124/2025/senate/bills/SB0198/SB0198.04.ENRH.pdf)
2. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/senate/bills/SB0198/SB0198.01.INTR.pdf)
3. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/senate/bills/SB0198/SB0198.02.COMS.pdf)
4. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/senate/bills/SB0198/SB0198.03.COMH.pdf)

## Votes

- SB 198 - Ireland - 3rd Reading — **95–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 198 - Freeman — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 198 - Freeman - 3rd Reading — **47–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Aaron Freeman — primary (person)
- Andrew Ireland — primary (person)
- Eric Koch — primary (person)
- James Buck — coauthor (person)
- Jim Lucas — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-08** Authored by Senator Freeman
- **2025-01-08** First reading: referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2025-02-04** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-06** Senator Koch added as second author
- **2025-02-10** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2025-02-11** House sponsor: Representative Ireland
- **2025-02-11** Senator Buck added as coauthor
- **2025-02-11** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 100: yeas 47, nays 1 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2025-02-12** Referred to the House `referral`
- **2025-03-03** First reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2025-03-20** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-24** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2025-03-24** Representative Lucas added as cosponsor
- **2025-03-26** Returned to the Senate with amendments `receipt`
- **2025-03-25** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 309: yeas 95, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2025-04-10** Motion to concur filed `filing`
- **2025-04-16** Senate concurred with House amendments; Roll Call 456: yeas 34, nays 0
- **2025-04-17** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`
- **2025-04-22** Signed by the Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-23** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2025-05-01** Public Law 129 `became-law`
- **2025-05-01** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/13cd9cac-81da-466e-9dd1-29551a468b0e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).