republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2021/sb-218.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Township homeless assistance."
description: "Establishes the low barrier homeless shelter task force. Beginning July 1, 2022: (1) allows a township trustee to place a homeless individual temporarily in a county home or provide temporary township assistance; and (2) requires the township trustees within a county to collaborate and prepare a list of public and private resources available to the homeless population that is distributed and published on the county's Internet web site, if the county has a web site, not later than March 1 of each year. Provides that a person commits the offense of criminal trespass if: (1) the person, who does not have a contractual interest in the property, knowingly or intentionally enters or refuses to leave the property of another person after having been prohibited from entering or asked to leave the property by a law enforcement officer when the property is designated by a municipality or county enforcement authority to be an unsafe building or premises; or (2) the person knowingly or intentionally enters the property of another person after being denied entry by a court order that has been issued to the person or issued to the general public by conspicuous posting on or around the premises in areas where a person can observe the order when the property has been designated by a municipality or county enforcement authority to be an unsafe building or premises; unless the person has the written permission of the owner, the owner's agent, an enforcement authority, or a court to come onto the property for purposes of performing maintenance, repair, or demolition. Provides that an individual who harasses another person with the intent to obtain property from the other person commits aggressive harassment, a Class C misdemeanor. Defines \"harasses\". Repeals the chapter concerning panhandling."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 218"
citation: "Indiana SB 218 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["HOMELESS", "TOWNSHIPS AND TOWNSHIP OFFICERS", "WELFARE", "Poor Relief"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jack Sandlin", "Jim Pressel", "Rick Niemeyer"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 27
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-07"
last_action: "2021-04-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/36e08935-1c15-48a7-ae56-c62cc75b3e1a"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/senate/218"
source_hash: "e0801f864b6ff805dee1b215c51b7a738a6eaff2c38ce172993e98cddbd68c95"
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 218 (2021) — Township homeless assistance.

Establishes the low barrier homeless shelter task force. Beginning July 1, 2022: (1) allows a township trustee to place a homeless individual temporarily in a county home or provide temporary township assistance; and (2) requires the township trustees within a county to collaborate and prepare a list of public and private resources available to the homeless population that is distributed and published on the county's Internet web site, if the county has a web site, not later than March 1 of each year. Provides that a person commits the offense of criminal trespass if: (1) the person, who does not have a contractual interest in the property, knowingly or intentionally enters or refuses to leave the property of another person after having been prohibited from entering or asked to leave the property by a law enforcement officer when the property is designated by a municipality or county enforcement authority to be an unsafe building or premises; or (2) the person knowingly or intentionally enters the property of another person after being denied entry by a court order that has been issued to the person or issued to the general public by conspicuous posting on or around the premises in areas where a person can observe the order when the property has been designated by a municipality or county enforcement authority to be an unsafe building or premises; unless the person has the written permission of the owner, the owner's agent, an enforcement authority, or a court to come onto the property for purposes of performing maintenance, repair, or demolition. Provides that an individual who harasses another person with the intent to obtain property from the other person commits aggressive harassment, a Class C misdemeanor. Defines "harasses". Repeals the chapter concerning panhandling.

## Version chain

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

1. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0218/versions/SB0218.04.ENRH)
2. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0218/versions/SB0218.01.INTR)
3. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0218/versions/SB0218.03.COMH)
4. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0218/versions/SB0218.02.COMS)

## Votes

- SB 218 - Pressel - 3rd Reading — **92–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jack Sandlin — primary (person)
- Jim Pressel — primary (person)
- Rick Niemeyer — primary (person)
- Cindy Ledbetter — cosponsor (person)
- Dennis Zent — cosponsor (person)
- Fady Qaddoura — coauthor (person)
- Justin Moed — cosponsor (person)
- Maureen Bauer — cosponsor (person)
- Timothy Lanane — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-07** Authored by Senator Sandlin
- **2021-01-07** First reading: referred to Committee on Local Government `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-11** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-15** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-02-16** House sponsor: Representative Pressel
- **2021-02-16** Senator Niemeyer added as second author
- **2021-02-16** Senator Lanane added as coauthor
- **2021-02-16** Senator Qaddoura added as coauthor
- **2021-02-16** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 127: yeas 46, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-17** Referred to the House
- **2021-03-01** First reading: referred to Committee on Local Government `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-18** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-22** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-03-23** Representative Zent added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-23** Representative Moed added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-23** Representative Bauer M added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-29** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 314: yeas 92, nays 1 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-29** Rule 105.1 suspended
- **2021-03-29** Representative Ledbetter C added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-30** Returned to the Senate with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2021-03-31** Motion to concur filed
- **2021-04-01** Senate concurred in House amendments; Roll Call 317: yeas 48, nays 0 `amendment-failure`
- **2021-04-12** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2021-04-13** Signed by the Speaker
- **2021-04-19** Public Law 75
- **2021-04-19** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-04-19** 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/36e08935-1c15-48a7-ae56-c62cc75b3e1a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).