republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2021/sb-28.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Tax sales."
description: "Prohibits a person who is delinquent in the payment of personal property taxes or is subject to an existing personal property tax judgment from bidding on or purchasing a tract at a tax sale. Prohibits a business entity from bidding on or purchasing a tract at a tax sale when a person who is prohibited from bidding on or purchasing a tract at a tax sale: (1) formed the business entity; (2) joined with another person or party to form the business entity; (3) joined the business entity as a proprietor, incorporator, partner, shareholder, director, employee, or member; (4) becomes an agent, employee, or board member of the business entity; or (5) is not an attorney at law and represents the business entity in a legal matter. Requires a person to acknowledge that providing false information relating to a prohibited bid or purchase is perjury. Creates a new section of code with revised requirements for the forfeiture of a tax sale purchase by an ineligible bidder. Requires a county treasurer, except for in a county containing a consolidated city, to pay all taxes and assessments that accrue on the tract of real estate through the time the record owner is divested of title from the tax sale surplus fund for the tract. Permits a county legislative body to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the assignment of a certificate of sale prior to the issuance of a tax title deed. Adds requirements that must be met within 150 days of the date a court grants a petition to issue a tax deed before a county auditor can issue or record a tax deed."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 28"
citation: "Indiana SB 28 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["COUNTY GOVERNMENT", "PROPERTY", "PROPERTY TAXES generally"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eddie Melton", "Harold Slager", "James Tomes", "Rick Niemeyer"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 25
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-04"
last_action: "2021-04-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bfaa56a1-53a3-4196-b9d8-a32707944242"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/senate/28"
source_hash: "45a1f26d3b2a48a86258ed0b362e2f95480e7488751fd8ea26de3805f1472606"
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 28 (2021) — Tax sales.

Prohibits a person who is delinquent in the payment of personal property taxes or is subject to an existing personal property tax judgment from bidding on or purchasing a tract at a tax sale. Prohibits a business entity from bidding on or purchasing a tract at a tax sale when a person who is prohibited from bidding on or purchasing a tract at a tax sale: (1) formed the business entity; (2) joined with another person or party to form the business entity; (3) joined the business entity as a proprietor, incorporator, partner, shareholder, director, employee, or member; (4) becomes an agent, employee, or board member of the business entity; or (5) is not an attorney at law and represents the business entity in a legal matter. Requires a person to acknowledge that providing false information relating to a prohibited bid or purchase is perjury. Creates a new section of code with revised requirements for the forfeiture of a tax sale purchase by an ineligible bidder. Requires a county treasurer, except for in a county containing a consolidated city, to pay all taxes and assessments that accrue on the tract of real estate through the time the record owner is divested of title from the tax sale surplus fund for the tract. Permits a county legislative body to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the assignment of a certificate of sale prior to the issuance of a tax title deed. Adds requirements that must be met within 150 days of the date a court grants a petition to issue a tax deed before a county auditor can issue or record a tax deed.

## 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/2021/bills/SB0028/versions/SB0028.03.ENGS)
2. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0028/versions/SB0028.05.ENRH)
3. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0028/versions/SB0028.01.INTR)
4. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0028/versions/SB0028.04.COMH)
5. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0028/versions/SB0028.02.COMS)

## Votes

- SB 28 - Slager - 3rd Reading — **93–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Eddie Melton — primary (person)
- Harold Slager — primary (person)
- James Tomes — primary (person)
- Rick Niemeyer — primary (person)
- Julie Olthoff — cosponsor (person)
- Justin Moed — cosponsor (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — coauthor (person)
- Mike Aylesworth — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-04** Authored by Senator Niemeyer
- **2021-01-04** First reading: referred to Committee on Local Government `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-18** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-22** Amendment #1 (Young M) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-failure, amendment-passage`
- **2021-02-22** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-02-22** Senator Tomes added as second author
- **2021-02-22** Senator Melton added as third author
- **2021-02-23** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 168: yeas 49, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-23** Senator Randolph added as coauthor
- **2021-02-23** House sponsor: Representative Slager
- **2021-02-23** Cosponsors: Representatives Olthoff and Aylesworth
- **2021-02-24** Referred to the House
- **2021-03-04** 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** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 285: yeas 93, nays 1 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-23** Representative Moed added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-24** Returned to the Senate with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2021-03-29** Motion to concur filed
- **2021-04-01** Senate concurred in House amendments; Roll Call 309: 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 66
- **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/bfaa56a1-53a3-4196-b9d8-a32707944242`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).