Notification bill advances

INDIANAPOLIS — A bill regarding notification following accidents is headed to the full House.

State Rep. J.D. Prescott’s House Bill 1012 that would require property owners to be notified following a motor vehicle accident on their property unanimously cleared the House Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee with one amendment Tuesday.

Prescott, who represents the southern two-thirds of Jay County as well as all or part of Randolph, Blackford, Delaware and Henry counties, presented the bill that calls for property owners to be notified when:

•There is damage to the owner’s property, crops or a structure that is reported to a law enforcement officer or agency

•Debris identified by a law enforcement officer or agency is left on the property

Prescott told the committee that the bill was brought to him by a constituent and he agreed to carry it after talking with other farmers. He explained that following accidents debris can be left in fields and remain unseen until harvest time when it can potentially cause damage to farm equipment such as combines.

“As a farm family myself, we ran into this issue on some of our properties as well,” he said.

Committee members asked what types of items might be cause for concern.

Prescott identified tires, bumpers and even drug paraphernalia.

“You never know what you’re going to find — anything that could be in a car or a part of a car after an accident,” he said.

Delaware County farmer Eugene Whitehead testified in support of the amendment, citing three examples of such incidents. He noted a situation in which a vehicle damaged a fence and the law enforcement officer who responded to the scene did not realize there were cattle inside and did not notify the property owner. The result was cattle leaving the fenced area and roaming the neighborhood, which Whitehead pointed to as a safety and liability issue.

He shared two other incidents in which debris from vehicles was left in fields. In one, a spare tire was noticed before a combine ran over it. In another, small metallic items caused thousands of dollars of damage to a combine.

“Come to find out it was a fatality that happened in our field and we were not aware of it,” said Whitehead, adding that a complete driver’s side panel was also found.

Prescott offered one amendment to his original bill to provide law enforcement agencies flexibility with the notification process as well as eliminating any civil or criminal liability for law enforcement for failure to notify.

Plainfield Police Chief Kyle Pruitt, representing Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police, spoke in support of the measure with the amendment. 

“This is a best practice that most, if not all, law enforcement agencies try to do,” he said.

He added that notification can be complicated if the property is held by trust or corporation.

Pruitt also pointed out that state law requires responders to accidents to remove any such debris but that sometimes it can be difficult to locate, particularly if there are crops in the fields.

Whitehead fielded a question from Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour) regarding the cost of farm equipment, noting that a new combine costs about $750,000 with additional equipment such as a corn head costing at least $175,000.

Rep. Becky Cash (R-Zionsville), vice chair of the committee, asked about the ability to get contact information for property owners. Prescott responded that all counties have access to a geographic information system (GIS).

Addressing Pruitt’s concern about trusts and corporations, Prescott said notifying whoever is listed on billing documents would satisfy the law under his bill.

The committee accepted Prescott’s proposed amendment by consent and then approved House Bill 1012 unanimously.

It now heads to the House for second reading.