Committee makes failure to update vehicle wrap registration a Class C misdemeanor

The Indiana House Roads and Transportation Committee voted to adopt an amendment to Senate Bill 331 that would require the person who registered a vehicle to record a change in color after the vehicle was wrapped and used in the commission of a crime; failure to do so would become a Class C misdemeanor.

The chair brought amendment number 2 to the committee and said the change escalates the current infraction into a misdemeanor for vehicles wrapped after use in the commission of a crime. The chair said: "It's very clear that the person who registered the vehicle is the person that would be responsible to record the change in color. And then if they did change the color, it would now become a class c misdemeanor." The amendment was taken by consent and the committee voted 12-0 to pass the bill as amended.

The amendment was offered after prior committee discussion of the underlying bill. Committee members called the roll after the motion and recorded unanimous support. No public testimony or stakeholder disagreement on this amendment was recorded in the committee transcript.

The committee advanced the bill to the next stage with a 12-0 vote, indicating unanimous committee support for the amended language.

The bill now moves forward from committee; the transcript did not specify implementation details such as effective date or statutory cross-references beyond the new classification of the offense.

A full roll call recorded the following members as voting yes: Representative Prussell (chair), Representative McNamara, Representative Lindauer, Representative Dan Tresser, Representative Haggard, Representative Hamilton, Representative Harris, Representative May, Representative Andrade, Representative Heiney, Representative Soliday and Representative Lawson.