Porter and LaPorte counties would like to join the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force, but legislators signaled a potential uphill battle as the bill allowing it has been assigned to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Senate Bill 148 unanimously passed Tuesday by the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee. The bill was authored by State Senators Rodney Pol Jr. and Aaron Freeman, which would add Porter and LaPorte counties to the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force.
The task force was created during the 2021 legislative session and there are currently 10 counties on the task force. Lake County was added to the task force during the 2025 legislative session.
Pol, D-Chesterton, said the task force “has had some phenomenal achievements that they’ve been able to accomplish in their short time.”
The bill was amended by Freeman, R-Indianapolis to state that a majority of the board establishes a quorum and returns to the bill’s original language of four members voting the same way, along with the chair, to break a tie.
Initially, the bill increased the number of executive board members from seven to eight for a quorum and established that in the event of a tie vote, the way the chairperson voted prevails, as long as five members vote the same way.
The committee voted 9-0 on the bill and it was assigned to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
