Klinker works across aisle to pass new laws

The Indiana General Assembly had many important topics to discuss during the 2019 Legislative Session. In total, we introduced more than 1,300 bills and passed 293 of those bills into law. Below I have detailed several of the bipartisan measures I worked on this year.

New Tippecanoe County Superior Court

I co-authored a law that establishes a new court in Tippecanoe County, a much-needed measure due to the increasing population and resulting increase in criminal cases. It will be our first new county court since 2000. The court will be named Tippecanoe County Superior Court 7 with an election for a presiding judge in the fall of 2020 and an opening date of January 2021.

Military Retirement and Survivor Benefits

We worked together to pass a plan that will eliminate state income taxes on military retirement and survivor benefits on a graduated scale between now and 2022. I co-authored a more robust measure that would have also eliminated state income taxes for active and reserve military personnel, and I will continue to pursue that idea in the future.

Preventing Animal Cruelty

I recently attended the signing ceremony in the governor’s office for a new law I co-sponsored to prevent animal cruelty. The measure prohibits a person convicted of animal abuse from owning a companion animal while on probation or parole.

Sharing Intimate Images

I co-sponsored a new law that addresses the distribution of nonconsensual photography, often referred to as “revenge porn.” It defines “intimate image” and sets penalties for unauthorized distribution of such images through email, text and other means.