Delaware County Farm Bureau has a special interest in House Enrolled Act 1012, which was passed by both houses of the 2025 Indiana General Assembly and signed by the governor.

The bill, which requires law enforcement agencies to inform property owners of damage to property in the event of a motor vehicle accident, was a direct result of Delaware County’s policy development process.

“It kind of showed the grassroots how the process works,” said Dan Hiatt, Delaware County Farm Bureau president. “It shows if you do something in the organization at the grassroots level, it can go full circle.”

The bill addresses what would seem to be an obvious issue: that when a motor vehicle accident occurs, it sometimes damages or affects the property adjacent to that accident.

Obvious or not, it turned out that state law has no notification requirements under such circumstances.

“There have been some issues” in Delaware County, Hiatt said, including debris in fields and damage to cattle fencing. Therefore, the new law addresses damage to the owner's real property, crops or structures, and also requires that the landowner be notified of any debris resulting from a motor vehicle accident.

Once the issue was discussed by the county board, they approached Rep. J.D. Prescott, who represents Randolph, Blackford and portions of Jay, Henry and Delaware counties in the Indiana House. Prescott agreed to author the bill.

HB 1012 was heard by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and Public Safety, and the committee hearing happened to occur on the day Delaware County was scheduled to visit the Statehouse, so Hiatt and fellow board member Katie Nixon were available to testify.

Hiatt said that like the farmers themselves, legislators were “amazed” that this wasn’t addressed by existing law.

“It’s commonsense, but you don’t think about until you need to,” he explained.

Clearly legislators thought it was commonsense, too, passing it unanimously in both houses.

“Lots of times it’s the simple stuff that turns out to be a good idea that works,” Hiatt said.

House Enrolled Act 1012 goes into effect July 1, 2026. To see the full text and other information in the bill, visit iga.in.gov.