Condemnation of Hoosier homestead property.
HB 1265 creates a new Hoosier homestead program within the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to recognize and maintain a public registry of family farms that have remained in the same family for at least 100 years. The program is intended to honor Indiana’s agricultural heritage, issue certificates and yard signs for qualifying farms, and provide public notice when a registered homestead may be affected by eminent domain. The bill also requires the department to update the registry when a homestead is transferred, renewed, expired, or revoked, and it prohibits fees for registration or renewal.
The bill adds a new chapter governing condemnation of Hoosier homestead property and amends eminent domain procedures so that a registered homestead receives added protection before a fee simple taking can proceed. For qualifying homesteads, the condemning authority must notify the relevant county, city, or town legislative body after a rejected acquisition offer or a works board resolution, and the owner must be allowed to testify at a hearing. The legislative body may approve condemnation only if it finds there is no feasible and prudent alternative and the taking would not unreasonably harm agriculture in the area, or if the property is not actually a valid Hoosier homestead. If the body rejects the condemnation, the taking cannot proceed. The bill also ties homestead status to being current on property taxes and requires sales disclosure forms to identify homestead transfers so the agriculture department can maintain the registry.
HB 1265 amends Indiana’s property, tax, and eminent domain statutes, including IC 6-1.1, IC 15-11, and IC 32-24, by creating a formal Hoosier homestead registry and adding special condemnation procedures for registered farms. It changes sales disclosure form requirements to capture homestead-related information, directs assessors to forward relevant forms to the agriculture department, and makes tax compliance a condition of registration and renewal. In eminent domain cases, it adds a new layer of local legislative review and hearing rights before a fee simple taking of registered homestead property can move forward.
The bill appears to have broad support. It was reported out of the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee unanimously, 11-0, and later passed the House on third reading by a vote of 88-0. The available record suggests the measure was viewed favorably as a preservation and notice bill for long-standing family farms, with no recorded opposition in the provided materials.
The main policy issue is the added restriction on eminent domain for registered Hoosier homesteads, especially the requirement that a city, town, or county legislative body approve condemnation after a hearing. That protection could be seen as strengthening family-farm preservation, but it also limits the ability of condemnors, including public projects and utilities, to acquire qualifying property. Another point of attention is the bill’s eligibility and maintenance rules: only portions of farms meeting the family-ownership and agricultural-use criteria qualify, taxes must be current, and registrations must be renewed and updated after transfers. The committee amendments narrowed the designation to only the qualifying portion of a farm and added the tax-paid-up-to-date requirement, indicating concern about defining the protected property precisely and ensuring compliance.