INDIANAPOLIS -- Every year brings new laws that go into effect.
This year, some of the more prominent laws include drones, animals in hot cars and ATVs. Here are six new Indiana laws that go into effect July 1.
Semi right-of-way
Look out, Carmel.
A new law will give semis the right-of-way in roundabouts. They will now have as much freedom as needed to make a turn in roundabouts.
It doesn’t just include semis. It also covers vehicles longer than 40 feet.
Click here to read the full law.
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Gas tax
Probably the most famous of the new laws is the new tax on gasoline. Drivers will pay an extra 10 cents per gallon to help fund road improvements.
Also part of the road improvement plan -- vehicle registration fees. Indiana drivers will have to pay an extra $15 when registering new vehicles. Electric vehicles will cost an extra $150, and hybrids an extra $50.
This new tax is supposed to help fill many of the potholes across the state. Indianapolis is scheduled to get an extra $126 million for repair and maintenance of roads.
Click here to read the full law.
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Drone recording
A new law concerning drones in Indiana covers a lot of privacy concerns people have about drones in their neighborhood.
The law makes it against the law for a sex offender to use a drone to record people, if they’re on probation. It also officially makes it illegal to interfere with police, firefighters or other emergency personnel with a drone.
Lastly, the law makes it illegal to record a person with a drone while that person is in their house, or on their property, given they can’t be easily seen from a public area. In other words, if you can’t see them without a drone, you can’t look at them with a drone. That action would be a misdemeanor voyeurism charge. It can be upgraded to a felony if that person puts the photos or videos on the internet, or sends them to somebody else.
Click here to read the full law.
Solar energy
A new law signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb will curtail the benefit to people or businesses that install solar panels.
Solar panel owners who bring in more energy than they use are paid to feed it back to the power grid.
This new law will reduce the money that consumers would get back from the power grid. To protect people who currently have the solar panels, they are protected from the law for 30 years.
Indiana's investor-owned utility companies lobbied for the measure during the legislative session. They say solar panel owners who feed excess power to the grid are compensated too generously, a rate that will be drastically lowered under the measure.
Click here to read the full law.
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Rescuing pets from hot cars
Beginning July 1, you’ll have more protections if you break into a car to save an animal.
Public safety workers have full civil liability immunity, meaning if they break a window to free a dog or cat they perceive is in danger, they will likely not have to pay for the damages to the vehicle.
But anybody else who breaks a window to save an animal must pay 50 percent of the cost of the damage, unless waived by the owner of the car. There are a few stipulations around a Good Samaritan paying that.
Click here to read the full law.
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ATV helmets for children
To help stop injury or death in ATV crashes, a new law requires everybody under age 18 to wear a helmet while wearing an off-road vehicle.
The law applies to all public and private lands.
It does not affect people riding in golf carts.
Click here to read the full law.
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