State Senator Mike Bohacek is pushing a bill designed to protect minors from sexual exploitation.

The proposal would make it a crime for someone 25 or older to engage in sexual conduct with a minor.

Bohacek said the release of the Epstein files prompted the legislation and said it aims to give parents and the state a way to intervene in what he describes as predatory relationships.

He said lawmakers set the age threshold at seven years above Indiana’s current age of consent to avoid unintended consequences and reflect typical age differences in school and early adulthood.