What is the Status of the Bill?

 Updated April 13, 2021 at 11:00 pm:

Current Status

  • HB 1381 was voted out of House on February 17th by a vote of 58 to 38.  To see how your representative voted, see the roll call here.
  • The bill was amended by the Senate Utilities committee to grandfather in counties with restrictive wind and solar ordinances on April 1st.  It was then approved by a vote of 9 to 2.  You can watch archived video of the hearing here.  (Click April 1, 2021 and then "Watch Archived Video.")
  • It was then recommitted to the Senate Tax & Fiscal committee.  It was the first any challenging questions were asked of the proponents of the bill.  Nonetheless, it was approved 10 votes to 3.  You can watch archived video of that hearing here.  (Click April 6, 2021 and then "Watch Archived Video.")
  • Tuesday, April 13th was the deadline for house bills to pass the senate.  The senate sponsor initially "passed" when it was HB 1381's turn on the agenda, presumably because he didn't think he had enough votes.  Suddenly, 30 minutes later there was a recess and a new agenda was released with HB 1381 again placed at the end of the roll.  Obviously, the idea was to delay and allow more time for arm twisting.  When it came time again, the sponsor went to the microphone and made a bizarre attack on local government officials, then withdrew his call of the bill.  Thus, the bill died for 2021 with a whimper instead of a bang.
  • It is possible that the text could be inserted into another bill, so it won't be completely dead until the last day of session, next Wednesday, April 21st.  We will keep watching and will alert you if that occurs.  Thanks to everyone who contacted their legislators to make their feelings known!

How a House bill becomes a law in Indiana (We hope and pray that you don't, HB 1381)

  1. Bill is assigned to a House committee 
  2. Committee hearing is scheduled for the bill 
  3. Hearing is held, and bill is potentially amended by the committee
  4. Bill is voted out of committee
  5. Entire House may potentially amend the bill
  6. Bill is voted out of the House
  7. Bill is assigned to a Senate committee
  8. Committee hearing is scheduled for the bill 
  9. Hearing is held, and bill is potentially amended by the committee
  10. Bill is voted out of committee
  11. Entire Senate may potentially amend the bill <-- Bill made it this far.
  12. Bill is voted out of the Senate
  13. If the Senate amended the bill, the author can accept the changed bill and send it back to the House for one last vote
  14. If the bill's author does not accept the Senate amendments, the bill is sent to a bipartisan conference committee
  15. The conference committee settles on a final version
  16. Both the House and the Senate vote on the final version
  17. If both chambers pass an identical bill, it is sent to the Governor
  18. If the Governor signs the bill (or does nothing after 10 days), the bill becomes a law.
  19. If the Governor vetoes the bill, the House and the Senate can override the veto with a simple 51% majority (unlike the U.S. Congress which requires a two-thirds majority to override a veto by the President).  If successful, the bill becomes a law.
  20. If a bill fails to pass any step, it can always be introduced the following year under a different number, and the process starts all over again.