At the ideation of a bill, the Legislative Services Agency, a group of non-partisan lawyers employed by the state to draft legislation, will compose the legislation with the legislator and assign a bill number (1001-1999 for House bills, 1-999 for Senate bills). After the bills are assigned to a committee, each committee has a chairman who selects which bills will be heard. If the bill passes out of committee, it is assigned to Second Reading on the House or Senate floor where it becomes available for amendment by all 100 Representatives or 50 Senators. After the bill and any amendments are heard, the bill is then engrossed to Third Reading. Second and Third Reading are when the majority of debate occurs on the bill. If after debate, 51 Representatives or 26 Senators do not vote in favor of the bill, the bill dies. After each of these steps, the bill will then move from one house to the other and the process begins again. The process has multiple, necessary steps, and the bill is available for debate and amendment several times along the way. This session, the Senate and the House of Representatives have each filed over 600 bills. Once a bill passes both houses, the Governor has the ability to veto the bill or sign it into law. If a bill passes the Senate and House of Representatives but the Governor fails to sign it, the House and Senate have the ability to pass the legislation again, bypassing the Governor's veto. Numerous bills have been debated and passed out of the Indiana House of Representatives: HB 1002, an expansion of public charter schools granting more choice to parents and students; HB 1450, restructuring Indiana's bankrupt unemployment insurance fund; and SB 32, a vote center bill establishing a new electoral process promoting local flexibility, increased voter convenience, and cost-savings to the state. I have authored and co-authored numerous bills: HB 1133, assists Indiana's agritourism industry by limiting their liability; HB 1051, establishes a study committee for the Versailles State Park Lake; and HB 1121, establishes a means to safely discard old or unused medication at pharmacies. Legislation yet to be heard in the Indiana House include school scholarships, Indiana's budget for the next two years, and redistricting to name a few. Friday, March 4th marks the half way point of the legislative session. Bills passed out of the House of Representatives will head to the Senate and Senate bills will head to the House. The Indiana House of Representatives meets Monday through Thursday each week from January 5th through April 29th. The remainder of the week is spent meeting with constituents in the district. Please contact me if you have questions or comments. My email address is RFRYE@iga.in.gov, and my phone number at the Statehouse is (317) 234-3827. I look forward to hearing from you.
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