---
type: "Bill"
title: "A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning education."
description: "A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning education."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1079"
citation: "Indiana HB 1079 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CRIMES AND OFFENSES", "Criminal History Information", "SCHOOLS generally (K-12)", "SCHOOLS", "Teachers"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dennis Kruse", "James Merritt", "Jeffrey Thompson", "John Crane"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 36
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-01-05"
last_action: "2017-04-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/159a2670-90aa-4979-a13f-35b7f7934233"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bills/house/1079"
source_hash: "e25a9754bd82a5958485739948205172d247043da70b84cbbc59a9e2605b0d6f"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-in"]
---

# Indiana HB 1079 (2017) — A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning education.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Enrolled House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2017/bills/hb1079/versions/hb1079.04.enrs)
2. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2017/bills/hb1079/versions/hb1079.03.coms)
3. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2017/bills/hb1079/versions/hb1079.02.comh)
4. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2017/bills/hb1079/versions/hb1079.01.intr)

## Votes

- HB 1079 - Merritt - 3rd Reading — **50–0** (pass) · legislature
- HB 1079 - Thompson - 3rd Reading — **99–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Dennis Kruse — primary (person)
- James Merritt — primary (person)
- Jeffrey Thompson — primary (person)
- John Crane — primary (person)
- Eddie Melton — cosponsor (person)
- John Bartlett — coauthor (person)
- Joseph Zakas — cosponsor (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — cosponsor (person)
- Michael Delph — cosponsor (person)
- Milo Smith — coauthor (person)
- Terri Jo Austin — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-05** Authored by Representative Thompson
- **2017-01-05** First reading: referred to Committee on Education `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2017-01-24** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2017-01-26** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-30** Representative Smith, M. added as coauthor
- **2017-01-30** Senate sponsors: Senators Merritt and Crane
- **2017-01-30** Representative Austin added as coauthor
- **2017-01-30** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 27: yeas 99, nays 0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-02-01** Referred to the Senate
- **2017-02-02** Representative Bartlett added as coauthor
- **2017-02-20** First reading: referred to Committee on Education and Career Development `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2017-03-13** Senator Kruse added as third sponsor
- **2017-03-16** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2017-03-20** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-03-21** Placed back on second reading `reading-2`
- **2017-03-21** Senator Melton added as cosponsor
- **2017-03-21** Senator Randolph added as cosponsor
- **2017-03-27** Reread second time: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-03-28** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 302: yeas 50, nays 0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-03-28** Senators Zakas and Delph added as cosponsors
- **2017-03-29** Returned to the House with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2017-04-06** Motion to dissent filed
- **2017-04-06** House dissented from Senate amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2017-04-10** Senate conferees appointed: Merritt and Mrvan
- **2017-04-10** Senate advisors appointed: Kruse, Melton and Bray
- **2017-04-10** House conferees appointed: Thompson and Austin
- **2017-04-10** House advisors appointed: Wesco, Cook and Smith V
- **2017-04-20** CCR # 1 filed in the House
- **2017-04-20** CCR # 1 filed in the Senate
- **2017-04-21** Signed by the Speaker
- **2017-04-21** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2017-04-21** Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the House; Roll Call 518: yeas 99, nays 0
- **2017-04-21** Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the Senate; Roll Call 507: yeas 50, nays 0
- **2017-04-24** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2017-04-26** Public Law 185
- **2017-04-26** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/159a2670-90aa-4979-a13f-35b7f7934233`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).