---
type: "Bill"
title: "A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning health."
description: "A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning health."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1438"
citation: "Indiana HB 1438 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["DRUGS", "Treatment of Drug and Other Substance Abuse", "HEALTH", "State Department and Agencies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cindy Kirchhofer", "Ed Charbonneau", "James Merritt"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 23
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-01-17"
last_action: "2017-04-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/26b7d857-219d-47a0-9cbf-7e77fe9d56ae"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bills/house/1438"
source_hash: "79ef591031980f0d2b849c8d446048d70b2708a2e6745d23948c0cd867f81e3e"
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 1438 (2017) — A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning health.

## 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/hb1438/versions/hb1438.04.enrs)
2. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2017/bills/hb1438/versions/hb1438.03.coms)
3. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2017/bills/hb1438/versions/hb1438.02.comh)
4. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2017/bills/hb1438/versions/hb1438.01.intr)

## Votes

- HB 1438 - Kirchhofer - 3rd Reading — **72–26** (pass) · legislature
- HB 1438 - Merritt - 3rd Reading — **32–16** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Cindy Kirchhofer — primary (person)
- Ed Charbonneau — primary (person)
- James Merritt — primary (person)
- Charlie Brown — coauthor (person)
- Dennis Zent — coauthor (person)
- Frank Mrvan — cosponsor (person)
- Jean Breaux — cosponsor (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — cosponsor (person)
- Steven Davisson — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-17** Authored by Representative Kirchhofer
- **2017-01-17** First reading: referred to Committee on Public Health `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2017-01-26** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2017-01-26** Representative Davisson added as coauthor
- **2017-01-30** Representative Brown, C. added as coauthor
- **2017-01-30** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-30** Representative Zent added as coauthor
- **2017-01-31** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 38: yeas 72, nays 26 `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-01-31** Senate sponsors: Senators Merritt and Charbonneau
- **2017-02-01** Referred to the Senate
- **2017-02-20** First reading: referred to Committee on Health and Provider Services `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2017-03-23** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2017-03-27** Senator Breaux added as cosponsor
- **2017-03-27** Senator Mrvan added as cosponsor
- **2017-03-27** Senator Randolph added as cosponsor
- **2017-04-04** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-04-06** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 419: yeas 32, nays 16 `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-04-06** Returned to the House without amendments
- **2017-04-10** Signed by the Speaker
- **2017-04-11** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2017-04-25** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2017-04-26** Public Law 198
- **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/26b7d857-219d-47a0-9cbf-7e77fe9d56ae`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).