---
type: "Bill"
title: "Commission on improving the status of children."
description: "Changes the membership of the commission on improving the status of children in Indiana (commission). Provides that the affirmative votes of a majority of the voting members appointed to the commission are required for the commission to take action on any measure."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1537"
citation: "Indiana HB 1537 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CHILDREN AND MINORS", "Department of Child Services", "COMMISSIONS OR COUNCILS", "Existing Agencies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dale DeVon", "Jon Ford", "Stacey Donato"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-14"
last_action: "2021-04-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fb5361f2-42ed-4b06-9d8f-9f2f524086c7"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/house/1537"
source_hash: "b82c4da16eb6a9f3eb1fa3f68c33251b483a6830f291f87e3d12f3e766380eb1"
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 1537 (2021) — Commission on improving the status of children.

Changes the membership of the commission on improving the status of children in Indiana (commission). Provides that the affirmative votes of a majority of the voting members appointed to the commission are required for the commission to take action on any measure.

## 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/2021/bills/HB1537/versions/HB1537.04.ENRS)
2. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1537/versions/HB1537.02.COMH)
3. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1537/versions/HB1537.03.COMS)
4. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1537/versions/HB1537.01.INTR)

## Votes

- HB 1537 - Donato - 3rd Reading — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dale DeVon — primary (person)
- Jon Ford — primary (person)
- Stacey Donato — primary (person)
- Jean Breaux — cosponsor (person)
- Jean Leising — cosponsor (person)
- Karen Engleman — coauthor (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — cosponsor (person)
- Vanessa Summers — coauthor (person)
- Wendy McNamara — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-14** Coauthored by Representatives Engleman, McNamara, Summers
- **2021-01-14** Authored by Representative DeVon
- **2021-01-14** First reading: referred to Committee on Family, Children and Human Affairs `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-01-28** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-01** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-02-02** Senate sponsor: Senator Donato
- **2021-02-02** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 56: yeas 93, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-03** Referred to the Senate
- **2021-02-18** First reading: referred to Committee on Family and Children Services `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-22** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-22** Senator Breaux added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-23** Senator Ford Jon added as second sponsor
- **2021-03-25** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-03-29** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 283: yeas 49, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-29** Senator Leising added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-30** Senator Randolph added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-30** Returned to the House without amendments
- **2021-04-07** Signed by the Speaker
- **2021-04-08** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2021-04-14** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-04-15** Public Law 62
- **2021-04-15** 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/fb5361f2-42ed-4b06-9d8f-9f2f524086c7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).