---
type: "Bill"
title: "Purple star designation."
description: "Requires the commission for higher education (CHE) and the Indiana department of veterans' affairs to develop and implement the higher education purple star designation for the following purposes: (1) To recognize postsecondary educational institutions that are supportive and inclusive of veterans and military connected families. (2) To provide veterans and military connected families with enhanced support for pursuing and finishing a degree or postsecondary credential. Provides that the application for a designation must be made available to interested postsecondary educational institutions on the website of the CHE before May 1, 2024."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 384"
citation: "Indiana SB 384 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["HIGHER EDUCATION", "Colleges and Universities", "VETERANS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chris Garten", "Jack Sandlin", "James Tomes", "Randall Frye"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 26
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-01-19"
last_action: "2023-04-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/484f856f-2309-48f9-930d-1e259c2eaa70"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/senate/384"
source_hash: "239f5ce19eec5c4cd646f34e6f00edec297a50d3da5005631c36606cee5fbbce"
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 SB 384 (2023) — Purple star designation.

Requires the commission for higher education (CHE) and the Indiana department of veterans' affairs to develop and implement the higher education purple star designation for the following purposes: (1) To recognize postsecondary educational institutions that are supportive and inclusive of veterans and military connected families. (2) To provide veterans and military connected families with enhanced support for pursuing and finishing a degree or postsecondary credential. Provides that the application for a designation must be made available to interested postsecondary educational institutions on the website of the CHE before May 1, 2024.

## Version chain

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

1. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0384/versions/SB0384.04.ENRH)
2. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0384/versions/SB0384.01.INTR)
3. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0384/versions/SB0384.03.COMH)
4. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/SB0384/versions/SB0384.02.COMS)

## Votes

- SB 384 - Frye - 3rd Reading — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chris Garten — primary (person)
- Jack Sandlin — primary (person)
- James Tomes — primary (person)
- Randall Frye — primary (person)
- Blake Doriot — coauthor (person)
- Chris Judy — cosponsor (person)
- James Buck — coauthor (person)
- John Crane — coauthor (person)
- Mark Messmer — coauthor (person)
- Renee Pack — cosponsor (person)
- Scott Baldwin — coauthor (person)
- Steve Bartels — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-19** Authored by Senators Sandlin and Garten
- **2023-01-19** First reading: referred to Committee on Veterans Affairs and The Military `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-01-24** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-26** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-01-26** Senator Tomes added as third author
- **2023-01-26** Senators Buck, Doriot, Messmer added as coauthors
- **2023-01-30** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 39: yeas 46, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-01-30** House sponsor: Representative Frye R
- **2023-01-30** Senator Crane added as coauthor
- **2023-01-31** Senator Baldwin added as coauthor
- **2023-02-02** Referred to the House `referral`
- **2023-02-28** First reading: referred to Committee on Veterans Affairs and Public Safety `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-14** Representative Judy added as cosponsor
- **2023-03-20** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2023-03-20** Representative Bartels added as cosponsor
- **2023-03-23** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-03-23** Representative Pack R added as cosponsor
- **2023-03-27** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 305: yeas 96, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-03-28** Returned to the Senate with amendments `receipt`
- **2023-04-03** Motion to concur filed `filing`
- **2023-04-04** Senate concurred in House amendments; Roll Call 326: yeas 48, nays 0
- **2023-04-06** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`
- **2023-04-11** Signed by the Speaker `passage`
- **2023-04-18** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2023-04-20** Public Law 49 `became-law`
- **2023-04-20** 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/484f856f-2309-48f9-930d-1e259c2eaa70`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).