---
type: "Bill"
title: "Release for religious instruction."
description: "Requires a principal to allow a student to attend religious instruction conducted by certain entities following the principal's receipt of written notice from the student's parent."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 1137"
citation: "Indiana HB 1137 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CHURCHES AND RELIGIONS", "SCHOOLS; Officers and Employees (Other than Teachers)", "SCHOOLS; Pupils (Other than Disciplinary Matters)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jeff Raatz", "Kendell Culp", "Tyler Johnson"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 40
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2024-01-08"
last_action: "2024-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/914498d5-1f03-4e93-9e9a-e91c78123074"
source_url: "https://api.iga.in.gov/2024/bills/hb1137"
source_hash: "c47125b782a3478c8657f28bbb19998e103fe0b28867d6151391a07ce8217d80"
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 1137 (2024) — Release for religious instruction.

Requires a principal to allow a student to attend religious instruction conducted by certain entities following the principal's receipt of written notice from the student's parent.

## Version chain

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

1. **Engrossed House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1137/HB1137.04.ENGS.pdf)
2. **Enrolled House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1137/HB1137.05.ENRS.pdf)
3. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1137/HB1137.03.COMS.pdf)
4. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1137/HB1137.01.INTR.pdf)

## Votes

- HB 1137 - Raatz - 2nd Reading — **12–37** (fail) · upper
- HB 1137 - Raatz - 3rd Reading — **34–14** (pass) · upper
- HB 1137 - Culp - 3rd Reading — **92–4** (pass) · lower
- HB 1137 - Culp — **69–25** (pass) · lower
- HB 1137 - Raatz — **32–16** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jeff Raatz — primary (person)
- Kendell Culp — primary (person)
- Tyler Johnson — primary (person)
- Ethan Manning — coauthor (person)
- Jake Teshka — coauthor (person)
- James Buck — cosponsor (person)
- John Crane — cosponsor (person)
- Timothy Wesco — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-08** Authored by Representative Culp
- **2024-01-08** Coauthored by Representative Teshka
- **2024-01-08** First reading: referred to Committee on Education `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2024-01-11** Representative Manning added as coauthor
- **2024-01-16** Representative Wesco added as coauthor
- **2024-01-25** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-29** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-01-29** Amendment #1 (DeLaney) failed; voice vote `amendment-failure, failure`
- **2024-01-30** Senate sponsors: Senators Raatz and Johnson T
- **2024-01-30** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 83: yeas 92, nays 4 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2024-01-31** Referred to the Senate `referral`
- **2024-02-12** First reading: referred to Committee on Education and Career Development `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2024-02-22** Senator Crane added as cosponsor
- **2024-02-22** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-26** Amendment #1 (Donato) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-02-26** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-02-26** Amendment #2 (Ford J.D.) failed; Roll Call 180: yeas 12, nays 37 `amendment-failure, failure`
- **2024-02-27** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 208: yeas 34, nays 14 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2024-02-27** Senator Buck added as cosponsor
- **2024-02-28** Motion to dissent filed `filing`
- **2024-02-29** House conferees appointed: Culp and DeLaney
- **2024-02-29** House dissented from Senate amendments
- **2024-02-29** House advisors appointed: Behning, Jordan and Smith V
- **2024-02-29** Senate advisors appointed: Yoder, Donato and Johnson T
- **2024-02-29** Senate conferees appointed: Raatz and Ford J.D.
- **2024-02-28** Returned to the House with amendments `receipt`
- **2024-03-06** Senator Doriot added as conferee
- **2024-03-06** Representative DeLaney removed as conferee
- **2024-03-06** Representative Behning removed as advisor
- **2024-03-06** Senator Ford J.D. removed as conferee
- **2024-03-06** Representative Behning added as conferee
- **2024-03-07** Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the House; Roll Call 319: yeas 69, nays 25
- **2024-03-07** CCR # 1 filed in the House `filing`
- **2024-03-07** CCR # 1 filed in the Senate `filing`
- **2024-03-12** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2024-03-13** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-13** Public Law 138 `became-law`
- **2024-03-08** Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the Senate; Roll Call 314: yeas 32, nays 16
- **2024-03-11** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Signed by the Speaker `passage`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/914498d5-1f03-4e93-9e9a-e91c78123074`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).