---
type: "Bill"
title: "Competency evaluation."
description: "Requires the division of mental health and addiction to establish a training program to certify a competency evaluator to assist a court in determining competency. Provides that certain licensed individuals may examine a defendant and testify as to whether the defendant can understand the criminal proceedings and assist in the preparation of the defendant's defense. Allows a court to dismiss criminal charges, without prejudice if the defendant has a certain diagnosis and the defendant is charged with a misdemeanor or Level 6 felony. Makes conforming changes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 1238"
citation: "Indiana HB 1238 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; Generally"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Liz Brown", "Mark Messmer", "Michael Crider", "Wendy McNamara"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 23
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-03-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/46936a8a-a3f1-478c-adaf-966a09827c31"
source_url: "https://api.iga.in.gov/2024/bills/hb1238"
source_hash: "fb168c53f9937a318e4e679a4159ecb40a2deb36ce73dec67c169c1816cf3943"
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 1238 (2024) — Competency evaluation.

Requires the division of mental health and addiction to establish a training program to certify a competency evaluator to assist a court in determining competency. Provides that certain licensed individuals may examine a defendant and testify as to whether the defendant can understand the criminal proceedings and assist in the preparation of the defendant's defense. Allows a court to dismiss criminal charges, without prejudice if the defendant has a certain diagnosis and the defendant is charged with a misdemeanor or Level 6 felony. Makes conforming changes.

## Version chain

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

1. **Enrolled House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1238/HB1238.05.ENRS.pdf)
2. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1238/HB1238.04.COMS.pdf)
3. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1238/HB1238.03.COMH.pdf)
4. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/house/bills/HB1238/HB1238.01.INTR.pdf)

## Votes

- HB 1238 - McNamara — **87–2** (pass) · lower
- HB 1238 - McNamara - 3rd Reading — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- HB 1238 - Brown L - 3rd Reading — **43–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Liz Brown — primary (person)
- Mark Messmer — primary (person)
- Michael Crider — primary (person)
- Wendy McNamara — primary (person)
- Gregory Steuerwald — coauthor (person)
- Jennifer Meltzer — coauthor (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — cosponsor (person)
- Mitch Gore — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-09** Authored by Representative McNamara
- **2024-01-09** First reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2024-01-09** Coauthored by Representatives Meltzer, Steuerwald, Gore
- **2024-01-25** Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means pursuant to House Rule 127
- **2024-01-25** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-30** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-01** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-02-05** Senate sponsors: Senators Brown L, Messmer, Crider
- **2024-02-05** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 138: yeas 97, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2024-02-06** Referred to the Senate `referral`
- **2024-02-12** First reading: referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2024-02-22** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-27** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-02-27** Senator Randolph added as cosponsor
- **2024-02-29** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 220: yeas 43, nays 6 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2024-03-01** Returned to the House with amendments `receipt`
- **2024-03-05** Motion to concur filed `filing`
- **2024-03-05** House concurred in Senate amendments; Roll Call 282: yeas 87, nays 2
- **2024-03-07** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`
- **2024-03-07** Signed by the Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-08** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2024-03-12** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-12** Public Law 85 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/46936a8a-a3f1-478c-adaf-966a09827c31`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).