---
type: "Bill"
title: "Disaster emergency."
description: "Provides that a state of disaster emergency declared by the governor: (1) that applies to the entire state may not continue for more than 60 days unless a renewal is authorized by the general assembly; and (2) that only applies to part of the state may not continue for more than 30 days unless renewed by the governor. Provides that the renewal of a statewide disaster emergency authorized by the general assembly may continue for not more than 60 days. Specifies that if a state of disaster emergency that applies to the entire state has ended, the governor may not call a new state of disaster emergency that applies to the entire state unless the new disaster is wholly unrelated to the earlier disaster. Defines \"wholly unrelated\"."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 234"
citation: "Indiana SB 234 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["GENERAL ASSEMBLY; Generally", "HOMELAND SECURITY; Emergency Management and Preparedness"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Aaron Freeman", "Chris Garten", "Matt Lehman", "Travis Holdman"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 33
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2024-01-08"
last_action: "2024-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c6773d98-d7e8-486d-bd87-0c7943d0a5c7"
source_url: "https://api.iga.in.gov/2024/bills/sb0234"
source_hash: "e5faf53eded5613beb0dcee63ecd0a44ab43b0e052d97d39a406afb01abfa01a"
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 234 (2024) — Disaster emergency.

Provides that a state of disaster emergency declared by the governor: (1) that applies to the entire state may not continue for more than 60 days unless a renewal is authorized by the general assembly; and (2) that only applies to part of the state may not continue for more than 30 days unless renewed by the governor. Provides that the renewal of a statewide disaster emergency authorized by the general assembly may continue for not more than 60 days. Specifies that if a state of disaster emergency that applies to the entire state has ended, the governor may not call a new state of disaster emergency that applies to the entire state unless the new disaster is wholly unrelated to the earlier disaster. Defines "wholly unrelated".

## Version chain

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

1. **Engrossed Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/senate/bills/SB0234/SB0234.03.ENGS.pdf)
2. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/senate/bills/SB0234/SB0234.05.ENRH.pdf)
3. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/senate/bills/SB0234/SB0234.01.INTR.pdf)
4. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/123/2024/senate/bills/SB0234/SB0234.04.COMH.pdf)

## Votes

- SB 234 - Lehman - 3rd Reading — **71–27** (pass) · lower
- SB 234 - Garten - 3rd Reading — **38–10** (pass) · upper
- SB 234 - Garten — **40–8** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Aaron Freeman — primary (person)
- Chris Garten — primary (person)
- Matt Lehman — primary (person)
- Travis Holdman — primary (person)
- Andy Zay — coauthor (person)
- Blake Doriot — coauthor (person)
- Brad Barrett — cosponsor (person)
- Brian Buchanan — coauthor (person)
- Chris Jeter — cosponsor (person)
- Eric Koch — coauthor (person)
- Gary Byrne — coauthor (person)
- Greg Goode — coauthor (person)
- James Buck — coauthor (person)
- James Tomes — coauthor (person)
- Jeff Raatz — coauthor (person)
- John Crane — coauthor (person)
- Justin Busch — coauthor (person)
- Kyle Walker — coauthor (person)
- Linda Rogers — coauthor (person)
- Liz Brown — coauthor (person)
- Mark Messmer — coauthor (person)
- Michael Young — coauthor (person)
- Mike Gaskill — coauthor (person)
- Randy Maxwell — coauthor (person)
- Rick Niemeyer — coauthor (person)
- Scott Alexander — coauthor (person)
- Scott Baldwin — coauthor (person)
- Shane Lindauer — cosponsor (person)
- Spencer Deery — coauthor (person)
- Steve Bartels — cosponsor (person)
- Susan Glick — coauthor (person)
- Tyler Johnson — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-08** First reading: referred to Committee on Judiciary `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2024-01-08** Authored by Senators Garten, Freeman, Holdman
- **2024-01-08** Coauthored by Senators Raatz, Glick, Baldwin, Brown L, Gaskill, Busch, Johnson T
- **2024-01-10** Senators Rogers and Goode G added as coauthors
- **2024-01-11** Senators Byrne, Doriot, Buck, Alexander, Messmer added as coauthors
- **2024-01-18** Senator Koch added as coauthor
- **2024-01-18** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2024-01-22** Senator Buchanan added as coauthor
- **2024-01-22** Amendment #2 (Garten) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-01-22** Amendment #1 (Pol) failed; voice vote `amendment-failure, failure`
- **2024-01-22** Senator Young M added as coauthor
- **2024-01-22** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-01-23** Cosponsors: Representatives Jeter C and Lindauer
- **2024-01-23** Senators Crane, Tomes, Deery, Zay, Maxwell added as coauthors
- **2024-01-23** Senators Niemeyer and Walker K added as coauthors
- **2024-01-23** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 26: yeas 38, nays 10 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2024-01-23** House sponsor: Representative Lehman
- **2024-01-24** Referred to the House `referral`
- **2024-02-12** First reading: referred to Committee on Public Health `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2024-02-26** Representative Bartels added as cosponsor
- **2024-02-27** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2024-02-29** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2024-03-04** Representative Barrett added as cosponsor
- **2024-03-04** Rule 105.1 suspended
- **2024-03-04** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 265: yeas 71, nays 27 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2024-03-05** Returned to the Senate with amendments `receipt`
- **2024-03-06** Motion to concur filed `filing`
- **2024-03-07** Senate concurred in House amendments; Roll Call 297: yeas 40, nays 8
- **2024-03-13** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2024-03-12** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2024-03-11** Signed by the Speaker `passage`
- **2024-03-13** Public Law 120 `became-law`
- **2024-03-08** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c6773d98-d7e8-486d-bd87-0c7943d0a5c7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).