republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2020/hb-1343.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "New Harmony and Wabash River bridge authority."
description: "Provides that the New Harmony and Wabash River bridge authority (bridge authority) and its members, officers, and employees are immune from civil liability resulting from any act or omission related to implementation of the statute that establishes the bridge authority. Provides that the immunity does not extend to a person who commits an act or omits to do an act that amounts to gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct. Requires the attorney general to defend the bridge authority and its members, officers, and employees if any of these are made a party to a civil suit and the attorney general determines that the suit has arisen out of an act or omission of any of these authorized or required under the bridge authority law or any other law. Repeals an existing statute in the bridge authority law relating to civil immunity."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1343"
citation: "Indiana HB 1343 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["HIGHWAYS AND ROADS", "Bridges and Tunnels", "CIVIL ACTIONS", "Immunity and Exemption from Liability"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James Tomes", "Mark Messmer", "Matt Hostettler", "Vaneta Becker"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 24
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-01-14"
last_action: "2020-03-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/40294607-a5e8-4bef-9920-5f8771e12bcf"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/house/1343"
source_hash: "7c612e27881bcd74962dd8528a08549083d82d43565a26da11127953a713aa8c"
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 1343 (2020) — New Harmony and Wabash River bridge authority.

Provides that the New Harmony and Wabash River bridge authority (bridge authority) and its members, officers, and employees are immune from civil liability resulting from any act or omission related to implementation of the statute that establishes the bridge authority. Provides that the immunity does not extend to a person who commits an act or omits to do an act that amounts to gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct. Requires the attorney general to defend the bridge authority and its members, officers, and employees if any of these are made a party to a civil suit and the attorney general determines that the suit has arisen out of an act or omission of any of these authorized or required under the bridge authority law or any other law. Repeals an existing statute in the bridge authority law relating to civil immunity.

## 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/2020/bills/HB1343/versions/HB1343.04.ENRS)
2. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1343/versions/HB1343.03.COMS)
3. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1343/versions/HB1343.02.COMH)
4. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1343/versions/HB1343.01.INTR)

## Votes

- HB 1343 - Hostettler - 3rd Reading — **93–0** (pass) · lower
- HB 1343 - Tomes - 3rd Reading — **48–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- James Tomes — primary (person)
- Mark Messmer — primary (person)
- Matt Hostettler — primary (person)
- Vaneta Becker — primary (person)
- Jerry Torr — coauthor (person)
- Susan Glick — cosponsor (person)
- Wendy McNamara — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-14** Coauthored by Representative McNamara
- **2020-01-14** Authored by Representative Hostettler
- **2020-01-14** First reading: referred to Committee on Judiciary `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Representative Torr added as coauthor
- **2020-01-28** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-30** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-03** Senate sponsor: Senator Tomes
- **2020-02-03** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 164: yeas 93, nays 0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2020-02-04** Referred to the Senate
- **2020-02-11** First reading: referred to Committee on Commerce and Technology `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-20** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-20** Senator Messmer added as second sponsor
- **2020-02-20** Senator Becker added as third sponsor
- **2020-02-24** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 231: yeas 48, nays 0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2020-02-24** Senator Glick added as cosponsor
- **2020-02-25** Returned to the House with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-04** Motion to concur filed
- **2020-03-05** House concurred in Senate amendments; Roll Call 326: yeas 90, nays 0 `amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-10** Signed by the Speaker
- **2020-03-12** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2020-03-18** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2020-03-21** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-30** Public Law 163

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/40294607-a5e8-4bef-9920-5f8771e12bcf`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).