republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2021/hb-1437.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Electronic meetings and signatures."
description: "Allows a member of a governing body of a political subdivision to participate in a meeting electronically subject to the following: (1) Requires the governing body to adopt a written policy establishing procedures for electronic participation. (2) Requires the technology to permit simultaneous communication between members and the public to attend and observe the proceedings. (3) Requires at least 50% of the members to be physically present at the meeting site. (4) Allows a member participating electronically to be counted for quorum purposes. (5) Provides that a member participating electronically may participate in a final action taken by the governing body only if the member can be seen and heard. Exempts governing bodies of state agencies that have a majority of members with disabilities from certain attendance requirements. Provides that if a statute requires a manual signature for attesting or authenticating an obligation issued by certain state and local public entities, an electronic signature has the same force and effect as a manual signature. Adds provisions applicable to state and local public agencies when a state or local disaster emergency is declared. Makes stylistic changes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1437"
citation: "Indiana HB 1437 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["PUBLIC AGENCIES", "PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES", "TELECOMMUNICATIONS", "Telephone", "Television", "Radio", "and Internet"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Anthony Cook", "J.D. Ford", "Linda Rogers", "Stacey Donato"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 26
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-14"
last_action: "2021-04-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f2dc5df9-5dc1-4847-8988-152af6a6fda2"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/house/1437"
source_hash: "f3bdb6cfcaa7d879e637b925740db6dd8c3197608ed5c2c04a02ca87be77391e"
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 1437 (2021) — Electronic meetings and signatures.

Allows a member of a governing body of a political subdivision to participate in a meeting electronically subject to the following: (1) Requires the governing body to adopt a written policy establishing procedures for electronic participation. (2) Requires the technology to permit simultaneous communication between members and the public to attend and observe the proceedings. (3) Requires at least 50% of the members to be physically present at the meeting site. (4) Allows a member participating electronically to be counted for quorum purposes. (5) Provides that a member participating electronically may participate in a final action taken by the governing body only if the member can be seen and heard. Exempts governing bodies of state agencies that have a majority of members with disabilities from certain attendance requirements. Provides that if a statute requires a manual signature for attesting or authenticating an obligation issued by certain state and local public entities, an electronic signature has the same force and effect as a manual signature. Adds provisions applicable to state and local public agencies when a state or local disaster emergency is declared. Makes stylistic 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](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1437/versions/HB1437.04.ENRS)
2. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1437/versions/HB1437.02.COMH)
3. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1437/versions/HB1437.03.COMS)
4. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1437/versions/HB1437.01.INTR)

## Votes

- HB 1437 - Rogers - 3rd Reading — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Anthony Cook — primary (person)
- J.D. Ford — primary (person)
- Linda Rogers — primary (person)
- Stacey Donato — primary (person)
- Carey Hamilton — coauthor (person)
- Elizabeth Rowray — coauthor (person)
- John Bartlett — coauthor (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-14** Coauthored by Representative Rowray
- **2021-01-14** Authored by Representative Cook
- **2021-01-14** First reading: referred to Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-11** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-15** Representative Hamilton added as coauthor
- **2021-02-15** Representative Bartlett added as coauthor
- **2021-02-16** Amendment #1 (Andrade) failed; Roll Call 132: yeas 29, nays 64 `amendment-failure`
- **2021-02-16** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-02-18** Senate sponsor: Senator Rogers
- **2021-02-18** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 191: yeas 86, nays 7 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-19** Referred to the Senate
- **2021-03-02** First reading: referred to Committee on Local Government `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-11** Senator Donato added as second sponsor
- **2021-03-11** Senator Ford J.D. added as third sponsor
- **2021-03-22** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-25** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-03-29** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 280: yeas 49, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-30** Senator Randolph added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-30** Returned to the House with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2021-04-06** Motion to concur filed
- **2021-04-08** House concurred in Senate amendments; Roll Call 390: yeas 82, nays 6 `amendment-failure`
- **2021-04-13** Signed by the Speaker
- **2021-04-19** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2021-04-19** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-04-20** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-20** Public Law 88

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f2dc5df9-5dc1-4847-8988-152af6a6fda2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).