republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2021/sb-59.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Occupational therapy services."
description: "Allows an occupational therapist to provide occupational therapy services to an individual during a period of not more than 42 calendar days beginning on the day on which the occupational therapist first provides occupational therapy services to the individual. Allows an occupational therapist to provide occupational therapy services to an individual after the 42 day period only if the occupational therapist obtains a referral from, or acts on the order of, a physician, podiatrist, advanced practice registered nurse, psychologist, chiropractor, optometrist, or physician's assistant. Allows an occupational therapist, without a referral or order from a health care provider, to provide: (1) ergonomic or home assessment services; (2) injury or illness prevention education and wellness services; (3) occupational therapy activities provided in an educational setting; or (4) occupational therapy activities that the medical licensing board of Indiana determines to be appropriate to be conducted in a community based environment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 59"
citation: "Indiana SB 59 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["HEALTH", "Health Care Professionals", "HUMAN SERVICES", "Regulation and Licensing of Professionals"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ann Vermilion", "Ed Charbonneau", "Mark Messmer", "Vaneta Becker"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 20
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-04"
last_action: "2021-04-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/746a2383-4299-4c77-ae02-aed251d66779"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/senate/59"
source_hash: "bd60d1c70bbbf89482cd228265d311334bfa3dce1de0c8b287d954b28af319fe"
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 59 (2021) — Occupational therapy services.

Allows an occupational therapist to provide occupational therapy services to an individual during a period of not more than 42 calendar days beginning on the day on which the occupational therapist first provides occupational therapy services to the individual. Allows an occupational therapist to provide occupational therapy services to an individual after the 42 day period only if the occupational therapist obtains a referral from, or acts on the order of, a physician, podiatrist, advanced practice registered nurse, psychologist, chiropractor, optometrist, or physician's assistant. Allows an occupational therapist, without a referral or order from a health care provider, to provide: (1) ergonomic or home assessment services; (2) injury or illness prevention education and wellness services; (3) occupational therapy activities provided in an educational setting; or (4) occupational therapy activities that the medical licensing board of Indiana determines to be appropriate to be conducted in a community based environment.

## Version chain

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

1. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0059/versions/SB0059.04.ENRH)
2. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0059/versions/SB0059.01.INTR)
3. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0059/versions/SB0059.03.COMH)
4. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/SB0059/versions/SB0059.02.COMS)

## Votes

- SB 59 - Vermilion A - 3rd Reading — **91–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ann Vermilion — primary (person)
- Ed Charbonneau — primary (person)
- Mark Messmer — primary (person)
- Vaneta Becker — primary (person)
- Cindy Ziemke — cosponsor (person)
- Edward Clere — cosponsor (person)
- James Tomes — coauthor (person)
- Robin Shackleford — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-04** Authored by Senators Becker, Messmer, Charbonneau
- **2021-01-04** First reading: referred to Committee on Health and Provider Services `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-01-28** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-01** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-02-02** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 40: yeas 47, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-02** House sponsor: Representative Vermilion
- **2021-02-02** Cosponsors: Representatives Ziemke and Shackleford
- **2021-02-02** Senator Tomes added as coauthor
- **2021-02-03** Referred to the House
- **2021-03-01** First reading: referred to Committee on Public Health `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-18** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-18** Representative Clere added as cosponsor
- **2021-03-23** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-03-29** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 311: yeas 91, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-30** Returned to the Senate without amendments
- **2021-04-05** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2021-04-07** Signed by the Speaker
- **2021-04-14** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-04-15** Public Law 45
- **2021-04-15** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/746a2383-4299-4c77-ae02-aed251d66779`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).