republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2024/hb-1338.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Security of property and meeting decorum.	Allows the governing bodies of certain local government agencies (local agencies) to adopt rules or policies governing the conduct of meetings. Provides that a rule or policy may provide that the presiding member of the governing body of the local agency may: (1) issue warnings to disruptive attendees and direct them to leave the meeting on the third warning; and (2) direct a law enforcement officer to remove disruptive attendees. Provides that the rules and policies must be posted at the meeting entrance or announced before taking public testimony. Specifies that a provision of the tort claims law providing immunity to a government entity or employee in adopting and enforcing a law or rule applies. Provides that a person commits criminal trespass by knowingly or intentionally: (1) entering a locked area without permission; or (2) refusing to leave an area not publicly accessible after being asked to leave by a law enforcement officer or agent of the property owner or operator. Specifies that: (1) the public access counselor serves at the pleasure of the governor; and (2) when issuing an advisory opinion, the public access counselor may consider only the plain text of the public access laws and valid Indiana court opinions. Provides that a committee appointed directly by the governing body or a governing body's designee does not constitute a governing body that is subject to the open door law if the committee: (1) is appointed for the sole purpose of receiving information, deliberating, or making recommendations to the governing body; and (2) has not more than one member of the governing body as a member.	us/states/in	Indiana General Assembly	2024	HB 1338	Indiana HB 1338 (2024)	bill	AGENCIES; Public Access Counselor (PAC) CIVIL LAW AND PROCEDURE; Immunity and Exemption from Liability CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; Offenses Against Public Health Order and Decency LAW ENFORCEMENT; Generally LOCAL GOVERNMENT; Generally PUBLIC HEARINGS AND MEETINGS	enacted	J.D. Prescott Jeff Raatz Scott Alexander Scott Baldwin	6	32	3	2024-01-10	2024-03-18	openstates	ocd-bill/87f90c5b-47f5-442d-b2f9-d55bfc866d60	https://api.iga.in.gov/2024/bills/hb1338	487161caa94e8cfdaae20f4ca291df5ea1e2cfd8e0d63b33cb625eace8548b37	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-in

Indiana HB 1338 (2024) — Security of property and meeting decorum.

Allows the governing bodies of certain local government agencies (local agencies) to adopt rules or policies governing the conduct of meetings. Provides that a rule or policy may provide that the presiding member of the governing body of the local agency may: (1) issue warnings to disruptive attendees and direct them to leave the meeting on the third warning; and (2) direct a law enforcement officer to remove disruptive attendees. Provides that the rules and policies must be posted at the meeting entrance or announced before taking public testimony. Specifies that a provision of the tort claims law providing immunity to a government entity or employee in adopting and enforcing a law or rule applies. Provides that a person commits criminal trespass by knowingly or intentionally: (1) entering a locked area without permission; or (2) refusing to leave an area not publicly accessible after being asked to leave by a law enforcement officer or agent of the property owner or operator. Specifies that: (1) the public access counselor serves at the pleasure of the governor; and (2) when issuing an advisory opinion, the public access counselor may consider only the plain text of the public access laws and valid Indiana court opinions. Provides that a committee appointed directly by the governing body or a governing body's designee does not constitute a governing body that is subject to the open door law if the committee: (1) is appointed for the sole purpose of receiving information, deliberating, or making recommendations to the governing body; and (2) has not more than one member of the governing body as a member.

Version chain

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

1. Engrossed House Bill (H) (committee substitute) — source
2. Engrossed House Bill (S) (committee substitute) — source
3. Enrolled House Bill (H) (committee substitute) — source
4. House Bill (H) (committee substitute) — source
5. House Bill (S) (committee substitute) — source
6. Introduced House Bill (H) (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• HB 1338 - Prescott - 3rd Reading — 77–19 (pass) · lower
• HB 1338 - Baldwin - 3rd Reading — 40–8 (pass) · upper
• HB 1338 - Prescott — 58–36 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• J.D. Prescott — primary (person)
• Jeff Raatz — primary (person)
• Scott Alexander — primary (person)
• Scott Baldwin — primary (person)
• Doug Miller — coauthor (person)
• Jennifer Meltzer — coauthor (person)
• Jim Pressel — coauthor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2024-01-10 First reading: referred to Committee on Government and Regulatory Reform reading-1, referral-committee
• 2024-01-10 Authored by Representative Prescott
• 2024-01-16 Committee report: amend do pass, adopted committee-passage
• 2024-01-18 Amendment #1 (Clere) prevailed; voice vote amendment-passage
• 2024-01-18 Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed reading-2
• 2024-01-18 Representative Meltzer J added as coauthor
• 2024-01-18 Amendment #2 (Torr) prevailed; voice vote amendment-passage
• 2024-01-22 Third reading: passed; Roll Call 24: yeas 77, nays 19 passage, reading-3, reading-3
• 2024-01-22 Senate sponsors: Senators Raatz and Alexander
• 2024-01-22 Representatives Pressel and Campbell added as coauthors
• 2024-01-23 Referred to the Senate referral
• 2024-02-05 First reading: referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law reading-1, referral-committee
• 2024-02-22 Senator Raatz removed as sponsor
• 2024-02-22 Senator Baldwin added as sponsor
• 2024-02-27 Senator Raatz added as third sponsor
• 2024-02-29 Committee report: amend do pass, adopted committee-passage
• 2024-03-04 Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed reading-2
• 2024-03-04 Amendment #1 (Pol) failed; voice vote amendment-failure, failure
• 2024-03-04 Amendment #2 (Pol) failed; voice vote amendment-failure, failure
• 2024-03-04 Amendment #3 (Freeman) prevailed; voice vote amendment-passage
• 2024-03-04 Amendment #5 (Baldwin) prevailed; voice vote amendment-passage
• 2024-03-05 Third reading: passed; Roll Call 286: yeas 40, nays 8 passage, reading-3, reading-3
• 2024-03-05 Representative Campbell removed as coauthor
• 2024-03-05 Representative Miller D added as coauthor
• 2024-03-05 Returned to the House with amendments receipt
• 2024-03-06 Motion to concur filed filing
• 2024-03-06 House concurred in Senate amendments; Roll Call 302: yeas 58, nays 36
• 2024-03-18 Public Law 171 became-law
• 2024-03-11 Signed by the President Pro Tempore passage
• 2024-03-11 Signed by the Speaker passage
• 2024-03-18 Signed by the Governor executive-signature
• 2024-03-12 Signed by the President of the Senate passage

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/87f90c5b-47f5-442d-b2f9-d55bfc866d60. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).