republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2020/hb-1265.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Drinking water testing."
description: "Requires each person or entity having authority over a school building to test the drinking water in the school building before January 1, 2023, to determine whether the drinking water equals or exceeds the action level for lead of 15 parts per billion. Provides that the testing requirement is satisfied if the drinking water of a school building: (1) was tested during the lead sampling program for school buildings conducted by the Indiana finance authority (IFA) in 2017 and 2018; (2) is tested in the lead sampling program conducted by the IFA in 2019 and 2020; or has otherwise been tested for compliance with the federal drinking water standards at least once since 2016. Requires that drinking water in school buildings located in Lake County be tested at least once in each period of two calendar years beginning in 2023. Provides that if a test of the drinking water of a school building indicates the presence of lead in the water equal to or greater than 15 parts per billion, the person or entity having authority over the school building is required to take action to reduce the lead levels in the drinking water to less than 15 parts per billion. Provides that the person or entity having authority over a school building that is subject to drinking water testing is required to seek state and federal money that is available for lead sampling or testing."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1265"
citation: "Indiana HB 1265 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["WATER", "Availability and Quality of Drinking Water", "SCHOOLS", "Health and Safety Issues"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carolyn Jackson", "Lonnie Randolph", "Mark Stoops", "Rick Niemeyer"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 33
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-01-13"
last_action: "2020-03-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/02fd71a7-c1be-4cb8-8f74-407dcb5f8432"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/house/1265"
source_hash: "9f46017561439b313505a00dd3f49e07ee6d574c581e1532412278949124941c"
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 1265 (2020) — Drinking water testing.

Requires each person or entity having authority over a school building to test the drinking water in the school building before January 1, 2023, to determine whether the drinking water equals or exceeds the action level for lead of 15 parts per billion. Provides that the testing requirement is satisfied if the drinking water of a school building: (1) was tested during the lead sampling program for school buildings conducted by the Indiana finance authority (IFA) in 2017 and 2018; (2) is tested in the lead sampling program conducted by the IFA in 2019 and 2020; or has otherwise been tested for compliance with the federal drinking water standards at least once since 2016. Requires that drinking water in school buildings located in Lake County be tested at least once in each period of two calendar years beginning in 2023. Provides that if a test of the drinking water of a school building indicates the presence of lead in the water equal to or greater than 15 parts per billion, the person or entity having authority over the school building is required to take action to reduce the lead levels in the drinking water to less than 15 parts per billion. Provides that the person or entity having authority over a school building that is subject to drinking water testing is required to seek state and federal money that is available for lead sampling or testing.

## Version chain

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

1. **Engrossed House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1265/versions/HB1265.06.ENGS)
2. **Engrossed House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1265/versions/HB1265.04.ENGH)
3. **Enrolled House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1265/versions/HB1265.07.ENRS)
4. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1265/versions/HB1265.02.COMH)
5. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1265/versions/HB1265.03.COMH)
6. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1265/versions/HB1265.05.COMS)
7. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1265/versions/HB1265.01.INTR)

## Votes

- HB 1265 - Randolph - 3rd Reading — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- HB 1265 - Jackson - 3rd Reading — **90–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Carolyn Jackson — primary (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — primary (person)
- Mark Stoops — primary (person)
- Rick Niemeyer — primary (person)
- David Niezgodski — cosponsor (person)
- David Wolkins — coauthor (person)
- Earl Harris — coauthor (person)
- J.D. Ford — cosponsor (person)
- Jack Sandlin — cosponsor (person)
- James Buck — cosponsor (person)
- John Ruckelshaus — cosponsor (person)
- Mark Messmer — cosponsor (person)
- Mike Aylesworth — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-13** Authored by Representative Jackson
- **2020-01-13** First reading: referred to Committee on Environmental Affairs `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Representative Wolkins added as coauthor
- **2020-01-16** Representative Harris added as coauthor
- **2020-01-21** Representative Aylesworth added as coauthor
- **2020-01-23** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-29** Amendment #1 (Errington) prevailed; Roll Call 126: yeas 96, nays 0 `amendment-passage, amendment-failure`
- **2020-01-29** Amendment #8 (Jackson) prevailed; Roll Call 127: yeas 93, nays 0 `amendment-passage, amendment-failure`
- **2020-01-29** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-30** Senate sponsors: Senators Randolph Lonnie M and Niemeyer
- **2020-01-30** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 135: yeas 90, nays 2 `reading-3, passage`
- **2020-01-31** Referred to the Senate
- **2020-02-11** First reading: referred to Committee on Environmental Affairs `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2020-02-11** Senator Stoops added as third sponsor
- **2020-02-11** Senator Ruckelshaus added as cosponsor
- **2020-02-24** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-24** Senator Buck added as cosponsor
- **2020-02-24** Senator Ford J.D. added as cosponsor
- **2020-02-24** Senator Niezgodski added as cosponsor
- **2020-02-25** Senators Messmer and Sandlin added as cosponsors
- **2020-03-02** Amendment #4 (Messmer) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-passage, amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-02** Amendment #2 (Randolph Lonnie M) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-passage, amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-02** Amendment #1 (Stoops) failed; Roll Call 266: yeas 15, nays 34 `amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-02** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-03-03** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 306: yeas 50, nays 0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2020-03-04** Returned to the House with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-04** Motion to concur filed
- **2020-03-10** Signed by the Speaker
- **2020-03-10** House concurred in Senate amendments; Roll Call 344: yeas 93, nays 0 `amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-12** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2020-03-18** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2020-03-18** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-30** Public Law 122

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/02fd71a7-c1be-4cb8-8f74-407dcb5f8432`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).