We are at the halfway point of Indiana’s 2024 legislative session.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate this week finished moving bills through their respective chambers. Starting next week, the opposite body will start hearing the bills that have survived. Lawmakers are not back in the Statehouse until Monday.
Any bill that did not pass the House or Senate after this week is dead — for now. Language from “dead” bills can resurface in the form of amendments on other bills during the second half of session.
You can find a full list of submitted bills for the 2024 session at iga.in.gov/legislative/2024/bills.
Here’s what didn’t pass muster as of the session’s halfway point.
Firearm storage bill dies
A revived attempt to pass a law promoting the safe storage of firearms and penalizing adults who don’t has once again failed to make it past the first legislative steps.
House Bill 1325 would have charged adults with failing to secure a firearm if a child were to get ahold of their loaded, unsecured weapon and fire, causing injury or death. The bill was drafted in response to the skyrocketing number of Indiana children who died in the past year after finding their caretaker’s gun and unintentionally shooting it at themselves or others.