Residents of Terre Haute and the Wabash Valley are impacted by laws made in the state capital, and understanding how a bill becomes a law in Indiana reveals a complex process where most proposals fail to reach the finish line.
At the start of every legislative session, hundreds of bills are filed in both the Indiana House and Senate, with any lawmaker having the ability to author a bill. Chamber rules limit the number of bills lawmakers can file; in short sessions, which occur every two years, senators typically can file 10 bills, while representatives are limited to five. For instance, in the 2026 session, 742 bills were introduced across both chambers—290 in the Senate and 452 in the House. On average, only two to three out of every 10 measures introduced successfully become law.
A bill begins its journey when lawmakers write and file it in their respective chambers. The Speaker of the House or the Senate President Pro Tempore then assigns each bill to a committee, a stage known as the first reading. However, chamber leadership retains the option not to refer a bill to a committee, which effectively kills the measure. If a bill advances, the committee chair decides which bills will be discussed and have hearings. After hearing testimony and evaluating the bill's merits, lawmakers on the committee vote on whether to amend the bill or move it forward to their full chamber. If this vote fails, the bill is killed, unless its language is later incorporated into another piece of legislation.
Should the bill advance from committee, it moves to the full body of legislators for a second reading, provided chamber leadership schedules it. At this stage, any lawmaker in that chamber can propose amendments, which can be approved by a majority vote of the full body. Following the consideration of amendments, the bill may advance to a third reading. During the third reading, the full chamber votes on the bill, again contingent on chamber leadership scheduling the vote. Further amendments are subject to the chamber’s specific rules. A majority of all elected members—51 in the House or 26 in the Senate—is required for the bill to advance. Failure to secure this majority means the bill dies.
Even after passing one chamber, the process is far from complete; the exact same steps must be repeated in the other chamber. The second chamber could choose not to act on the bill, causing it to die. If action is taken, the bill must successfully navigate a first reading, committee approval, and then both second and third readings. Like in the chamber of origin, amendments can be proposed and accepted at various stages, and the bill can be killed at any point in this second chamber review.
If a bill passes through the second chamber without any amendments, it is sent directly to the governor for signature or veto. A bill can also become law without the governor's signature if the governor does not act within seven days of its presentation. Indiana’s constitutional requirements also stipulate that a governor’s veto can be overridden with a simple majority vote of the elected members in each chamber.
However, if the bill advances out of the second chamber with amendments, it must return to the chamber where it originated because it did not remain in its "exact form." The originating chamber then has two main options: it can vote to approve the changes made by the second chamber, in which case the bill is sent to the governor, or it can abandon the bill altogether, thus killing it.
If the first chamber does not agree to the amendments made by the second chamber, the bill can be assigned to a conference committee. This committee typically consists of two members from each chamber, usually one from each major political party, who attempt to reconcile the differences between the two legislative bodies. If an agreement cannot be reached, the bill dies. If an agreement is reached, the revised bill returns to both the Senate and the House. Both chambers must approve this agreed-upon version of the bill before it can finally be sent to the governor. In the 2026 session, out of the 742 bills introduced, approximately 22% ultimately passed, resulting in 163 new laws, with 80 originating in the Senate and 83 in the House.