Your bill is assigned to one of 25 House committees:
| Agriculture and Rural Development | Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development | Committee on Joint Rules |
| Courts and Criminal Code | Education | Elections and Apportionment |
| Employment, Labor and Pensions | Environmental Affairs | Family, Children and Human Affairs |
| Financial Institutions | Government and Regulatory Reform | Insurance |
| Judiciary | Local Government | Natural Resources |
| Public Health | Public Policy | Roads and Transportation |
| Rules and Legislative Procedures | Select Committee on Government Reduction | Statutory Committee on Ethics |
| Statutory Committee on Interstate and International Cooperation | Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications | Veterans Affairs and Public Safety |
| Ways and Means | ||
| Agriculture and Rural Development | Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development |
| Committee on Joint Rules | Courts and Criminal Code |
| Education | Elections and Apportionment |
| Employment, Labor and Pensions | Environmental Affairs |
| Family, Children and Human Affairs | Financial Institutions |
| Government and Regulatory Reform | Insurance |
| Judiciary | Local Government |
| Natural Resources | Public Health |
| Public Policy | Roads and Transportation |
| Rules and Legislative Procedures | Select Committee on Government Reduction |
| Statutory Committee on Ethics | Statutory Committee on Interstate and International Cooperation |
| Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications | Veterans Affairs and Public Safety |
| Ways and Means | |
Now that your bill has been assigned to a committee, the committee chair needs to call for a hearing on the bill. If they don't, the bill dies.
This is where most bills die during the legislative session. In the House, 56 percent of Republican-authored bills in the 2019 legislative session died without a hearing in committee.
Committee chairs
Committee chairs are appointed by the leader of the chamber. In the House, that's the Speaker of the House. In the Senate, that's the Senate President Pro Tempore.
The lawmakers who lead committees wield a lot of power over what does and doesn't move forward during the legislative session. In the 2023 session, 67 percent of Senate bills introduced died in committee and more than 40 percent never even got a hearing.
For two recent examples: in 2021, former House Environmental Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Doug Gutwein (R-Francesville) said he would not hold hearings for any bills assigned to the committee during that session's first half.
In February 2023, it seemed youth climate activists’ moment had come. Their bill to create a climate solutions task force was finally given a hearing in the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee. But the chair adjourned the committee without voting on the bill. He said it needed more work and likely would have died had it been brought for a vote.