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Your bill is now assigned to one of 22 Senate committees:
Agriculture | Appropriations | Commerce and Technology |
Corrections and Criminal Law | Education and Career Development | Elections |
Environmental Affairs | Ethics | Family and Children Services |
Health and Provider Services | Homeland Security and Transportation | Insurance and Financial Institutions |
Joint Rules | Judiciary | Local Government |
Natural Resources | Pensions and Labor | Public Policy |
Rules and Legislative Procedures | Tax and Fiscal Policy | Utilities |
Veterans Affairs and The Military |
Agriculture | Appropriations |
Commerce and Technology | Corrections and Criminal Law |
Education and Career Development | Elections |
Environmental Affairs | Ethics |
Family and Children Services | Health and Provider Services |
Homeland Security and Transportation | Insurance and Financial Institutions |
Joint Rules | Judiciary |
Local Government | Natural Resources |
Pensions and Labor | Public Policy |
Rules and Legislative Procedures | Tax and Fiscal Policy |
Utilities | Veterans Affairs and The Military |
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 Senate, 86 percent of Democrat-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.