Indiana 2025 Regular Session Status: Enacted Bipartisan · 7 R · 2 D cosponsors

HB 1144 — Courts.

Last action — Signed by the Governor

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed House
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 08, 2025. Enacted.

Signed by Governor Mike Braun (Republican) on May 06, 2025.

Odds of enactment

High chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a high chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 78% · moderate confidence

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 9 sponsors

    4 primary, 5 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Bipartisan support

    Sponsored across 2 parties (7 R · 2 D) — cross-party backing.

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

Provides that the judges of the Marion County juvenile courts may not appoint more than 11 magistrates. Eliminates a court in Blackford County and Monroe County. Eliminates a magistrate in Jennings County. Allows the judges of the Elkhart circuit and superior courts to appoint four full-time magistrates. (Current law allows for the appointment of two magistrates.) Adds two superior courts to Hamilton County. Provides that the first judges of Hamilton superior courts No. 8 and No. 9 shall: (1) be elected at the November 2026 general election; (2) take office January 1, 2027; and (3) serve a term of six years. Allows the judges of the Hamilton circuit and superior courts to jointly appoint two additional magistrates to serve the Hamilton County courts. Allows the judge of the Lawrence County juvenile court to appoint not more than one full-time magistrate. Allows the judges of the Vigo circuit and superior courts to jointly appoint one magistrate to serve the Vigo County courts.

Bill Text

We don't have the full text on file for this bill yet.

Read HB 1144 on the official Indiana source →

Action History

  1. Signed by the Governor

  2. Public Law 224

  3. Signed by the President of the Senate

  4. Signed by the President Pro Tempore

  5. Signed by the Speaker

  6. Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the House; Roll Call 558: yeas 83, nays 5

  7. Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the Senate; Roll Call 525: yeas 45, nays 4

  8. CCR # 1 filed in the Senate

  9. CCR # 1 filed in the House

  10. Senate advisors appointed: Yoder and Koch

  11. Senate conferees appointed: Brown L and Pol

  12. Motion to dissent filed

  13. House advisors appointed: Zimmerman, Wesco, Borders, Garcia Wilburn and Gore

  14. House conferees appointed: Jeter and Pfaff

  15. Returned to the House with amendments

  16. House dissented from Senate amendments

  17. Third reading: passed; Roll Call 432: yeas 33, nays 16

  18. Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed

  19. Amendment #4 (Freeman) prevailed; voice vote

  20. Amendment #2 (Yoder) failed; voice vote

  21. Amendment #5 (Brown L) prevailed; voice vote

  22. Senator Randolph added as cosponsor

  23. Committee report: amend do pass, adopted

  24. Senator Rogers added as third sponsor

  25. Committee report: amend do pass adopted; reassigned to Committee on Appropriations

  26. Senator Goode added as cosponsor

  27. First reading: referred to Committee on Judiciary

  28. Referred to the Senate

  29. Third reading: passed; Roll Call 130: yeas 91, nays 0

  30. Senate sponsors: Senators Brown L and Koch

  31. Representative Lopez D added as coauthor

  32. Representatives Pfaff and Wesco added as coauthors

  33. Second reading: ordered engrossed

  34. Committee report: amend do pass, adopted

  35. Committee report: do pass, adopted

  36. Recommitted to the Committee on Ways and Means pursuant to House Rule 126.3

  37. First reading: referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code

  38. Authored by Representative Jeter

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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4 sponsors · 5 co-sponsors · 141 not signed on

Sponsors (4)

Co-sponsors (5)

Not signed on (141)

141 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 141 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

public-safety elections
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does HB 1144 do?
Provides that the judges of the Marion County juvenile courts may not appoint more than 11 magistrates. Eliminates a court in Blackford County and Monroe County. Eliminates a magistrate in Jennings County. Allows the judges of the Elkhart circuit and superior courts to appoint four full-time magistrates. (Current law allows for the appointment of two magistrates.) Adds two superior courts to Hamilton County. Provides that the first judges of Hamilton superior courts No. 8 and No. 9 shall: (1) be elected at the November 2026 general election; (2) take office January 1, 2027; and (3) serve a term of six years. Allows the judges of the Hamilton circuit and superior courts to jointly appoint two additional magistrates to serve the Hamilton County courts. Allows the judge of the Lawrence County juvenile court to appoint not more than one full-time magistrate. Allows the judges of the Vigo circuit and superior courts to jointly appoint one magistrate to serve the Vigo County courts.
Who sponsors HB 1144?
HB 1144 is sponsored by Lonnie Randolph (Democrat), Greg Goode (Republican), Linda Rogers (Republican), Eric Koch (Republican), Liz Brown (Republican), Danny Lopez (Republican), Timothy Wesco (Republican), Tonya Pfaff (Democrat), and Chris Jeter (Republican).
What is the current status of HB 1144?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 08, 2025. Enacted.
Where can I track HB 1144?
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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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