HB 1432 Indiana House · 2026 Regular Session

Death sentence and intellectual disabilities.

HB 1432 establishes a pretrial screening process to determine if a defendant facing a death penalty charge has an intellectual disability. This directly affects individuals charged with capital offenses who may qualify for exemption from the death penalty under federal constitutional standards. The bill requires courts to evaluate intellectual disability before trial, ensuring this determination occurs early in the legal process. The measure passed the House unanimously (96-0) and is now under review by the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Jan 2026

House Passage

Jan 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 8, 2026 Last action Feb 2, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced House Bill (H) → House Bill (S) · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to clarify that the new intellectual disability evaluation process applies specifically to defendants charged with seeking the death penalty. The revision also corrects the statutory citation from an insanity defense section to a new section dedicated to intellectual disability assessments and ensures the appointed experts include both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed and clarified to apply exclusively to death penalty cases initiated after a specific charging instrument is filed, rather than all criminal cases involving insanity or disability defenses.

ELIGIBILITY

The bill now explicitly limits the mandatory pretrial intellectual disability evaluation to cases where the state has filed a charging instrument seeking the death sentence.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement for court-appointed experts was updated to mandate the inclusion of at least one psychiatrist and at least one psychologist, whereas the original text only required one of each.

TECHNICAL

The statutory citation was changed from IC 35-36-2-2 (insanity defense) to IC 35-36-9-2.5, creating a new, dedicated section for intellectual disability evaluations.

DEFINITION

The purpose of the expert evaluation was clarified to focus on diagnosing and treating intellectual disabilities rather than determining insanity.

Floor votes · House Jan 28, 2026

How they voted

95–0

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 99

Jan 28, 2026

D Democratic29

27 Yea 2

93% Yea

I Independent1

1 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican69

67 Yea 2

97% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 28, 2026

Lower · Passed

Third reading: passed; Roll Call 110: yeas 96, nays 0

lower

Jan 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

Committee report: amend do pass, adopted

lower

2 primary · 2 co-sponsors