Eric Holcomb
Eric Holcomb served as Governor of Indiana from 2017 to 2025, and previously as the state's lieutenant governor. His entries in the archive all fall within his term and record his signature on bills passed by the Indiana General Assembly, including measures on school library materials. He was succeeded by Mike Braun, who also appears in the record.
2023 Events (5)
Indiana enacted HB 1447, barring 'obscene' materials from school libraries and stripping educators' 'harmful to minors' defense
On May 4, 2023, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1447, which bars public school and charter school libraries from making available materials deemed "obscene" or "harmful to minors" and requires published catalogs and challenge-and-removal procedures. The law also removed the "legitimate educational purpose" affirmative defense that had shielded schools and their employees from Level 6 felony prosecution for disseminating material "harmful to minors." The library-restriction language, originally a stalled standalone bill, was inserted through a closed-door conference committee without public testimony.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed HB 1608, barring K-3 instruction on human sexuality and requiring schools to notify parents of gender-identity requests
On May 4, 2023, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1608 into law, creating a new statute (IC 20-30-17) that bars schools, employees, and third-party vendors from providing any instruction on "human sexuality" to students in prekindergarten through grade 3. A separate provision (IC 20-33-7.5) requires schools to notify a parent in writing within five business days whenever an unemancipated minor student requests to be identified by a different name, pronoun, or title. The bill passed the House 65-29, took effect July 1, 2023, and is codified as Public Law 248-2023.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed SB 350, voiding local bans on conversion therapy for minors
On May 1, 2023, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Enrolled Act 350 into law, barring any Indiana city, town, or county from regulating behavioral health and human-services practitioners licensed or certified under IC 25-23.6. The measure, added as IC 25-23.6-2-8.5, was authored in response to local ordinances in Indianapolis, Bloomington, and elsewhere that had prohibited licensed practitioners from performing conversion therapy on minors, and it voids those bans and bars future local protections. Indiana maintains no statewide ban on the practice.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed HB1569, barring state funds for gender-affirming surgery for incarcerated people
On April 20, 2023, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1569 into law, adding Indiana Code 11-10-3-3.5 to bar the Indiana Department of Correction from authorizing state or federal funds to provide or facilitate gender-affirming surgery for incarcerated people, even when recommended by a medical provider. The measure, passed by the Indiana General Assembly, left hormone therapy untouched and took effect July 1, 2023. It did not apply to inmates already approved for surgery before that date.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed SB 480, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors statewide
On April 5, 2023, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Enrolled Act 480, barring physicians and other practitioners from knowingly providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone therapy, or gender-transition surgery to anyone under 18, on pain of professional discipline. The law, which added IC 25-1-22 to the state code, carved out exceptions for minors with medically verifiable intersex conditions and for treating complications of prior care, and required minors already on hormone therapy to stop by December 31, 2023. It took effect July 1, 2023.