Month: June 2026

Know Your Laws: 2026 Louisiana Legislative Update

The 2026 Louisiana Legislative Session produced many changes. Below are the major bills that either became ACTS, signed by the President or House speaker, or were sent to the Governor. 

All bills supported by VOTE failed to make it across the finish line. While these bills did not pass this year, they highlighted important issues facing Louisiana families and communities and helped continue the conversation around fairness, public safety, housing, healthcare, and voting rights.

The bills included:

  • HB 270 – expanding absentee voting for eligible incarcerated people
  • HB 404 – increasing access to medication-assisted treatment in prisons and jails
  • HB 432 – ending prison-based gerrymandering
  • HB 458 – increasing take-home pay for people in work release programs
  • HB 479 – requiring lawmakers to project the true long-term costs of incarceration policies
  • HB 564 – reforming Louisiana’s accomplice liability laws
  • HB 617 – strengthening protections for renters by limiting hidden application fees and barriers to housing

All efforts to provide relief for people convicted by non-unanimous juries failed during the 2026 Legislative Session. HB 1065, HB 532, SB 215, and HB 219each sought to create some form of parole eligibility, post-conviction relief, or constitutional remedy for people convicted under Louisiana’s former non-unanimous jury system. No new pathway for relief was created this year, leaving many people convicted by non-unanimous jury verdicts still waiting for justice.

Criminal Justice & Incarceration 

Several bills expanded sentencing restrictions, supervision requirements, and post-conviction limitations. 

  • HB 51 (ACT 271) Restricts post-conviction bail for people convicted of certain aggravated offenses when the victim is a minor. 
  • HB 111 (ACT 28) allows incarcerated people to earn an additional 90 days of “good time” credit for completing an associate degree while incarcerated. 
  • HB 125 (ACT 123) mandates lifetime supervision for certain offenders whose victims are under 13. 
  • HB 131 (ACT 54) makes post-conviction relief harder to obtain and delays release eligibility while appeals continue. 
  • HB 143 (ACT 530) Increases the daily payment DOC makes to local jails for housing state inmates from $26.39 to $29.39 starting in Fiscal Year 2027–2028. 
  • HB 191 (ACT 134) prohibits overlapping jail credit on consecutive sentences, effectively increasing time served. 
  • HB 245 (ACT 423) creates a limited medical parole exception despite Louisiana’s post-2024 “No Parole” framework. 
  • HB 280 (ACT 425) reorganizes parole eligibility statutes without major structural changes. 
  • HB 336 (ACT 104) limits timelines for state post-conviction review after federal court findings. 
  • SB 125 (Vetoed by the Governor) increases wrongful conviction compensation from 10 years to 15 years. 
  • SB 201 (ACT 585) removes the “worst of the worst” language from juvenile life without parole hearings. 

Jury Trials & Court Procedures 

  • HB 108 (ACT 419) permanently disqualifies individuals convicted of violent crimes or sex offenses from jury service. 
  • HB 179 (ACT 60) clarifies court control over records when court reporters retire or leave employment. 
  • SB 81 (ACT 455) allows defendants in noncapital felony cases to waive their right to a jury trial. 

Policing & Public Safety 

  • HB 132 (ACT 125) expands battery of a police officer to include harmful sound directed at officers and increases penalties for group-related incidents. 
  • HB 231 (ACT 140) creates a crime for intentionally avoiding service of protective order paperwork. 
  • SB 46 (ACT 201) creates penalties for operating unlicensed group homes, including enhanced penalties if serious harm or death occurs. 
  • SB 51 (ACT 203) creates penalties for falsely claiming military service or honors for personal gain. 
  • SB 58 (ACT 349) increases penalties for aggravated flight from police and directs fine revenue toward police pursuit training and safety technology. 
  • SB 121 (ACT 2) Allowed the State to eliminate a majority black congressional district 

Elections & Government Accountability 

  • HB 547 (ACT 163) strengthens penalties related to election offenses. 
  • HB 691 (ACT 6) requires verification of citizenship for registered voters. 
  • SB 207 (ACT 364) creates a 10-year statute of limitations after a public official leaves office for crimes such as bribery and malfeasance. 
  • SB 47 (ACT 592) requires boards and commissions to publicly list member emails and direct phone numbers. 

Additional Changes 

  • HB 56 (ACT 8) adds additional fines for impaired driving to fund the Louisiana Emergency Response Network. 
  • HB 57 (ACT 26) allows judges to consider the full criminal record of all parties when deciding temporary restraining orders. 
  • HB 64 (ACT 68) allows magistrates to cancel previously issued arrest warrants. 
  • HB 68 (ACT 115) expands disturbing the peace laws to include disruptions of religious services. 
  • HB 98 (ACT 119) strengthens confidentiality protections for domestic violence victims and increases penalties for violations. 
  • HB 161 (ACT 131) adds stricter conditions and employment restrictions for certain trafficking-related offenses. 
  • SB 207 (ACT 364) 10-yr statute of limitations, after official leaves office, on Bribery, Malfeasance in office, etc. 
  • HB 639 (ACT 559) addresses the use of artificial intelligence in telecommunications systems and services. 
  • HB 656 (Sent to Governor) establishes a Department of Corrections pilot program exploring new incarceration and reentry approaches. 
  • HB 813 (ACT 317) changes the Orleans Parish sheriff’s term start date and adds term limits. 
  • Sb 68 (ACT 38) Constitutional amendment to provide for jurisdiction of the Louisiana Supreme Court. 
  • SB 256 (ACT 15) This law eliminated the Calvin Duncan’s seat as Orleans Clerk of Criminal District Court 
  • SB 479 (Sent to Governor) Allows legislative address to the governor for the removal of certain judges for malfeasance, gross misconduct, or incompetence committed while in office. 
  • SB 217 (Sent to Governor) Reduces the number of judges in Orleans Parish 

Why I Keep Showing Up at the Louisiana State Capitol

By Amelia Herrera, VOTE Organizer

There’s a feeling you get the moment you walk into the Louisiana State Capitol. 

It starts before you even reach the committee room. 

You walk in, you get checked in, you nod at the familiar faces at the front desk—but once you get past all that, something shifts. The air gets heavy. The building itself feels like it’s telling you: you don’t belong here. 

And if you listen too closely, your mind starts to echo it. 

What you have to say doesn’t matter. 

They’re not going to listen. 

You should just leave. 

But my feet keep moving anyway. 

Up those hard stairs. 

Down those long halls. 

Into rooms where decisions are made about people’s lives—about my community, about families I know, about the people still locked behind walls and fighting systems that weren’t made to protect them. 

Systems that were never broken—systems that were built to break people. 

Every time I walk into a committee to testify, my body goes into fight or flight. 

My hands tremble. 

My chest tightens. 

Everything in me says: turn around, walk out, run. 

But there’s something stronger than fear. 

It’s the commitment I made to the people I serve. 

It’s the faces of the families who are waiting for someone to speak up. 

It’s the voice of a loved one who can’t stand there themselves. 

And I know—if I don’t speak—I’m letting them down. 

And that feeling? That’s heavier than fear. 

So I stay. 

Even when I feel like I don’t belong. 

Even when I look into the faces of people who refuse to see me. 

Even when I hear laughter, side comments, or watch them scroll their phones like the stories being told in that room aren’t about real human lives. 

There are moments I sit there and ask myself: 

Why am I doing this? 

Why do I keep putting myself through this? 

They don’t care. 

But then something in me answers back. 

What if one person does? 

What if one voice reaches someone sitting behind that desk? 

What if one story shifts something—even just a little? 

What if the record matters, even when the room doesn’t respond? 

Because putting it on record matters. 

Saying their names matters. 

Telling the truth out loud—where they cannot erase it—matters. 

So I make myself steady. 

I stand at that table. 

I become someone stronger than I feel. 

Impenetrable, even when I’m shaking inside. 

And I speak. 

No matter how uncomfortable it is. 

No matter how much my body wants to shut down. 

No matter how much doubt creeps in. 

I speak because I have to. 

This isn’t something I do once. 

It’s something I do every time. 

Every bill. 

Every hearing. 

Every return to that building that makes me feel small the moment I step inside. 

And still—I go back. 

Because this fight doesn’t end when I leave the Capitol. 

It follows me home. 

From the moment my feet hit the floor in the morning 

to the moment I lay down at night— 

I’m fighting. 

For people who look like me. 

For families who are trying to survive systems stacked against them. 

For the ones still inside, still waiting, still hoping someone out here hasn’t forgotten. 

And I’ll be honest: 

I’m tired. 

I hate that this is the fight we have to fight. 

But I’m more afraid of something else. 

I’m afraid of what happens if we stop. 

Because if we lose hope— 

if we stop showing up— 

if we decide it’s not worth it— 

then we lose everything. 

So I keep going back. 

Not because it’s easy. 

Not because I feel welcome. 

Not because I believe those rooms always care. 

But because somebody has to stand there. 

Because our stories deserve to be heard—even when they try not to hear them. 

Because silence would cost too much. 

And because somewhere, in the smallest, slimmest chance— 

it might make a difference. 

Amelia is a dedicated organizer for Voice of the Experienced in Baton Rouge. She is committed to fighting against overly punitive criminal procedures that disproportionately affect Black communities and champions climate justice. She focuses on critical issues such as housing, mental health, employment, and education, while actively advocating for policy changes that support our most vulnerable populations.