2025 Louisiana Legislative Update
The 2025 Regular Session has concluded, with most new laws taking effect on or before August 1. Below, we've highlighted the Acts most relevant to Ayla users so you can quickly find the changes that may impact your practice.
Table of Contents
- Attorney General, Court Administration, and The Judiciary
- Civil Law
- Criminal Law
- Family Law
- Successions & Estate Planning
Attorney General, Court Administration, and the Judiciary
Attorney General
Act 237 – Federal Oversight & Consent Decrees
Summary: Grants the attorney general broad powers to initiate, defend, or intervene in lawsuits affecting the state’s sovereign interests. It also:
- Allows the attorney general to represent state and local entities in such matters.
- Requires entities receiving federal claims, demands, or litigation notices to notify the governor and attorney general within 30 days and seek a 60-day stay for possible intervention.
- Prohibits consent judgments in federal court imposing obligations longer than 60 days without approval from both the attorney general and governor.
- Declares that agreements imposing obligations beyond an official’s term are unenforceable.
Effective Date: June 11, 2025
Act 264 – Fugitive Apprehension Unit
Summary: Requires the attorney general to maintain a statewide Fugitive Apprehension Unit within the investigation division of the Department of Justice. The unit is responsible for apprehending fugitives in coordination with other law enforcement agencies.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Court Administration and Procedures
Act 145 – E-Filing Fees in Government Cases
Summary: Clarifies that "court costs" include electronic filing fees, user fees, and related charges by clerks of court or third-party vendors. It removes the 30-day deadline for governmental entities to pay deferred court costs, instead requiring payment only once a judgment becomes final, definitive, or nonappealable, and all issues in the case are fully adjudicated.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 299 – Court Cost Increase for Education and Ethics
Summary: Increases the additional court cost collected on civil filings and criminal convictions from 50¢ to $2.50. One-third of the funds will be dedicated to the Judicial College, with the remainder used for judicial ethics education and best practices.
Effective Date: January 1, 2026 (pending Judicial Council approval)
Act 352 – In-Person Filing
Summary: Allows attorneys to file civil and criminal documents either in person, in paper form, or electronically with the clerk of court, rather than requiring only electronic filing. Certain original documents, such as wills, promissory notes, default judgment motions, and documents requiring originals, may also be filed by mail or courier.
Effective Date: January 1, 2026
🔹 Note: Act 34, included under Successions & Estate Planning, standardizes probate procedures and clarifies cost recovery in indigent succession cases.
Judiciary
Act 219 – Judicial Retirement Age Amendment
Summary: Constitutional amendment to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75. Will appear on the April 18, 2026 ballot.
Effective Date: Upon certification of April 18, 2026 election (if approved)
Act 243 – Judicial Redistricting (19th JDC)
Summary: Reduces judicial election sections in the 19th JDC from three to two, with one at-large judgeship. Updates precinct references and repeals outdated 1994 section.
Effective Date: June 11, 2025
Act 272 – Expanded Commissioner Duties (19th JDC)
Summary: Expands commissioner authority to include pre-indictment motions and protective orders. Applies to both civil and criminal cases involving domestic violence.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Notaries
Act 40 – Notary Licensing Expansion (St. Martin & St. Landry)
Summary: Allows notaries in either St. Martin or St. Landry Parish to exercise notarial authority in both without additional bonding or testing.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 258 – Notary Bond Requirements
Summary: Raises required notary bond from $10,000 to $50,000. Removes recording requirement if issued by licensed surety. Suspension applies for noncompliance.
Effective Date: February 1, 2026
Civil Law
Civil Procedure and Code Revisions
Act 101 – Legislative Continuances
Summary: Reenacts and expands rules allowing legislators and legislative staff to request continuances in court or administrative proceedings during legislative sessions. Establishes a presumption in favor of granting the motion, identifies key exceptions (e.g., custody or criminal cases), and provides expedited appeal rights. Applies retroactively to cases filed or pending on or after October 25, 2024.
Effective Date: June 8, 2025
Act 139 – Administrative Hearings & Judicial Review
Summary: Limits state agency standing in appeals of their own rulings and ends judicial deference to agency interpretations. Requires courts to apply de novo review.
Effective Date: June 08, 2025
Act 250 – Broad Revisions to Code of Civil Procedure (See Summary)
Summary:
- Prescription and Venue:
- Suspends prescription for seven days when filed in a court of improper venue if the defendant is not served within the prescriptive period.
- Protects filings made close to prescription deadlines from sanctions if timely transferred to proper venue.
- Attorney Conduct and Evidence:
- Requires attorneys to use reasonable diligence when authenticating evidence, including AI-generated or manipulated content.
- Procedural Capacity:
- Clarifies that only individuals who are fully interdicted or specifically restricted by limited interdiction lack the capacity to sue.
- Pleadings and Exceptions:
- Permits partial no cause of action exceptions.
- Refines summary judgment procedures and eliminates outdated cross-references.
- Service and Notice:
- Authorizes use of a contradictory motion to contest late service of citation.
- Provides fallback methods if electronic service fails.
- Allows judgment notices to be delivered in open court, which constitutes official notice.
- Subpoenas and Scheduling:
- Clarifies that subpoenas may be issued by the clerk at the request of the court or a party.
- Requires pretrial scheduling orders to address deadlines related to the authenticity of potentially falsified or AI-generated exhibits.
- Default Judgments:
- Specifies acceptable methods to prove that notice was given before obtaining a default judgment.
- Judgments and Appeals:
- Eliminates trial court authority to designate partial judgments as final unless fully adjudicated.
- Redefines such judgments as interlocutory and requires them to be written and signed.
- Removes trial court’s ability to certify partial judgments post-appeal.
- Clarifies that new trial and JNOV motion timelines begin upon notice of judgment, including open court delivery.
- Summary and Succession Procedures:
- Removes outdated provisions on where summary proceedings may be tried.
- Mortgage Enforcement:
- Allows enforcement of additional post-judgment amounts (e.g., attorney fees, taxes).
- Requires seizing creditors to file payoff amounts prior to sheriff’s sale.
- Enables interested parties to contest the payoff amount before disbursement.
- Transfers to District Court:
- Limits a plaintiff’s ability to oppose transfer unless the claim is stipulated to be under $10,000.
- Time Computation:
- Clarifies how legal time periods are calculated, including proper treatment of legal holidays and "next day" deadlines.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 488 – Civil Code Terminology Modernization
Summary: Implements Law Institute recommendations to modernize terms, improve gender neutrality, and consolidate definitions. Changes include replacing outdated language (e.g., “third party” becomes “third person”), revising Articles 2315.1 and 2315.2 on survival and wrongful death, and relocating conflict-of-laws provisions.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Liability and Immunity
Act 175 – Firearm and Ammunition Liability Protections
Summary: Expands liability protections to include ammunition manufacturers and distributors of firearms or ammunition. Shields them from civil liability for injuries caused by criminal or improper use, absent a proven defect. Removes certain federal compliance conditions and clarifies that risk from normal use is not a defect. Courts must award attorney fees, costs, and related damages if a defendant prevails or if a suit is improperly brought, including by a local government.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 234 – Medical Equipment Donation Liability Protection
Summary: Grants civil immunity to nonprofit organizations that donate medical equipment or supplies, provided the items are in proper working order and not subject to a recall at the time of donation. Liability may still apply in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 317 – Public Liability for False Imprisonment
Summary: Limits civil lawsuits against public entities for false imprisonment due to sentence miscalculations. Offenders must first exhaust administrative remedies and obtain a final ruling in their favor. Claims filed too early are dismissed without prejudice; those not properly pursued are dismissed with prejudice.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 345 – Consumable Hemp Liability
Summary: Expands the definition of “illegal controlled substance” to include certain unlawful consumable hemp products. Allows damages against those who provide such products to individuals under 21. Limits liability in some cases where the product was approved or pending permit renewal, unless the injured person is a minor.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Personal Injury and Damages
Act 15 – Modified Comparative Fault
Summary: Replaces Louisiana’s pure comparative fault system with a modified one: plaintiffs found to be 51% or more at fault cannot recover damages. Those found less than 51% at fault may recover, with damages reduced in proportion to their fault. Requires jury instructions on the new standard.
Effective Date: January 1, 2026
Act 16 – Recovery Limits for Uninsured Drivers
Summary: Increases the recovery threshold for uninsured drivers in motor vehicle accidents from $15,000 to $100,000 for both bodily injury and property damage. Uninsured plaintiffs must pay all court costs if awarded damages at or below $100,000 in bodily injury. Insurers retain subrogation rights for amounts above $100,000, even without a filed lawsuit.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 17 – Limits on Damage Recovery by Unauthorized Aliens
Summary: Enacts Civil Code Article 2315.12 to prohibit unauthorized aliens from recovering general damages or past and future wages in lawsuits arising from automobile accidents. This restriction does not apply to claims made under an uninsured or underinsured motorist policy if the unauthorized alien is a named insured.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 18 – No Presumption of Causation
Summary: Prohibits courts from presuming that an injury was caused by an incident solely because the plaintiff lacked a prior history of that condition. Applies only to personal injury claims outside of workers’ compensation and prospectively. Explicitly overrules the precedent set in Housley v. Cerise (1991).
Effective Date: May 28, 2025
Act 176 – Extended Prescription for Survival and Wrongful Death
Summary: Extends the prescriptive period for survival and wrongful death actions to the longer of one year from death or two years from the injury. Clarifies that medical malpractice claims remain governed by existing law.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 383 – Justice for Victims of Abortion Drug Dealers Act
Summary: Creates a civil cause of action for women against individuals who knowingly perform or substantially facilitate an abortion, including by providing abortion-inducing drugs. Allows recovery of statutory, general, and exemplary damages, including for emotional distress. Excludes liability for the woman herself, licensed Louisiana physicians, and pharmacists acting lawfully.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 466 – Limits on Recoverable Medical Expenses
Summary: Revises rules for recovering past medical expenses in civil actions. Eliminates the 40% add-on for billed vs. paid amounts and clarifies that recovery is limited to amounts actually paid (or still owed) by insurers, Medicaid, or the claimant. Juries may now be told both the billed and paid amounts. Excludes medical malpractice and auto med-pay cases.
Effective Date: January 1, 2026
🔹 Note: Act 250, included in Civil Procedure and Code Revisions, may affect procedural processes of some personal injury matters. (E.g. Prescription Interruption, Default Judgments, Service of Citation).
Property and Servitudes
Act 27 – Reform of Rights of Passage and Utility Servitudes
Summary: This act reorganizes and clarifies Louisiana law on legal servitudes for enclosed estates and access to utilities, incorporating recommendations from the Louisiana State Law Institute.
🔹 Civil Code Revisions (Arts. 689–696): Rights of Passage
- Maintains the right of passage for enclosed estates lacking access to a public road or utility, with compensation and indemnity owed to neighbors.
- Moves indemnification provisions to Article 696 to apply to all passage types.
- Clarifies that prescription may bar compensation, but not the right of passage itself.
- Confirms passage must be suitable to the estate’s use and allows necessary construction (e.g., roads).
- Refines location rules: presumes shortest route is least injurious but allows courts to choose alternatives.
- Clarifies that voluntary enclosure by the owner disqualifies the estate from claiming a legal right of passage.
- Specifies that gratuitous passage is owed when enclosure results from:
- Judicial partition (over where passage was previously used).
- Voluntary alienation (over land that caused the enclosure).
- Allows relocation of passage only by the servient estate owner, and only if the new route is equally convenient.
🔹 New Utility Servitude Provisions (R.S. 9:1281–1289)
- Defines “utility” as services commonly used in an ordinary household (e.g., electricity, water, internet).
- Allows a utility servitude over neighboring property when an estate lacks access to a utility.
- Limits utility servitudes to what is reasonably necessary and permits construction and maintenance of required infrastructure.
- Establishes that utility servitudes should follow the shortest, least injurious route.
- Denies servitude claims if utility access was lost due to the owner’s voluntary act.
- Requires gratuitous utility access in cases of judicial partition or voluntary alienation.
- Permits relocation of utility servitudes by the servient estate owner if the new location is equally convenient.
- Requires indemnity for damage caused by utility servitude use; the right to demand indemnity may prescribe.
🔹 Additional Actions
- Repeals C.C. Art. 696.1 and moves utility-related rules to the Revised Statutes.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
🔹 Note: Act 250, included in Civil Procedure and Code Revisions, may affect procedural processes of some property matters. (E.g. Methods of Enforcing Mortgage).
Back to topCriminal Law
Bail, Probation, and Parole
Act 72 – Revocation of Probation
Summary: Updates probation violation and revocation rules:
- Expands the definition of "technical violations" to include prohibited acts involving drug paraphernalia under R.S. 40:1023.
- Changes probation revocation for felony probationers: it is now mandatory (rather than permissive) when the defendant commits and is convicted of a felony that would be a felony in Louisiana.
- Removes probation revocation for misdemeanor convictions under Title 14 or Part X of Chapter 4 of Title 40.
- Exempts defendants ordered to complete a drug or specialty court program from automatic revocation; however, failure to complete the program will result in probation revocation.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 128 – The Maggie Grace Act
Summary: This act expands privacy protections for victims and their families during executive sessions of the Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole.
- Testimony Privacy: Victims and surviving family members may request to present testimony in executive session. Such testimony is confidential and exempt from public records law.
- New Crime Created: Prohibits knowingly obtaining and publicly sharing recordings of this testimony. Violations are punishable by up to a $500 fine or six months in jail.
- Court-Authorized Disclosure: Allows access to confidential testimony through the 19th JDC with a protective order and a showing of necessity under strict standards.
- Public Records & Open Meetings Exceptions: Updates relevant statutes to reflect the confidentiality of executive session testimony and allow for closed sessions when such testimony is presented.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 149 – Bail Discharge for Deportees
Summary: Allows a surety to be released from bail obligations if the defendant has been deported. Proof of deportation may be filed with the court within 180 days of notice of warrant, or established through a hearing if documentation is unavailable. Once deportation is confirmed, all bail obligations are discharged.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 158 – Parole, Sentencing, and Deportation Reforms
Summary:
This act enacts wide-ranging changes to Louisiana law on sentence reduction, parole eligibility, and deportation-based parole, especially for habitual offenders and noncitizens.
- Good Time and Sentence Reductions
- Bars habitual offenders and those convicted of sex offenses from earning diminution of sentence (good time).
- Increases the required discipline-free period from 12 to 36 months to qualify for:
- Intensive parole supervision.
- Transfer to veterans' court programs.
- Unsupervised Parole & Split Sentences
- Clarifies that unsupervised parole runs concurrently with probation for offenders serving a split sentence.
- Requires earned good time to be served consecutively if a new crime is committed while on unsupervised parole.
- Custodial Substance Abuse Treatment
- Limits time served for a technical parole violation in custodial treatment programs to 180 days.
- Deportation Eligibility Hearing Committee
- Creates a new process allowing certain nonviolent, non-sex-offender aliens to be paroled for deportation if:
- They have a final order of removal or detainer from DHS.
- The governor and district attorney approve the parole.
- Requires direct transfer to U.S. DHS custody, with parole automatically revoked if the person reenters the U.S. or is released from federal custody for non-deportation reasons.
- Creates a new process allowing certain nonviolent, non-sex-offender aliens to be paroled for deportation if:
- Other Revisions
- Removes outdated parole compliance credit provisions.
- Repeals prior law granting credit for time served on parole following revocation.
Effective Date: June 8, 2025
Controlled Substances and Drug Policy
Act 41 – Kratom Ban
Summary: Criminalizes kratom in Louisiana by adding its active compounds (mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine) to Schedule I. Possession, production, or distribution is now illegal, with penalties ranging from a $100 fine to 5 years in prison depending on the amount and offense.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 102 – Expansion of Fentanyl Test Strips Exception
Summary: Expands the prior exemption for fentanyl test strips to include devices that detect any dangerous controlled substance, as long as they aren't used to facilitate illegal drug production or distribution.
Effective Date: June 8, 2025
Act 121 – Schedule I Additions
Summary: This Act expands Louisiana’s Schedule I list of controlled dangerous substances to include synthetic opiods and a stimulant novel psychoactive substance.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 154 – Hallucinogen Criminalization
Summary: This Act criminalizes the production, sale, or distribution of hallucinogenic plants and fungi, including psychedelic mushrooms and other natural sources of hallucinogens. It also prohibits advertisements that promote these substances for human consumption.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 233 – Underage Hemp Use
Summary: Creates new crimes for selling or providing consumable hemp products to anyone under 21, and for purchase or possession by minors, with penalties including fines and citations. Establishes criminal penalties (up to $50,000 and 10 years in prison) for manufacturing or distributing hemp products outside regulatory compliance.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
🔹 Note: Act 169, included under Crimes Against the Person, involves the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death.
Correctional Facilities and Inmates
Act 46 – Integrated Criminal Justice Information System
Summary: Requires law enforcement agencies to electronically submit sentencing documents through the Integrated Criminal Justice Information System.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 253 – Prisoner Civil Litigation Reforms
Summary: Revises procedures for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals filing civil suits in forma pauperis. Requires prisoners to submit financial documentation, pay initial filing fees based on available funds, and make monthly payments.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 278 – Religious and Educational Materials in Solitary Confinement
Summary: This Act requires correctional facilities to provide inmates in solitary confinement with access to all educational training and materials or religious materials he would otherwise have access to in the least restrictive housing available at the institution.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 317 – False Imprisonment / Public Liability
Summary: This Act limits the liability of state and local public entities in cases where a person is imprisoned under a court-issued sentence later found to be invalid.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
🔹 Note: Act 193, included under Trial & Evidence, Sentencing, and Post-Coviction Procedure, affects the Department of Correction's role in the execution of a death sentence.
Crimes Against the Person
Act 97 – Grooming / Indecent Behavior with Juveniles
Summary: Expands the crime of indecent behavior with juveniles to include grooming a child under 17, when the offender is at least four years older. Grooming is defined as manipulating or coercing a child with the intent to commit a sex offense. Completion of a sexual act is not required, and lack of knowledge of the child's age is not a defense.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 142 – Sex Offender Restrictions Near Schools
Summary: Expands the crimes of unlawful presence of a sex offender or sexually violent predator to include loitering between 6–9 a.m. or 2–5 p.m. within 500 feet of areas used for school pickups or drop-offs when children are present and the offender has reasonable grounds to believe children are awaiting pickup or drop-off. Defines "reasonable grounds" and "loitering."
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 169 – The Segus Jolivette Act
Summary: Expands second-degree murder to include deaths resulting from resisting a police officer with force or violence. Also broadens manslaughter to cover cases where a person unlawfully distributes or dispenses controlled dangerous substances (Schedules I–V) that significantly contribute to another’s death, whether the victim ingested the drugs directly or through a third party.
Effective Date: June 8, 2025
Act 230 – Human Trafficking & Prostitution
Summary: Expands penalties for child trafficking and prostitution-related crimes. It criminalizes soliciting or purchasing minors for commercial sex with penalties of 15–50 years (at least 5 without parole) and fines up to $50,000. Penalties for purchasing commercial sex and repeat solicitation offenses are increased, and minors involved are treated as trafficking victims, not offenders. The act also aligns related prostitution laws with trafficking penalties and adds soliciting minors for prostitution to the sex offender registry.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 275 – Coerced Abortion & Extortion
Summary: Expands the crimes of extortion and coerced abortion. It adds threats intended to force a pregnant woman to have an abortion as a form of extortion and broadens coerced abortion to include using or threatening physical force, control, or intimidation.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 343 – Elder Abuse as Predicate for Homicide
Summary: Adds cruelty to the elderly and persons with infirmities to the list of underlying crimes that can elevate a killing to first or second degree murder, even without intent to kill in second degree cases.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 346 – Sex Offenses Involving Minors
Summary: Expands the definition of second degree rape to include sex with a victim aged 13–16 when the offender is three or more years older. It extends the time limit to prosecute all sex offenses involving victims under 18 to 30 years. Raises the age limit from 12 to 13 for child statements admissible under the hearsay exception.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Juvenile Justice
Act 364 – Juvenile Record Confidentiality
Summary: Keeps juvenile records confidential and bars their inclusion in background checks for anyone outside the criminal justice system. Allows sharing of juvenile records within the system and requires audit trails for any access.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 435 – River Parishes Juvenile Justice District Expansion
Summary: Expands the governance of the River Parishes Juvenile Justice District by adding Lafourche Parish.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Property and Financial Offenses
Act 28 – Gift Card Theft
Summary: Expands access device fraud to include possession of 15 or more counterfeit or stolen devices with intent to defraud and adds gift cards to the definition of “access device.” Restitution must cover actual pecuniary loss to the victim and be paid through the court or directly to the victim.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 188 - Enhanced Penalties for Certain Financial Crimes
Summary: Increases penalties and requires restitution for repeat offenses of bank fraud and illegal transmission of funds. Allows prosecutors to introduce evidence of prior fraudulent acts or warnings to establish intent in financial crime cases.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 231 – Utility Payment Fraud
Summary: Makes it a crime for a person who collects utility payments under a lease or rental agreement to knowingly fail to apply the funds to the utility bill within 60 days or to use deception in doing so. Penalties range from up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine (for amounts under $1,000) to up to 20 years in prison and a $50,000 fine (for $25,000+), with enhanced penalties for repeat offenders.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 255 – Criminal Property Blighting
Summary: Updates the definitions and elements of the crime of criminal blighting of property. It broadens "blighted property" to include any vacant or occupied property declared blighted or a public nuisance by a court or administrative hearing officer. It also adds apartments to the definition of "public nuisance" and clarifies that a property can meet the crime’s elements if declared a public nuisance.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Technology, Drones, and Electronic Monitoring
Act 23 – Use of Drones Near Military Sites
Summary: Expands the prohibition on operating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) without authorization to include federal or state military installations or facilities. Violations are punishable by a $2,000–$5,000 fine, up to five years at hard labor, and forfeiture of the UAS.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 140 – Use of Cell Tracking Devices by Bail Agents
Summary: Prohibits the use of cellular tracking devices, requiring a court order for use in law enforcement investigations. Defines "bail enforcement agent," outlines penalties for unauthorized use, and requires agents using court-approved tracking devices to enter collected information into the court record. Expands when a surety can request a warrant for a defendant’s failure to appear.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 170 – Law Enforcement Response to Drones / Use of Drones at Parades
Summary: Authorizes law enforcement to take reasonable measures, such as detection, tracking, and disabling, against drones operating in a nefarious manner when there is reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or imminent public safety threats. It also creates the crime of using a drone at a parade, punishable by a $2,000–$5,000 fine, up to one year in prison, and forfeiture of the drone.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 250 – Use of Artificial Intelligence by Attorneys
Summary: Establishes new duties for attorneys related to AI-generated or altered evidence, including required disclosure and verification. Authorizes sanctions for violations.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Note: These duties and sanctions do not apply to Ayla documents. Ayla does not use artificial intelligence—every template is built by Louisiana attorneys to ensure full control, transparency, and compliance.
Act 416 – Electronic Monitoring Standards
Summary: Strengthens regulations for electronic monitoring services in Louisiana. Adds certification and registration requirements for providers and manufacturers, expands notification obligations to include prosecuting authorities, and shortens reporting deadlines for monitoring violations to 30 minutes. Allows courts to impose conditions like curfews or inclusion/exclusion zones, requires adults to pay monitoring costs, and revokes participation after three violations. Also, creates the crime of violating electronic monitoring conditions.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Traffic and Vehicle Offenses
Act 16 – Recovery Limits for Uninsured Drivers
Summary: This Act increases the recovery threshold for uninsured drivers in motor vehicle accidents from $15,000 to $100,000 for both bodily injury and property damage. Uninsured plaintiffs must pay all court costs if awarded damages at or below $100,000 in bodily injury. Insurers retain subrogation rights for amounts above $100,000, even without a filed lawsuit.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 17 – Limits on Damage Recovery by Unauthorized Aliens
Summary: Enacts Civil Code Article 2315.12 to prohibit unauthorized aliens from recovering general damages or past and future wages in lawsuits arising from automobile accidents. This restriction does not apply to claims made under an uninsured or underinsured motorist policy if the unauthorized alien is a named insured.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 107 – Traffic Camera Reform
Summary: Limits the use of automated speed enforcement devices and mobile speed cameras to school zones with strict signage and marking requirements. It prohibits issuing fines or fees using these devices if the requirements are not met and makes violations by public officials malfeasance in office. It also mandates free administrative appeals for citations and bans referring unpaid citations to the state Office of Debt Recovery.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 124 – Hit and Run Injury Penalty
Summary: Increases the mandatory minimum time of imprisonment for drivers who flee the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury or death.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 194 – Increased Fines for Certain Driving Offenses
Summary: Adds additional fines to convictions for impaired driving, reckless operation, speeding, and drag racing. Fines range from $5 to $250 depending on the offense and number of prior violations. The additional fines will be collected by sheriffs and deposited into the Louisiana Emergency Response Network Fund to support trauma, stroke, and cardiac care initiatives.
Effective Date: June 8, 2025
Act 202 – Construction Zone Penalties
Summary: Increases penalties for speeding or breaching construction zones, utility safety zones, and highway safety corridors when workers are present. Fines are now:
- $500–$1,000 for violations in active construction or utility work zones.
- $750–$1,000 (or up to 30 days in jail) for violations in highway safety corridors.
This replaces the prior “double fine” rule.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 509 – Temporary Tag Enforcement
Summary: Strengthens penalties for using or displaying fictitious temporary license plates and updates regulations for issuing and displaying dealer-issued temporary registration plates.
Effective Date: July 1, 2025
Trial & Evidence, Sentencing, and Post-Conviction Procedure
Act 38 – Disclosure of Financial Records by Subpoena
Summary: Expands the circumstances under which banks and their affiliates may disclose financial records, allowing disclosure in response to subpoenas issued during state criminal investigations and by the state inspector general, in addition to existing grand jury proceedings.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 76 – Jury Polling for Mistrial
Summary: Provides a method of jury polling for cases in which a verdict was not reached..
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 193 – Death Penalty Procedures
Summary: Revises the procedures for carrying out a death sentence, including the timing for setting and resetting execution dates, the required presence of witnesses, and the permissible hours of execution.
Effective Date: June 8, 2025
Act 246 – Habitual Offender Lookback
Summary: Updates Louisiana’s Habitual Offender Law by clarifying how the five- and ten-year time gaps between prior and current felony convictions are calculated. The law now measures from the completion of the prior sentence, probation, or parole and excludes time spent incarcerated or under supervision.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 346 – Sex Offense Hearsay Exceptions
Summary: Raises the age limit from 12 to 13 for child statements admissible under the hearsay exception.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
🔹 Note: Act 52, included under Weapons and Firearms, provides sentencing enhancements for felony offenses when a firearm is involved.
🔹 Note: Act 52, included under Weapons and Firearms, provides sentencing enhancements for felony offenses when a firearm is involved.
🔹 Note: Act 158, included under Property and Financial Offenses, enhances penalties and modifies evidentiary rules related to financial crimes.
Victims' Rights
Act 226 – Victims' Fund
Summary: Renames the Exploited Children’s Special Fund as the Survivor Special Fund and expands the list of crimes that require offenders to pay a $2,000 assessment into the fund. The fund will now support services for victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 370 – Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights
Summary: Establishes a comprehensive Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights and directs the state to create a coordinated victims' services system by July 1, 2026. Guarantees victims and witnesses key rights throughout the criminal process, including timely notifications, access to services, and participation in hearings. Also requires sheriffs to notify victims and media of inmate escapes and recaptures.
Effective Date: June 20, 2025
🔹 Note: Act 230, included under Crimes Against the Person, expands protections for trafficking victims.
Warrants and Arrests
Act 63 – Warrant Notice Procedures
Summary: Updates procedures for sending notices of arrest warrants. It requires the clerk of court to notify the prosecuting attorney within 60 days of a defendant’s failure to appear, rather than within 60 days of the warrant being issued. It also allows electronic notification to agents or bondsmen who opt in. Failure to send notice to the commercial surety and opted-in agents or bondsmen within 60 days will release the surety from all bail obligations.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 399 – Obstruction of Immigration Enforcement
Summary: Expands obstruction of justice to include civil immigration proceedings and interference with federal immigration enforcement, with penalties up to $5,000 and one year in jail. Broadens malfeasance in office to include releasing individuals in the U.S. illegally without notifying federal authorities or refusing lawful federal cooperation requests, and mandates compliance with federal detainer requests.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 426 – Use of Force Reporting
Summary: Requires the Council on Peace Officer Standards and Training to adopt a statewide policy mandating reports when peace officers use physical force causing serious bodily injury. The deadline for adoption is January 1, 2026.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
🔹 Note: Act 264, included under Attorney General, establishes a Fugitive Apprehension Unit to assist with the location and arrest of fugitives, with a focus on violent felonies.
Weapons and Firearms
Act 52 – Firearm Sentencing Enhancements
Summary: Allows for plea agreements to include a stipulation that firearm sentencing enhancements apply if the state filed a motion and the case is resolved by plea. The stipulation must identify the relevant enhancement provision and underlying offense.
Effective Date: June 4, 2025
Act 420 – Concealed Carry Permit Exceptions
Summary: Excludes privately owned vocational-technical schools from the definition of "school" for certain weapons laws and clarifies that restrictions on carrying firearms near schools do not apply to individuals with valid concealed handgun permits from states with reciprocity with Louisiana.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 424 – Explosives Near Events
Summary: Increases penalties for manufacturing or possessing a bomb within an enhanced security zone or within 100 feet of a permitted parade, demonstration, or gathering, raising fines to up to $20,000 and requiring at least 20 years at hard labor. It also requires applicants to cover background investigation and criminal history check costs for explosives licensure.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Family Law
Act 116 – In Vitro Fertilized Human Embryos
Summary: Updates and clarifies Louisiana’s regulations on in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos and liability:
- Standardizes terminology by using “in vitro fertilized human embryo” and defines viable and nonviable embryos.
- Grants intended parents decision-making authority and bans agreements that allow intentional destruction of embryos.
- Expands donation options beyond married couples and requires disputes to be resolved under IVF agreements before going to court.
- Provides immunity from criminal prosecution to IVF professionals unless actions involve criminal intent or criminal negligence.
- Requires civil claims against qualified healthcare providers to follow the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act, while nonqualified providers remain subject to standard civil liability rules.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 409 – Child Protection & Mandatory Abuse Reporting
Summary: Strengthens background checks, child safety standards, and reporting requirements for schools, early learning centers, and child care programs. Key provisions include:
- Extends employment bans to individuals listed on the DCFS state central registry and prohibits BESE from issuing educator credentials for certain felony convictions.
- Prohibits schools and child care centers from employing anyone on the registry; exempts employees from registry search fees.
- Adds human trafficking and sexual battery of persons with infirmities to disqualifying offenses for working with children.
- Requires all nonpublic pre-K programs (with limited exceptions) to be licensed and comply with new child safety and welfare standards; violations must be posted online and shared with parents annually.
- Mandates schools and early learning centers to report employee completion of mandatory reporter training beginning in the 2026-2027 school year; expands definitions and responsibilities of mandatory reporters.
- Allows parents of children sexually abused in a school setting to seek damages, including tuition reimbursement.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 477 – DCFS Reorganization
Summary: Restructures the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) by creating two new offices: the Office of Child Welfare and the Office of Child Support. Certain family and support programs are transferred from the Department of Children and Family Services to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Effective Date: July 1, 2025 (statutory updates); October 1, 2025 (organizational changes)
🔹 Note: Act 250, included in Civil Procedure and Code Revisions, may affect procedural processes in Family Law cases.
Back to topSuccessions and Estate Planning
Act 30 – Form Requirements for Testaments
Summary: Simplifies the formal requirements for olographic and notarial testaments. Key changes include:
- Allows signatures and dates to appear anywhere in a testament, with dates able to be clarified by external evidence.
- Removes certain formalities, including attestation clauses and declarations by the testator.
- Repeals multiple older Civil Code articles detailing specific formalities for different situations (e.g., for those unable to read or sign).
- Establishes when a notarial testament is considered “self-proving,” eliminating the need for additional proof at probate if signed on every page and properly attested.
- Applies both prospectively and retroactively but does not revive prescribed claims or final judgments.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 34 – Ex Parte Probate and Indigent Cost Rules
Summary: Updates Louisiana succession law by streamlining probate procedures, clarifying objection requirements, and addressing cost payment in succession proceedings.
- Authorizes ex parte probate when no objections are filed.
- Requires all objections to be filed in writing, eliminating the prior allowance for oral objections at probate hearings.
- Removes detailed procedural steps for probate hearings, such as reading the testament aloud and paraphing each page..
- Clarifies that succession proceedings qualify for the privilege of litigating without the upfront payment of costs. Any costs incurred under this privilege are to be paid from the succession’s assets once available.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
Act 39 – Limits on Penalty Clauses in Wills, Trusts, and Donations
Summary: Enacts Civil Code Article 1519.1, which addresses the enforceability of penalty (no-contest) clauses in juridical acts such as donations, successions, and trusts. Under the new law, these clauses are unenforceable if, at the time of the challenge, there was a factual basis that would lead a reasonable person to believe the challenge was likely to succeed.
Effective Date: August 1, 2025
🔹 Note: Act 250, included in Civil Procedure and Code Revisions, may affect procedural processes relative to Successions and Estate Planning.
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