Staff Report
BATON ROUGE — A wide range of new Louisiana laws took effect Saturday, Aug. 1, bringing changes involving consumer payments, balloon releases, hit-and-run investigations, hazing prevention, workplace violence, lease agreements, and voter registration reviews.
Under the Louisiana Constitution, laws passed during a regular legislative session generally take effect Aug. 1 unless lawmakers establish a different date.
Notable new laws include:
- Debit card surcharges: Act 751 prohibits retail businesses from charging customers an additional fee for paying with a debit card. The law provides a complaint process through the Attorney General’s Office and civil remedies for certain willful, repeated, or unresolved violations. It does not prohibit credit card surcharges.
- Hit-and-run cases: Act 86, known as Jody’s Law, prohibits courts from using a fixed bail schedule in hit-and-run cases. It also requires investigating agencies to quickly distribute available vehicle, injury, and direction-of-travel information to law enforcement agencies statewide through the Louisiana Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.
- Balloon releases: Act 196 treats the intentional outdoor release of nonbiodegradable balloons as intentional littering. Exceptions include accidental releases, indoor releases, biodegradable balloons, certain scientific and educational uses, and recovered hot air balloons. Minors younger than 17 are also exempt.
- Hazing prevention: Act 309, known as the Caleb Wilson Hazing Prevention Act, expands reporting, training, and disciplinary requirements at public colleges and universities. Student organizations must complete annual hazing-prevention training, and organizations responsible for hazing that results in a death must be permanently banned from operating under the same or another name. A requirement to provide annual hazing education to all students begins in fall 2027.
- Protection for retail and food service employees: Act 342, the Louisiana Behind the Counter Protection Act, increases penalties for simple assault and simple battery committed against certain retail and food service employees while they are working.
- Lease protections: Act 64 expands existing early lease-termination protections to include victims of stalking and cyberstalking who meet the law’s documentation and notice requirements.
- Voter registration reviews: Act 6 requires the secretary of state to conduct an annual citizenship check of voter registration records through a federal verification program. Potential matches must be investigated before being sent to parish registrars for a formal registration challenge.
