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LouisianaHB 1402026 Regular SessionHouse

JUVENILE PROCEDURE: Provides relative to the time limitations governing juvenile delinquency proceedings (EN SEE FISC NOTE LF EX)

Sponsored By: Vincent E. Cox III (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Judiciary BAdministration of Criminal Justice

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

7 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 4 mixed.

Children can seek dismissal for delays

Louisiana juvenile hearings must begin within 90 days after the appearance to answer for children held on legally defined violent-crime charges. The deadline is 45 days for other children kept in custody, or 120 days for children not kept in custody. After the deadline, a child must file a written dismissal request before adjudication and certify notice to the district attorney. The court must hear both sides and dismiss unless the state shows good cause for delay. Dismissal bars further proceedings for the same or a lesser offense based on the same facts.

Children's detention alternatives have clearer limits

Louisiana defines custody as actual confinement in a detention center; alternative-to-detention programs do not count as detention. Joining a program does not decide the case or pause delinquency proceedings. Programs serve detention's limited public-safety purpose and can include rehabilitation. Children can continue after adjudication, but continued participation is not required unless it replaces detention or another out-of-home placement. Treatment referrals remain allowed, but cannot be required as a condition of release; the law also repeals a prior program subsection.

Officers must report children's custody locations

Officers taking a child into custody under a court order must notify the child's parents. They must promptly notify the district attorney where the order was issued, even when custody occurs in another jurisdiction. Officers must record the child's location in the original-charge court record and give the prosecutor a copy with certified notice. They must also promptly transport the child to the appropriate facility.

Broader juvenile records access with safeguards

Police, prosecutors, and judicial officers can obtain relevant delinquency or status-offense records without a court order during ongoing investigations or proceedings. Record keepers can seek a court order limiting disclosure by showing good cause that protection is needed for justice. Recipients must protect records from disclosure outside the criminal justice system. Children taken into custody for felony-grade acts must be photographed or fingerprinted. Officers may photograph or fingerprint children taken into custody for misdemeanor-grade acts.

Courts gain discretion over juvenile transfers

After adjudication, a Louisiana juvenile court can transfer a case rather than being required to transfer it. This discretion applies when the court learns that both conditions in the existing transfer rule exist. The supplied text does not identify those two conditions.

Juvenile hearing clocks pause and restart

Hearing deadlines pause when a child flees or stays away to avoid detection, arrest, or adjudication. They also pause for court-found mental incapacity with specified restoration services or continuances, or a missed appearance despite actual notice documented in the record. A pause also applies when legal process cannot secure the child's presence or another cause beyond the state's control prevents adjudication. For flight or a missed appearance, the clock restarts upon custody, an in-person appearance in the court handling the original petition, or notice to the original-charge prosecutor of the child's custodial location. Other clocks restart when the court finds mental capacity restored or the outside cause ends. The hearing must then begin within the time remaining or 30 days, whichever is longer.

New filing deadlines for juvenile cases

In Louisiana, prosecutors have 5 days after the continued-custody hearing to file a petition when a child stays in custody. This replaces the 48-hour deadline. For children not kept in custody, filing deadlines run from that same hearing: 15 days for misdemeanor-grade acts and 30 days for felony-grade acts. The child must be released if no petition is filed on time.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Vincent E. Cox III

    Republican • House

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 178 • No: 63

House vote • 5/29/2026

Read by title, roll called, yeas 73, nays 25, Senate amendments concurred in.

Yes: 73 • No: 25

Senate vote • 5/28/2026

Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 29 yeas and 8 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

Yes: 29 • No: 8

House vote • 4/20/2026

Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 68, nays 27. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

Yes: 68 • No: 27

House vote • 3/18/2026

Reported with amendments

Yes: 8 • No: 3

Actions Timeline

  1. Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 620.

    6/2/2026House

  2. Effective date: 08/01/2026.

    6/2/2026House

  3. Signed by the President of the Senate.

    6/1/2026Senate

  4. Sent to the Governor for executive approval.

    6/1/2026House

  5. Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.

    5/31/2026House

  6. Read by title, roll called, yeas 73, nays 25, Senate amendments concurred in.

    5/29/2026House

  7. Called from the Calendar.

    5/28/2026Senate

  8. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 29 yeas and 8 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

    5/28/2026Senate

  9. Received from the Senate with amendments.

    5/28/2026House

  10. Scheduled for concurrence on 05/29/2026.

    5/28/2026House

  11. Called from the Calendar.

    5/27/2026Senate

  12. Senate floor amendments read and adopted.

    5/27/2026Senate

  13. Read by title and returned to the Calendar, subject to call.

    5/27/2026Senate

  14. Rules suspended.

    5/13/2026Senate

  15. Read by title and returned to the Calendar, subject to call.

    5/13/2026Senate

  16. Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.

    5/7/2026Senate

  17. Committee amendments read and adopted. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

    5/6/2026Senate

  18. Rules suspended. Reported with amendments.

    5/5/2026Senate

  19. Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary B.

    4/22/2026Senate

  20. Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.

    4/21/2026Senate

  21. Called from the calendar.

    4/20/2026House

  22. Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 68, nays 27. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

    4/20/2026House

  23. Called from the calendar.

    4/13/2026House

  24. Read by title, returned to the calendar.

    4/13/2026House

  25. Notice given.

    4/13/2026House

Bill Text

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