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LouisianaHB 5192025 Regular SessionHouse

MTR VEHICLE/VIOLATIONS: Provides relative to the operation of a motor vehicle while using a wireless telecommunication device (EN SEE FISC NOTE LF RV)

Sponsored By: Brian Leonard Glorioso (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Transportation, Highways and Public Works

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.

Search limits protect cited drivers

Outside school and highway construction zones, device-use citations are secondary offenses and require detention for another alleged traffic violation. The officer must have a clear, unobstructed view of the prohibited use. Based only on that device offense, officers cannot seize, search, view, or require drivers to give up their devices. Officers also cannot search—or request to search—the vehicle, driver, or passengers based only on that offense. An arrest that takes the driver into custody is barred unless there is an open warrant, including for nonpayment or failure to appear.

Statewide limits on drivers’ device use

Louisiana drivers generally cannot hold or handle wireless devices on public roads unless the vehicle is lawfully stationary. The limits cover handheld calls, texts, social media, images, videos, data access, and manual app use. Hands-free calls and navigation remain allowed. Exceptions cover emergency reports, transit or for-hire dispatch messages, official emergency-vehicle duties, and 9-1-1 reports of crimes in progress. Autonomous vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, golf carts, horse- or human-powered vehicles, and wheelchairs are excluded. The statewide framework replaces four older state laws and overrides local driver-device rules. Transportation officials and State Police must report annually by April 1, from 2027 through 2032. Reports must assess the law’s impact and show distracted-driving crash counts by area, using data already collected.

Driver fines with lower-payment options

Before January 1, 2026, officers must issue only written warnings for these violations. Beginning January 1, 2026, fines are $250 in school or highway construction zones and $100 elsewhere. A judge may lower those fines to $100 or $50, respectively, and require up to 15 community-service hours. At least half of that service must be in the specified litter-cleanup program. A crash at the time doubles the applicable fine, making the unreduced fines $500 in those zones or $200 elsewhere. Officers can stop drivers solely for device use in school or highway construction zones. Elsewhere, a citation requires detention for another alleged traffic violation. Drivers whose violations involve no crash, bodily injury, or death can avoid court by pleading guilty or no contest. They must pay the fine and waive their right to contest the charge.

Driver fines help fund legal defense

Part of each collected device-use fine goes to the local fund for legal defense of people who cannot afford lawyers. The fund receives $100 for each school-zone or highway-construction-zone fine and $50 for each fine elsewhere. The money goes to the judicial district where the citation was issued. These amounts come from the collected fine, not an added charge.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Brian Leonard Glorioso

    Republican • House

Cosponsors

  • Chance Keith Henry

    Republican • House

  • Dennis Bamburg Jr.

    Republican • House

  • Jessica Domangue

    Republican • House

  • John E. Wyble

    Republican • House

  • Kim Carver

    Republican • House

  • Kimberly Landry Coates

    Republican • House

  • Mandie Landry

    Democratic • House

  • Michael Melerine

    Republican • House

  • Patrick McMath

    Republican • Senate

  • Stephanie H. Berault

    Republican • House

  • Troy Jude Hebert

    Republican • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 208 • No: 34

House vote • 6/4/2025

Read by title, roll called, yeas 94, nays 1, Senate amendments concurred in.

Yes: 94 • No: 1

Senate vote • 6/2/2025

Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 33 yeas and 5 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

Yes: 33 • No: 5

House vote • 5/6/2025

Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 71, nays 28. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

Yes: 71 • No: 28

House vote • 4/28/2025

Reported favorably

Yes: 10 • No: 0

Actions Timeline

  1. Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 288.

    6/11/2025House

  2. Effective date: 08/01/2025.

    6/11/2025House

  3. Sent to the Governor for executive approval.

    6/9/2025House

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

    6/8/2025House

  5. Signed by the President of the Senate.

    6/8/2025Senate

  6. Read by title, roll called, yeas 94, nays 1, Senate amendments concurred in.

    6/4/2025House

  7. Received from the Senate with amendments.

    6/3/2025House

  8. Scheduled for concurrence on 06/04/2025.

    6/3/2025House

  9. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 33 yeas and 5 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

    6/2/2025Senate

  10. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

    6/1/2025Senate

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

    6/1/2025Senate

  12. Reported favorably.

    5/29/2025Senate

  13. Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works.

    5/8/2025Senate

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

    5/7/2025Senate

  15. Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 71, nays 28. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

    5/6/2025House

  16. Scheduled for floor debate on 05/06/2025.

    5/5/2025House

  17. Read by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.

    4/29/2025House

  18. Reported favorably (10-0).

    4/28/2025House

  19. Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works.

    4/14/2025House

  20. Prefiled.

    4/4/2025House

  21. Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works.

    4/4/2025House

Bill Text

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