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LouisianaHB 5782026 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

CIVIL/LAW: Provides for the Restoring Biological Truth Act

Sponsored By: Mike Johnson (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Judiciary ACivil Law and Procedure

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

20 provisions identified: 14 benefits, 1 costs, 5 mixed.

Limits on pregnancy termination contract terms

Gestational carrier contracts cannot require consent to end a pregnancy because of sex discrimination. This rule covers pregnancies from an embryo transferred into the uterus. The contract term is unenforceable in Louisiana, even if signed in another state.

Sex-based risks in child abduction cases

Child-custody abduction petitions must list the child's sex when it can reasonably be determined. Courts assessing abduction risk must consider sex-based travel or exit limits in the destination country. This includes limits on the petitioner and limits on the child's ability to leave after reaching adulthood.

Sex-specific planning for exploited children

The Department of Children and Family Services must account for sexually exploited children's distinct needs according to sex. This applies when the department assesses service needs and capacity. The rule does not guarantee a particular service or payment.

Insurers cannot score using personal traits

Insurers using credit information to decide coverage or rates cannot use insurance scores calculated with certain personal traits. Banned factors include income, sex, address, ZIP code, ethnic group, religion, marital status, and nationality. This limits insurance-score inputs, not every factor used in setting premiums.

Charter admissions cannot exclude by sex

Charter school admission rules cannot exclude students because of sex, race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin. Requirements tied to a school's mission remain allowed as specified in the law. The rule does not change tuition.

Fair access to Palmetto student scholarships

Palmetto's scholarship program cannot discriminate by race, color, sex, disability, national origin, or creed. Students must live in St. Landry Parish and attend a Louisiana higher-education institution. Applicants need financial need and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. They must live in Palmetto. If no village resident qualifies, a student whose parent or guardian is a village utility customer can qualify instead.

Inmate job training regardless of sex

Louisiana's corrections department must offer inmates employment opportunities and vocational training regardless of sex. Access remains subject to available resources, physical custody, and appropriate classification criteria. The law sets no payment or funding amount.

Limited tuition waivers for college athletes

College management boards may create tuition waivers for sex equity in intercollegiate sports; awards are not guaranteed. Students must play an intercollegiate sport and pursue an undergraduate degree. They must meet academic standards and attend full time. Each campus is capped at 50 waivers per academic year. No more than 50% can go to out-of-state residents.

Sex-based conduct covered by college rules

State college rules on power-based violence cover certain unwelcome sexual or sex-based conduct. The conduct must be objectively offensive, intended to discriminate, and lack a genuine academic purpose. The provision does not specify new penalties or service benefits.

Fair access to small business help

Louisiana's economic development office must serve small and medium-sized Louisiana businesses without regard to race or sex. It must encourage startups and support the growth and retention of existing firms. State assistance must also increase opportunities for small and emerging businesses to become competitive without regard to race or sex. These rules do not promise a grant or tax break.

Local boards must reflect population diversity

St. Landry and St. Martin commission appointments must make every lawful effort to provide racial and sex diversity. New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board appointments must reflect the city's racial and sex diversity as far as practicable. Covered Evangeline and Shreveport authority boards must represent their populations by sex. Evangeline's Economic Development Authority board must also represent the parish by age and race.

Sex cannot drive criminal jury removals

In criminal cases, prosecutors and defendants cannot use a discretionary juror removal substantially motivated by the juror's sex. After an initial showing of bias, the court must require a satisfactory sex-neutral reason. The court then decides whether sex substantially motivated the removal. This review procedure does not apply when both sides challenge the same juror.

State boards use sex-based diversity rules

Specified state insurance and professional licensing board appointments must show diversity by race, sex, ethnicity, and geography. This also applies to advisory boards appointed by the insurance commissioner. Hospital community advisory committees must consider sex rather than gender when seeking to reflect their communities. For other covered appointments, the governor must consider race, color, religion, sex, and national origin and seek regional representation. Covered state and local representation rules also replace gender with sex, including Medicaid's drug-review committee; benefit eligibility does not change.

School boards use sex-based representation rules

The community and technical college board's population representation standard uses race and sex rather than race and gender. Vocational-technical school advisory councils must reflect the state by race and sex, with no more than 15 members. Those councils must also represent workers, employers, education, and the public. Since the 2019-2020 school year, covered non-Type 2 charter boards must reflect their communities by race and sex. This charter rule covers parishes with 325,000–375,000 people under the latest federal decennial census; at least 60% of members must live in the parish.

Sex and age lose privacy classification

Under the covered healthcare-provider or consumer information rule, sex and age are excluded from information classified as nonpublic. This narrows that rule's privacy classification. It does not establish a general right to disclose all health or consumer records.

Officers record sex during traffic stops

Officers must record and keep a stopped person's race, sex, age, and state of residence. They use their own observations and perceptions. People stopped do not have to provide this information, but officers still retain these personal details.

Online privacy definition switches to sex

For information collected directly from online account holders, Louisiana's sensitive-data definition lists sex instead of gender. Sex-revealing information falls within that listed category, while gender is no longer the named basis. The change affects how covered entities classify sensitive information.

Sex replaces gender in bias protections

For covered places and services, the law bars exclusion or ejection based on sex rather than gender. For listed crimes, hate-crime rules cover selecting victims because of their actual or perceived sex rather than gender. The peace officer training council may address crimes targeting people or property because of actual or perceived sex. This does not require new training.

Homelessness council shifts identity representation rules

The Louisiana Interagency Council on Homelessness's listed expertise shifts from actual or perceived gender identity to sex identity. The law also changes identity descriptions for council members appointed because of lived experience. These changes affect council representation, not housing assistance eligibility or funding.

Student fitness standards use race and sex

Louisiana's statewide student fitness assessment uses standards specific to each student's race, age, and sex. The standards are based on the fitness level required for good health. Students are assessed against these group-specific standards rather than one shared standard.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Mike Johnson

    Republican • House

Cosponsors

  • Beryl Amedée

    Republican • House

  • Charles Owen

    Republican • House

  • Dodie Horton

    Republican • House

  • Emily Chenevert

    Republican • House

  • Michael "Gabe" Firment

    Republican • House

  • Jason Brian DeWitt

    Republican • House

  • Kathy Edmonston

    Republican • House

  • Kellee Hennessy Dickerson

    Republican • House

  • Laurie Schlegel

    Republican • House

  • Les Farnum

    Republican • House

  • Michael Robert Bayham Jr.

    Republican • House

  • Paul Sawyer

    Republican • House

  • Peter F. Egan Sr.

    Republican • House

  • Raymond J. Crews

    Republican • House

  • Rhonda Gaye Butler

    Republican • House

  • Rodney Schamerhorn

    Republican • House

  • Roger William Wilder III

    Republican • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 171 • No: 54

House vote • 5/27/2026

Read by title, roll called, yeas 70, nays 25, Senate amendments concurred in.

Yes: 70 • No: 25

Senate vote • 5/21/2026

Rules suspended. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 27 yeas and 8 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

Yes: 27 • No: 8

House vote • 4/28/2026

Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 74, nays 21. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

Yes: 74 • No: 21

Actions Timeline

  1. Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 814.

    6/8/2026House

  2. Effective date: 08/01/2026.

    6/8/2026House

  3. Sent to the Governor for executive approval.

    6/1/2026House

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

    5/28/2026House

  5. Signed by the President of the Senate.

    5/28/2026Senate

  6. Read by title, roll called, yeas 70, nays 25, Senate amendments concurred in.

    5/27/2026House

  7. Scheduled for concurrence on 05/27/2026.

    5/26/2026House

  8. Received from the Senate with amendments.

    5/25/2026House

  9. Rules suspended. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 27 yeas and 8 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

    5/21/2026Senate

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

    5/14/2026Senate

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

    5/13/2026Senate

  12. Reported favorably.

    5/12/2026Senate

  13. Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary A.

    5/4/2026Senate

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

    4/29/2026Senate

  15. Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 74, nays 21. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

    4/28/2026House

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

    4/23/2026House

  17. Scheduled for floor debate on 04/28/2026.

    4/23/2026House

  18. Reported with amendments (6-1-1).

    4/22/2026House

  19. Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.

    3/9/2026House

  20. First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/27/2026.

    2/27/2026House

  21. Prefiled.

    2/26/2026House

  22. Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.

    2/26/2026House

Bill Text

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