All Roll Calls
Yes: 147 • No: 0
LouisianaHB 7382026 Regular SessionHouseWALLET
COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES: Provides relative to student disciplinary proceedings (EN SEE FISC NOTE GF EX)
Sponsored By: Dixon Wallace McMakin (Republican)
Signed by Governor
Education
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.
Student proof protections have injury exception
Covered Louisiana public colleges must presume innocence in cases carrying suspension of 10 or more days or expulsion. This also covers student groups facing suspension or removal. Without a formal acknowledgment, a hearing must prove every part of the violation by clear and convincing evidence. Physical conduct causing legally defined serious bodily injury or death instead uses the lower preponderance standard: more likely than not. That exception requires objective, verifiable evidence directly linking the harm to the conduct, plus written findings identifying that evidence. The law leaves proof requirements unchanged for Title IX hearings and hearings under Louisiana's separate campus-misconduct law, R.S. 17:3399.11 onward.
Students get clearer charges and decisions
Covered Louisiana public colleges must give students or student groups written notice of disciplinary charges within 14 business days. That clock starts when the school receives enough credible information to begin formal proceedings. The notice must identify each allegedly violated rule or policy section and include evidence used and collected for the charge. Written decisions must explain the facts supporting violations, summarize the evidence relied on, and describe any punishment. They must also explain appeal procedures and deadlines.
Student advocates allowed, with new limits
At covered Louisiana public colleges, students facing suspension or expulsion can hire an attorney or non-attorney advocate at their expense. Advocates can fully participate in hearings and related nonacademic conduct procedures. Representation rights also cover student organizations and alleged victims where applicable. Schools must explain these rights in writing before scheduling a disciplinary proceeding. Deferred suspension alone no longer triggers the representation right.
Student appeals delay punishment, not safety
At covered Louisiana public colleges, students and student groups get 14 business days after receiving final notice to appeal. This replaces the prior 10-day deadline and covers alleged victims where applicable. Appeals go to a school body uninvolved in the initial decision; court relief remains available even after final school review. Punishments cannot take effect, be enforced, or become final until the deadline passes without an appeal or all school appeals finish. All appeal decisions must also be issued before punishment starts. Meanwhile, schools can make reasonable safety changes to housing or classes, or issue mutual no-contact orders, but cannot use them as punishment.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Dixon Wallace McMakin
Republican • House
Cosponsors
Barbara Reich Freiberg
Republican • House
Chasity Martinez
Democratic • House
Daryl Andrew Deshotel
Republican • House
Delisha Boyd
Democratic • House
Ed Larvadain III
Democratic • House
Jason Brian DeWitt
Republican • House
Joe Stagni
Affiliation unavailable
Joy Walters
Democratic • House
Michael Robert Bayham Jr.
Republican • House
Mike Johnson
Republican • House
Paul Sawyer
Republican • House
Rodney Lyons
Democratic • House
Tammy T. Phelps
Democratic • House
Tehmi Jahi Chassion
Democratic • House
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 5/20/2026
Rules suspended. Read by title, passed by a vote of 35 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.
Yes: 35 • No: 0
House vote • 3/31/2026
Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 100, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
Yes: 100 • No: 0
House vote • 3/25/2026
Reported favorably
Yes: 12 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 441.
5/29/2026HouseEffective date: 08/01/2026.
5/29/2026HouseReceived from the Senate without amendments.
5/25/2026HouseEnrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
5/25/2026HouseSent to the Governor for executive approval.
5/22/2026HouseSigned by the President of the Senate.
5/21/2026SenateRules suspended. Read by title, passed by a vote of 35 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.
5/20/2026SenateReported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
5/13/2026SenateRead by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
5/12/2026SenateReported favorably.
5/11/2026SenateRead second time by title and referred to the Committee on Education.
4/7/2026SenateReceived in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
4/1/2026SenateRead third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 100, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
3/31/2026HouseScheduled for floor debate on 03/31/2026.
3/30/2026HouseRead by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
3/26/2026HouseReported favorably (12-0).
3/25/2026HouseRead by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Education.
3/9/2026HousePrefiled.
2/27/2026HouseUnder the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Education.
2/27/2026HouseFirst appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/27/2026.
2/27/2026House
Bill Text
Enacted
Engrossed
Enrolled
Introduced
Reengrossed
Related Bills
HB 75, GAMING: Creates an enhanced promotional play pilot program relative to net slot machine proceeds (EN -$574,627 GF RV See Note)
HB 732, MTR VEHICLE/OFFICE: Provides for a temporary waiver of fees for final delinquent debt based on special circumstances (EN DECREASE SG RV See Note)
HB 316, EDUCATION: Provides relative to student literacy (EN SEE FISC NOTE GF EX)
HB 1095, NURSING HOMES: Provides for alternative power sources at nursing facilities
HB 1084, STUDENT/TUITION: Provides relative to tuition and mandatory fees for public postsecondary education institutions
HB 1028, MEDICAID: Requires the Louisiana Department of Health to increase the reimbursement rates for nonemergency medical transportation providers (EN +$2,601,174 GF EX See Note)