HB 349 Louisiana House · 2026 Regular Session

SEAFOOD: Provides for authorized uses of the Imported Seafood Safety Fund

HB 349 clarifies how Louisiana's Imported Seafood Safety Fund can be used. It directs all funds in the account to the Department of Agriculture and Forestry for two specific purposes: enforcing the state's seafood safety laws and promoting Louisiana seafood products. The bill ensures these funds cannot be used for other purposes, directly affecting seafood safety enforcement and marketing efforts within Louisiana's seafood industry. This change updates existing law to provide clear, focused spending guidelines for the fund.

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Apr 2026

House Passage

Apr 2026

Senate Passage

May 2026

Signed into Law

May 2026

Introduced Feb 24, 2026 Signed May 15, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB349 Original → HB349 Act · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill converts the original draft of HB 349 into its final enacted form, Act No. 153. The substantive policy change allows the Imported Seafood Safety Fund to be used not only for enforcing seafood safety regulations but also to market and promote Louisiana seafood. This expands the fund's purpose from purely regulatory enforcement to include economic development and promotion activities.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include marketing and promotion of Louisiana seafood as a permissible use of funds, in addition to the existing enforcement activities.

FISCAL

Added a new permissible use for the Imported Seafood Safety Fund to market and promote Louisiana seafood.

TECHNICAL

Changed the document header from 'ORIGINAL' to 'ACT No. 153' and updated page counts to reflect the final enrolled version.

Removed the original digest, abstract, and explanatory notes regarding the bill's preparation and intent.

Floor votes · Senate May 12, 2026 · House Apr 7, 2026

How they voted

34–0

Passed · 6 other

Total votes 40

May 12, 2026

D Democratic12

7 Yea 5

58% Yea

R Republican28

27 Yea 1

96% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 12, 2026

Upper · Passed

Rules suspended. Read by title, passed by a vote of 33 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

upper

Apr 29, 2026

Committee

Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

upper

Apr 28, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported favorably.

upper

Apr 7, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 80, nays 19. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

lower

Mar 25, 2026

Lower · Passed

Reported favorably (17-0-1).

lower

Mar 9, 2026

Committee

Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and Environment.

lower

Feb 24, 2026

Committee

Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and Environment.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors