HB 363 Louisiana House · 2026 Regular Session

STUDENTS: Authorizes students enrolled in virtual schools to participate in public school activities

HB 363 allows students enrolled in virtual schools to join public school extracurricular activities and sports teams at their neighborhood school based on where they live. It requires schools to treat virtual students the same as in-person students for tryouts, eligibility, and participation standards like grades and conduct. The bill prohibits schools from excluding virtual students from activities solely due to their enrollment type and bans participation in athletic associations that deny such students eligibility. This directly affects virtual school students in Louisiana and the public schools they reside near.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

May 2026

House Passage

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

May 2026

Signed into Law

May 2026

Introduced Feb 24, 2026 Signed May 29, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB363 Original → HB363 Act 545 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill was finalized and enrolled into law as Act No. 545, expanding eligibility for extracurricular activities to include students enrolled in virtual schools, not just those in home study programs. The text was updated to reflect the official enrollment of the bill, adding co-sponsors and changing the page count from three to two due to the removal of the legislative digest.

Scope change

The scope of eligibility for extracurricular and interscholastic athletics participation was expanded to explicitly include students enrolled in virtual schools, whereas the original draft focused primarily on home study students.

ELIGIBILITY

Added Representatives Amadee, Carrier, Chassion, Deshotel, Edmonston, Freiberg, Mike Johnson, Terry Landry, Martinez, Schlegel, and Taylor to the list of bill sponsors.

TECHNICAL

Changed the document title from 'ORIGINAL' to 'ENROLLED' and updated the Act number to 545 to signify final passage.

Removed the legislative digest section, which provides a summary of the bill's purpose but is not part of the final legal text.

Reduced the total page count from three to two by removing the digest and adjusting the footer numbering.

Floor votes · Senate May 21, 2026 · House Mar 30, 2026

How they voted

34–0

Passed · 6 other

Total votes 40

May 21, 2026

D Democratic12

11 Yea 1

91% Yea

R Republican28

23 Yea 5

82% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 21, 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

May 12, 2026

Committee

Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

upper

May 11, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported favorably.

upper

Mar 30, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 88, nays 6. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

lower

Mar 24, 2026

Lower · Passed

Reported favorably (14-0).

lower

Mar 9, 2026

Committee

Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Education.

lower

Feb 24, 2026

Committee

Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Education.

lower

1 primary · 10 co-sponsors