SB 157: SCHOOLS: Provides for paid parental leave for eligible employees. (gov sig) (EN INCREASE GF EX See Note) - Louisiana

Senate Floor Bureau Note, #3167, Jenkins, Adopted → SB157 Act · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill transforms a draft proposal into an official act, formally enacting new laws for paid parental leave for educators in Louisiana. It establishes specific definitions for eligible employees and qualifying events, mandates that schools provide six weeks of paid leave, and outlines strict rules for how this leave must be administered and compensated.

Scope change

The bill's scope is now formally established as Subpart C-1 of Part X of Chapter 2 of Title 17 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, replacing previous draft amendments with permanent statutory language.

SCOPE

The document was converted from a series of proposed amendments into an enrolled Act (Act No. 744), making the changes permanent law.

DEFINITION

New definitions were created for 'Child', 'Eligible employee', 'LEA', 'Paid parental leave', 'Qualifying event', and 'Superintendent' to clarify who qualifies and what events trigger the leave.

REQUIREMENT

School boards are now legally required to grant six weeks of paid parental leave at 100% of base pay for qualifying events such as birth, adoption, or foster care placement.

New rules were added to protect tenure rights for substitute teachers filling in during leave and to ensure employees return to their exact previous positions.

The law prohibits donating leave to others, requires leave to be used within twelve weeks of the event, and mandates a twelve-month waiting period before an employee can take another parental leave.

The act explicitly prohibits requiring employees to use their accrued sick or annual leave before taking this paid parental leave.

SB157 Original → Senate Floor Bureau Note, #3167, Jenkins, Adopted · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to strengthen enforcement by changing specific language from permissive ('does') to mandatory ('shall'), ensuring LEAs must follow the new leave rules. Additionally, the bill was updated to repeal conflicting existing laws regarding sick leave and other leave types, and the section numbering was corrected to reflect these new provisions.

Scope change

The scope of the bill was expanded by explicitly repealing conflicting statutes that previously governed sick leave and other leave balances, ensuring the new parental leave policy operates without legal conflict.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed the word 'does' to 'shall' in multiple sections to make the requirements for LEAs mandatory rather than optional.

Added a new section to repeal specific existing Louisiana Revised Statutes (R.S. 17:48, 500.2, 1202, 1206, 1211) that conflict with the new parental leave provisions.

TECHNICAL

Corrected the section numbering sequence (Section 2 to Section 3, Section 3 to Section 4, etc.) to accommodate the new repeal section.

SB157 Enrolled → SB157 Original · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was renumbered from 'Enrolled' to 'Original' and underwent significant text edits that appear to be formatting corrections rather than substantive policy changes. The primary modifications involve updating the bill's title page, correcting the total page count from 8 to 9, and adjusting the list of sponsoring legislators from a long list to a single sponsor. Additionally, specific legal citations were updated to reflect the correct statute numbers (e.g., changing R.S. 17:1214.1 to 17:1215).

TECHNICAL

The bill's status was changed from 'Enrolled' to 'Original', indicating a revision in the legislative process.

The list of sponsoring legislators was shortened from a long list of names to only 'Senator Jenkins'.

The page count at the bottom of the document was updated from 'Page 1 of 8' to 'Page 1 of 9'.

A legal citation in the summary section was corrected from 'R.S. 17:1214 and 1214.1' to 'R.S. 17:1214 and 1215'.

SB157 Re-Reengrossed → SB157 Enrolled · 3 edits · Jun 1, 2026

MINOR

The bill transitioned from a re-engrossed draft to its final enrolled version, adding a large group of co-sponsors (Representatives Adams, Brass, Broussard, and others) to the list of sponsors. The substantive policy content regarding paid parental leave, eligibility, and definitions remains unchanged, with the only other differences being the removal of the original sponsor line and minor formatting adjustments to the page headers and footers.

Scope change

The bill's scope and applicability remain unchanged; the only modification is the addition of multiple co-sponsors to the bill's sponsorship list.

SCOPE

Added a list of Representatives (Adams, Brass, Broussard, Carpenter, Carrier, Chassion, Coates, Fisher, Fontenot, Freeman, Freiberg, Green, Dana Henry, Jackson, Knox, Lafleur, Terry Landry, Lyons, Mack, Marcelle, Martinez, Mena, Murray, Newell, Schlegel, Stagni, Taylor, Walters, and Young) as co-sponsors to the bill.

Removed the line listing only Senator Jenkins as the sole sponsor.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill title header from 'RE-REENGROSSED' to 'ENROLLED' and adjusted page numbering from 10 pages to 8 pages, indicating the final version is ready for signing.

SB157 Reengrossed → SB157 Re-Reengrossed · 1 edit · May 7, 2026

MINOR

The bill was re-engrossed to correct a clerical error in the list of statutes being enacted. The version intended to include R.S. 17:1215 was updated to include R.S. 17:1214.1 instead, ensuring the correct legal provisions are referenced for the new parental leave subpart.

Scope change

The scope of the enacted statutes was modified to reference a different section number (1214.1) rather than the previously listed section (1215).

TECHNICAL

The list of statutes to be enacted was updated to replace R.S. 17:1215 with R.S. 17:1214.1 in the bill's introductory and operative sections.

SB157 Engrossed → SB157 Reengrossed · 2 edits · May 7, 2026

MINOR

The bill was reengrossed to correct a typo in the definition of 'Paid parental leave' by removing a hyphen in 'two hundred forty hours'. Additionally, the phrase 'implementation' was added to the list of legislative purposes to clarify the bill's intent. These changes are technical corrections and clarifications rather than substantive policy shifts.

DEFINITION

Corrected a typo in the definition of 'Paid parental leave' by changing 'two hundred-forty hours' to 'two hundred forty hours' to ensure consistency and clarity.

REQUIREMENT

Added the word 'implementation' to the legislative purposes section to explicitly state that the bill provides for the implementation of parental leave policies.

SCHOOLS: Provides for paid parental leave for eligible employees. (gov sig) (EN INCREASE GF EX See Note)

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