Criminal Justice

HB 336 establishes new rules for inmates seeking post-conviction relief after federal habeas corpus proceedings are stayed to allow exhaustion of state remedies. It requires petitioners to submit unexhausted claims to Louisiana state district courts within 30 days, proving they had good cause for not raising the claim earlier, that the claim isn't frivolous, and they avoided delaying tactics. Applications failing to meet these requirements face automatic dismissal. The bill mandates expedited review by state courts and prioritized handling by the Louisiana Supreme Court for these claims.

HB 131 modifies Louisiana's post-conviction relief process by adding two new restrictions on appeals. It denies relief if a petitioner knew about a claim but failed to raise it during trial (Article 930.4(B)) or raised it in trial but didn’t pursue it on appeal (Article 930.4(C)). The bill also changes custody rules: if relief is granted, the person cannot be released on bail until Louisiana’s Supreme Court finishes reviewing the case (Article 930.5(C)). This directly affects individuals convicted of crimes seeking to overturn their convictions through post-conviction appeals. The law aims to reduce repetitive or incomplete appeals while clarifying custody procedures during appeals.

HB 53 adds seven specific gambling-related crimes to Louisiana’s list of offenses that can serve as the basis for racketeering charges. It includes violations like operating illegal gambling games (R.S. 14:90), gambling in public (R.S. 14:90.2), computer gambling (R.S. 14:90.3), and bribery of sports participants (R.S. 14:118.1). Prosecutors can now use these gambling crimes as "predicate offenses" to build racketeering cases under Louisiana’s racketeering statute. The bill does not change the gambling laws themselves but expands how gambling violations can be prosecuted under broader organized crime statutes.

HB 276 establishes a statewide minimum bail amount of $50,000 for individuals arrested in Louisiana for specific sexual offenses against minors under 18 years old. It directly affects defendants charged with offenses like rape (first, second, or third degree), sexual battery, child sexual abuse materials, or molestation of a juvenile. The bill mandates that district courts set this minimum bail amount for listed offenses, though courts may set higher amounts based on factors in Article 316. This policy change standardizes initial bail requirements for these serious crimes, aiming to ensure defendants remain in custody pending trial.

HB 525 requires Louisiana's Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) to publish specific correctional data online in downloadable formats (Excel and CSV) by October 2026. It mandates monthly publication of offender census data from parish and state facilities, demographic dashboards tracking prison populations, admission/release trends, and death data, along with supporting codebooks explaining data definitions and methodologies. The bill directly affects DPS&C (which must implement these changes) and the public (which gains access to anonymized, machine-readable data). Key provisions include requiring comparable data formats across facilities, maintaining an online dataset index, and submitting compliance reports to legislative committees by 2027. The law explicitly protects personally identifiable information through redaction while maximizing public access to aggregate data.