Laws going into effect in Louisiana on August 1
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Dozens of new laws will go into effect on Tuesday, August 1, in Louisiana following this year’s Regular Legislative Session.
Governor John Bel Edwards signed more than 100 bills into law, ranging from new penalties for drug dealers, books in libraries, to foreign adversaries not being able to buy land in our state.
House Bill 90, now known as Act 399, puts in place harsher penalties and up to life in prison for those convicted of selling fentanyl.
“And so, if you are a part of that system in any shape or form, you need to be held accountable, because you’re killing people who had hopes and dreams. They were trying to get high and not die. And so yes, we want to address it from a law enforcement approach, from a legislation approach, but also making sure that people get the hope, the help, and the resources that they need,” said Tonja Myles, a mental health and substance abuse advocate.
There are some new laws going into effect which will impact schools.
House Bill 8, now known as Act 264, requires every public K-12 and college classroom to display ‘In God We Trust’ signs.
Senate Bill 12, now known as Act 234, defibrillators on school campuses and athletic events.
While both of those laws go into effect on Tuesday, they do give schools a lot more time to buy those materials.
Library book content has been a really controversial issue across the state. Senate Bill 7, now known as Act 436, limits minors from being able to check out sexually explicit books at public libraries.
However, while the law goes into effect, libraries have until January of 2024 to adopt a policy, and until June of 2024 to implement it.
Lawmakers also passed a bill which prohibits foreign adversaries from acquiring property in the state.
“We have a foreign adversary list, and on that list are countries who are out to see the demise of the United States of America, and the Chinese Communist Party is one of them. It’s Iran, Iraq, Russia and Venezuela that are the other ones,” said State Rep. Valarie Hodges (R), district 64.
Act 451 goes into effect creating the victims of Vehicular Homicide Fund, to pay reparations to family members for death resulting from vehicular homicide.
“Any deterrents from impaired driving is something we would absolutely stand behind. What a lot of people do not realize is that impaired driving is a choice made and it’s something that causes such tragedy that impacts people in so many different ways, not only emotionally but financially as well,” said Sunny Wall, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Louisiana.
Another law will establish the official state nut as the pecan.
Our sister station KPLC in Lake Charles also compiled a list of laws going into effect on Tuesday:
You can find all the bills signed by Gov. Edwards during the legislative session in two separate lists HERE and HERE.
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Source: WAFB
