State Senate: Republican majority
State House: Republican majority
Governor: Jeff Landry (R)
Attorney General: Elizabeth Murrill
Summary:
Louisiana is a deep red state with Republican super-majorities in both chambers. It has recently passed bills strengthening speech on public college campuses, regulating how minors access social media, creating a new crime for live-streaming criminal activity, and a resolution condemning anti-semitism on college campuses. A bill to limit the use of generative-AI in elections was recently vetoed by the governor, one of the few bills of this type that have failed to become law this year. Former attorney general and current governor Jeff Landry was a major participant in Murthy v. Missouri social media jawboning case, which was recently returned to the lower courts by the Supreme Court.
Key Policymakers:
- Governor and Former Attorney General Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill
- Rep. Laurie Schlegel [R], Rep. Dixon McMakin [R], and Rep. Mike Bayham [R]
- Sen. Jay Morris [R], Sen. Patrick McMath [R] and Sen. Valarie Hodges [R]
Legislative Activity:
HB602/SB196: Combating social media censorship by establishing private and civil actions. Introduced in April 2021 by Rep. Beryl Amedee and Senator Jay Morris, these bills would create a civil action for a social media website user, if the website engages in certain types of censorship and allows a user who prevails in the civil action to be awarded damages and lists the available damages for various types of violations. However, they do allow the social media website to mitigate damages by restoring a deletion or removing the censor. They prevent a defense of “hate speech” for justification of removal or censoring, allow the attorney general to bring a civil action on behalf of a resident, provide that a violation of proposed law constitutes an unfair trade practice, and subject violators to the penalties provided for in present law. Both versions of the bill died in committee.
SB 162 (signed into law): Creates the Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act. Provides that a social media company shall not allow a minor in the state to hold a social media account unless the minor has consent from a parent or guardian.
Provides that the social media company shall make commercially reasonable efforts to verify the age of account holders. Provides that a social media company is prohibited from permitting a La. resident who is a minor to be an account holder unless the minor has the express consent of a parent or guardian. Provides acceptable methods of obtaining a parent or guardian’s express consent. Authorizes the division of public protection within the Dept. of Justice to adopt rules to implement the provisions of new law. Provides prohibited actions for social media companies. Requires a social media company to provide a parent or guardian with means to initiate account supervision, including the ability for the parent to view privacy settings of the minor’s account, set daily time limits for the service, schedule breaks, and offer the minor the option to set up parental notifications when the minor reports a person or issue. Bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. Patrick McMath [R] in March 2023, passed the House with a large bipartisan majority, the Senate unanimously, and signed into law on June 7, 2023.
SB294 (Signed into Law): Creates additional protections for free expression on public college and university campuses. Introduced by Senator Valarie Hodges and co-sponsored by 8 other Republicans, this bill retains present law but clarifies that free expression is the free speech and protected expressive activities guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the La. Constitution.It also guarantees that each person, including a college or university student, has the right to individual dignity and further provides that protections are guaranteed against discrimination based upon the student’s political ideas or affiliations. And it requires public college or university management boards to make reasonable efforts to protect students from discrimination on the basis of political ideas, affiliations, or ideology. The bill passed both chambers along partisan lines and became law on June 11, 2024.
SB 97: Regulating deep fakes and AI in political advertising. Bans intentional false representation and requires disclosures when AI is used in political advertisements. Excludes political satire and commentary. requires disclosure of the use of deep fake technology, artificial intelligence, or similar tools to create, alter, or otherwise manipulate media in a manner that would falsely appear to a reasonable observer to be an authentic record of a natural person’s speech, conduct, or likeness to emulate a candidate, an agent or employee thereof, or other persons with the intent to mislead voters.Introduced by Sen. Royce Duplessis [D] and Rep. Tehmi Chassion [D] in March 2024. The bill passed with a bipartisan majority in the House and unanimously in the Senate but was vetoed by the governor on June 20, 2024.
HB 123 (Signed into Law): Provides that the interactive computer services may rely on the consent of the legal representative of the minor to enter into a contract or agreement, including the creation of an online account, with a minor unless the interactive computer service knows or reasonably should have known that the legal representative is no longer authorized to represent the minor. Introduced by Rep. Laurie Schlegel [R] in Feb. 2024, passed both chambers unanimously and became law on May 8, 2024.
HB 175 (Signed into Law). Adds streaming to the unlawful posting of criminal activity for notoriety and publicity. Present law provides that it shall be unlawful for a person who is either a principal or accessory to a crime to obtain an image of the commission of the crime using any type of image recording device and to transfer that image through any means of electronic communication for the purpose of gaining notoriety, publicity, or the attention of the public. This proposed law adds live-stream or video of the commission of the crime as additional items that are unlawful to obtain or transfer. Introduced by Rep. Dixon McMakin [R] passed both chambers unanimously and became law on May 22, 2024.
HCR 123: A resolution condemning antisemitic violence on college campuses and expresses support for Louisiana’s Jewish students, faculty, staff, and communities. Introduced by Rep. Mike Bayham [R] in May 2024 and passed the House unanimously later that month.
