After 60 days, the has wrapped up its latest session, having created new laws on auto insurance, education, food safety and more, and having passed a new state budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Already, 112 bills have been signed into law by h Gov. Jeff Landry, and in the final days of session, lawmakers sent dozens more to the top official's desk.
Here's a closer look at the biggest topics from this session and the most high-profile bills that passed and failed.
Auto insurance
Auto insurance was one of lawmakers' biggest priorities heading into the 2025 session as rates have continued to soar in the state.
After fervent debate, has already been signed by Landry. Many of those bills aim to rein in lawsuits against insurance companies, which the industry argues could tamp down rate increases.
However, one bill — House Bill 148— would give the insurance commissioner more ability to reject rate increases. That has drawn ire from Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, who says it gives arbitrary authority to him and his successors.
The bills signed by Landry include:
- House Bill 450, whichrequires someone who sues over injuries in an accident to show that the injuries occurred during the accident.
- House Bill 434, whichreduces payouts to uninsured motorists injured while driving.
- House Bill 436, whichprohibits undocumented immigrants injured in car accidents from collecting general damages, such as for emotional distress and pain and suffering.
- House Bill 549, whichrequires insurance companies to give trucking companies a 5% discount when they install dashboard cameras on their large trucks.
- House Bill 148, which gives the state insurance commissioner more authority to reject rate increases
Budget
Legislators approved a budget for the new fiscal year, which starts in July, of about $51 billion. That includes an extra $1.2 billion in one-time spending on roads, economic development and college campus improvements by using money withdrawn from the state's Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund.
'Make America Healthy Again' bills
Inspired by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's "Make America Healthy" movement, lawmakers in the GOP-led legislature made tohow schools, food manufacturers and restaurants address nutrition and ingredients.
Under Senate Bill 14, h schoolswill not be allowed to serve certain artificial colors and additives in breakfasts and lunches, includingRed 40, and restaurants and food businesses using seed oils will have to notify customers on menus or signage.
The bill further requires food manufacturers selling products in h to include a QR code on packages if their products contain certain artificial ingredients.
Physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology must also complete a minimum of one hour of training on nutrition and metabolic health every two years under the new legislation.
Education
Dozens of bills related to schools and education passed this session, including raising teacher pay, requiring anti-hazing courses for higher education groups and creating a new TOPS award.
The biggest bills include:
- requires school systems to provide a $2,250 salary increase for teachers and a $1,125 increase for school support staff. The state will pay for the raises by using education trust funds to pay down debt related to the teacher retirement system, saving school systems an estimated $2 billion in interest payments. Voters will have to approve eliminating the trust funds in a constitutional amendment.
- House Bill 372 adds computer science as a high school graduation requirement.
- House Bill 77 creates a new TOPS “Excellence” award for students who score 31 or higher on the ACT. Recipients will get a $12,000 annual scholarship if they attend a public h college or university or $8,500 if they attend certain private universities — including Dillard, Loyola, Tulane and Xavier — or an amount equal to the cost of tuition and fees, whichever is less.
- requires fraternities, sororities, bands, sports teams and other higher-ed student organizations to provide members with an annual two-hour course on hazing prevention, up from the current one hour. Organizations that don’t comply will be banned from operating on campus.The bill was inspired by the hazing death of Southern University student Caleb Wilson.
Pharmacy benefit managers
House Bill 358, which would have barred companies from owning both pharmacies and — firms that negotiate lower drug prices from drugmakers — failed to pass on the last day of session. Gov. Jeff Landry, who supported the bill, said he would call legislators in for a special session to take up the issue again.
The Legislature did pass House Bill 264, which would set new, stricter rules on PBMs.
DOTD overhaul
Upset with the slow pace of road and bridge projects, legislators made several major changes to the Department of Transportation and Development. They are creating a separate entity to handle smaller state roadways, adding a new Office of Transformation to oversee an overhaul of DOTD, and pushing the department to privatize more of its work, among other changes.
Unemployment benefits
Under House Bill 153, h residents collecting unemployment to find a job.
The bill requires five "work search actions" per week by those who collect unemployment, up from three. Work search actions includefilling out a job application, interviewing for a job, attending job fairs, attending networking events or doing mock interviews.
Kratom ban
Kratom,an herbal substance derived from a southwest Asian tree, , pending Gov. Jeff Landry's signature.
Critics of the substance say it carries a high abuse potential and has opiate-like effects.
Under the bill, possession of less than 20 grams of kratom would carry a $100 fine. Those in possession of more than 20 grams would face up to 6 months in a parish jail or a fine of up to $1,000.
Those convicted of distributing kratom would face between 1 and 5 years in prison or a fine of up to $50,000.
Other bills that passed:
- App store age verification:House Bill 570 would require app stores to age-verify users. If a user is under 18, the app store must link their account to a parent account, which in turn would need to sign off on any app downloads.
- Speed cameras: Senate Bill 99 bans traffic enforcement cameras in areas other than school zones and at red lights — except in Opelousas.
- Balloon releases: House Bill 581 bans releasing balloons. It would make intentionally releasing balloons outdoors illegal and punishable by up to a $500 fine. Exceptions are made for balloons released for scientific, meteorological or radio purposes.
- Ivermectin: Senate Bill 19 expands access to ivermectin, authorizing pharmacists in h to dispense ivermectin under a standing order from a patient’s physician.
- Inventory taxes:Voters statewide could decide in November 2026 to give parishes the right to opt out of the property tax on business inventory under two measures — House Bill 365 and House Bill 366 — approved by the Legislature.
- A new state park: Senate Bill 88establishes Ouiski Bayou in Terrebonne Parish as h's newest state park.
- New voting machines: House Bill 577 puts in place , allowing the Secretary of State to move quicker to replace their decades-old voting machines.
- Weather modification: Senate Bill 46 bans , sayingno person shall “intentionally inject, release, apply, or disperse, by any means, a chemical, chemical compound, substance, or apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight.”
- Campaign finance rules: House Bill 693 overhauls by adding recognition that campaign spending is protected free speech, setting up new rules for political action committees, providing new, more detailed parameters for what money can be spent on, raising monetary reporting thresholds and creating stricter rules for when campaign finance violations can be investigated.
- IVF protections: Senate Bill 156 makes updates to the state's in vitro fertilization laws and — including physicians, clinic and others who provide IVF goods and services — from criminal prosecution for acts associated with care, unless those acts were made with criminal negligence or intent.
- Abortion lawsuits: House Bill 575 anyone who helps illegally provide them with drugs meant to induce an abortion.
- Social safety net programs:House Bill 617 would move some , like SNAP food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, under the state workforce department. The goal is to give residents "one door" to access those services.
- Concealed carry changes:House Bill 393 changes rules regarding , saying only active participants in parades are barred from having a concealed gun— not bystanders. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 101 allows anyone legally allowed to carry a gun, including those without permits, to do so up to a school’s property line.
- Prescription drugs: House Bill 264 prohibits (third-party companies that negotiate drug prices) from steering customers to pharmacies they own and mandates that discounts negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers go to employers and consumers. It also requires pharmacy benefit managers to report more details of their activities to government regulators to ensure that they are following the law.
- Post-conviction relief:House Bill 675 overhauls a process that allows prisoners to petition to have their sentences shortened or overturned. The bill sets new, tighter deadlines for courts handling post-conviction applications and also restricts shell petitions, or bare-bones applications for post-conviction relief that act as placeholders so that defendants can come back later to flesh out legal arguments.
Staff writers Tyler Bridges, Meghan Friedmann, Alyse Pfeil, and Patrick Wall contributed to this story.