Louisiana’s 2025 legislative session ends with governor saying he plans to call a special session
Gov. Jeff Landry speaks during the start of the special session in the House Chamber on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. (Michael Johnson/The Advocate via AP, Pool,File)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — With just minutes to spare, Louisiana lawmakers concluded the 2025 legislative session on Thursday — but, per usual, it ended with a bang.
Before lawmakers could even walk out the Capitol doors, Gov. Jeff Landry said he planned to call a special session in the future, with the hopes of reviving controversial legislation that died Thursday. It is unclear when exactly lawmakers would be asked to return.
Last-minute amendments to bill, which would prohibit companies from owning both pharmacy benefits managers and drugstores, caused a frenzy in the final days of session — complete with fiery testimony from lawmakers, a massive lobbying campaign to block the measure by retail giant CVS and promises of legal action by the Attorney General.
Also in the final hours of session lawmakers approved the state’s $51 billion budget.
Lawmakers earmarked $1.8 million for “expenses related to the recapture of fugitive offenders” in the aftermath of a massive New Orleans jail escape. They also pulled $1.2 billion from a state savings fund mainly to spend on infrastructure improvements and spruce up sites seeking private sector investment. In a blow to Landry, the GOP-dominated Legislature allocated less than half the $93.5 million he requested for expanding a school voucher program.
Traditionally this year’s gathering is fiscally focused, But the GOP-dominated legislature filed hundreds of bills to tackle issues that lawmakers felt were plaguing the state, from fiscal matters to social issues.
Here’s a look at some of the bills.
Passed
ABORTION LIABILITY EXPANSION: The measure expands who can be sued over abortions, targeting out-of-state doctors and activists who prescribe, sell or mail pregnancy-ending drugs to residents in Louisiana — where abortions are banned with few exceptions.
MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN: Louisiana passed its own package of nutrition reforms. The measures restrict certain food additives in schools, set nutrition education requirements for health care providers, require food manufacturers to disclose the use of certain artificial ingredients, and order restaurants to post if they are using seed oils.
INSURANCE: Despite facing stiff opposition from the insurance industry and pushback from Republican lawmakers, Landry succeeded in passing legislation giving the state’s insurance commissioner more authority to block auto insurance rate increases by companies. Other passed bills aim to limit the damages for people involved in vehicle accidents, such as barring damages to cover injuries for the driver primarily responsible for a crash.
IMMIGRATION: Lawmakers passed a package of legislation that expands the state’s role in immigration enforcement and promises cooperation with federal efforts. One bill would make it a crime for law enforcement agents and public officials to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts. Another measure requires state agencies to verify and report anyone illegally in the U.S. who is receiving state services.
ETHICS: Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill written by the governor’s personal attorney that makes it harder for the state’s ethics board to investigative allegations of wrongdoing and file charges against elected officials.
IVF TREATMENT: In an effort to avoid what happened in Alabama, lawmakers passed a bill that protects in vitro fertilization providers from criminal charges and lawsuits.
CAMPAIGN FUNDING: Lawmakers raised the disclosure thresholds for campaign finance matters, meaning less information will be shared with the public about the donations they receive and their spending of donations. They also expanded the ways elected officials’ campaign funds could be spent, including on Mardi Gras celebrations in Washington, D.C.
IVERMECTIN: One measure allows the antiparasitic drug, a discredited COVID-era treatment, to be sold for over-the-counter use.
WEATHER MODIFICATION: Louisiana is the latest state to prohibit anyone from “intentionally” injecting, releasing, applying or dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere with the purpose of affecting the “temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight.”
Rejected
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION: After emotional pleas from Black lawmakers, a bill that bans state government DEI programs died on the vine in the Senate.
SPLIT JURY: Incarcerated people, who were convicted under the now-banned practice of split juries, would have had the opportunity to ask for a new trial under one proposed measure. However, Republicans rejected the bill.
MINIMUM WAGE: One bill would have gradually increased Louisiana’s minimum wage, which currently stands at $7.25, over the next four years. Similar bills have repeatedly been shot down.
ABORTION BAN EXCEPTIONS: For the third year, lawmakers rejected a bill that would have added rape, in cases where the victim is under the age of 17, to the narrow list of exceptions to the state’s abortion ban.
LGBTQ WORKPLACE PROTECTIONS: A measure that would prohibit employment discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation failed in committee.
FLUORIDE BILL: A bill that would have outlawed fluoride in Louisiana’s public water systems failed.