BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana legislative season and special sessions ended earlier this year, and many of the bills Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law are now in effect. From laws affecting public school teachers to updates on parole, here is a rundown of some of the newest Louisiana laws that went into effect Thursday, Aug. 1.
Criminal laws to pay attention to
• Act 651: Whenever someone commits certain sexual offenses against a victim under the age of 13, the offender may be sentenced to a surgical castration performed by a medical professional along with any other sentence imposed for the crime. Within 60 days from sentencing, a court-appointed medical professional will first determine if the offender is an appropriate candidate for the castration. For those who are also sentenced to prison or an institution, the surgery must occur no later than one week before the person is released.
Surgical castration will not apply to offenders who are under 17 years old.
READ NOW: Livingston man to be physically castrated
• Act 6: Parole rules are changing. No one, who commits a crime on or after Aug. 1, will be eligible for parole, according to the law that Gov. Landry signed earlier this year. Those who committed crimes before this date may still be eligible for parole, depending on the situation.
• Act 7: No prisoner who commits criminal offenses on or after Aug. 1 will be eligible for “good time” sentence reductions for these sentences. Offenders in parish prison or custody of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections may earn a shortened sentence of up to 15 percent of their sentence for good behavior.
• Act 11: While this went into effect at the end of April, the law noted that beginning Aug. 1, the parole committee will not consider a parole rehearing for those who are serving for a violent crime or sexual offense until at least five years from the previous denial of parole. Those who are serving time for their first violent offense will have to wait at least three years from denial of parole for a rehearing.
• Act 5: Changes to the state’s death penalty went into effect July 1. These changes included allowing execution by nitrogen hypoxia, which is when a mask is placed on a person’s face and the breathing air is replaced with nitrogen gas. The law also reintroduced the electric chair as a method of execution. Louisiana had previously retired execution by electric chair in the early 90s when it began using lethal injection as a form of execution.
Laws affecting schools and public education
• Act No. 313: Public school students will not be allowed to have cell phones on their person during the school day.
• Act 680 – The Given Name Act: The Given Name Act applies to educational settings and protects teachers, other public school employees and contractors from discipline for calling a student something other than their legal name and from being required to use a pronoun that is “inconsistent with the student’s sex.”
Under this law, students are also given protection from disciplinary action for refusing to call someone by a name other than their legal name or from having to identify his or her own pronouns.
• Act 681: Teachers and other public school employees are prevented from having discussions of sexual identity or gender identity with students in kindergarten through 12th grade. This also prohibits instructors from discussing his or her own sexual orientation or gender identity.
The law does note that students are not prevented from seeking guidance with prior parental consent from a teacher or mental health professional outside of classroom hours.
Critics have previously dubbed this bill “Don’t Say Gay.”
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