NOLA.com
When the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 1, 2025, dozens of new laws will go into effect in Louisiana, including ones that will impact unemployment benefits, seafood labeling, hemp-derived THC products, voter registration and state corporate income taxes.
Thirty-two new laws were passed by state lawmakers throughout the regular and three extraordinary lawmaking sessions.
Here are some that will impact Louisianans.
Hemp laws
New rules regulating Louisiana’s hemp industry will change serving sizes for consumable hemp-derived THC products including seltzers and gummies, ban the sale of flower hemp products, raise the age requirement to purchase hemp-THC products from 18 to 21, and ban the sale of hemp products at gas stations.
Absentee ballots
Act 317 tightens rules around submitting absentee ballot applications. The new rules say that no one, except an immediate family member of the voter, can submit more than one mail-in ballot application. It also bans people or organizations from handing out application forms to anyone who has not requested them and requires that seniors and people with disabilities reapply to submit an absentee ballot every four years.
Disability rights advocates have filed federal lawsuits over the law.
Unemployment
A new law will further limit Louisiana’s unemployment benefits, allowing unemployed residents to only receive a maximum of 20 weeks of benefits, down from the previous 26 week limit, and creating sliding scale, basing the amount of time a jobless person can get benefits on the current unemployment rate in the state.
For example, when the unemployment rate in Louisiana is 5% or less, as it currently is, the maximum time a person can receive unemployment benefits is limited to 12 weeks. For the benefit period to reach the 20 week maximum, the state unemployment rate would need to be equal to or greater than 8.5%.
Voting rights
Act 500 requires that Louisiana voters provide proof of their citizenship when they apply to vote. The Secretary of State’s office will determine what documentation will be required of residents.
Seafood safety
Louisiana lawmakers have created several new rules around labeling seafood, aiming to get restaurants and producers to be transparent about where the seafood businesses are selling comes from. Act 148 requires restaurants, seafood markets and grocers that sell cooked or prepared crawfish or shrimp from outside of the U.S. to display a disclaimer on their menu or at the entrance of the business.
The new rules also specifically prohibit restaurant or seafood market owners are from falsely claiming that crawfish or shrimp originated in the U.S.
Income taxes
Passed during the latest special session, Act 5 will change Louisiana’s corporate income taxes, establishing a single 5.5% rate, down from the previous 7.5% rate. Other laws passed during the session that have already gone into effect change the individual income tax to a flat 3% rate starting for the 2025 tax year.
Auto insurance discounts for military
A new law will extend the state’s 25% premium discount on automobile insurance policies for active duty military personnel to military reservists, retired military and some veterans.
Noncompetes for doctors
Act 273, a law aimed at keeping more doctors in the state, will restrict “noncompete” agreements for physicians, saying physician contracts can only contain the so-called noncompete clauses for up to 5 years depending on doctors’ specialties. Previously, hospitals could put noncompete clauses into contracts for as long as they wished.
The legislation is considered a big win for Louisiana hospitals that compete with Ochsner Health System, which regularly deployed such noncompetes.
Ankle monitoring regulations
While ankle monitoring companies have for years operated without oversight, a new law will add regulations and allow officials to privately track the firms. Under Act 746, ankle monitor “vendors” will have to register with law enforcement and submit monthly lists of the defendants they supervise.
State employment requirements
Act 655 limits state agencies from having education hiring requirements, saying that agencies cannot require applicants to have a baccalaureate degree or more than three years of relevant experience unless the position is an upper management position or requires additional knowledge.
Email Julia Guilbeau at jguilbeau@theadvocate.com.