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Committee advances bill to bar showing bodies of deceased victims in media; adds law‑enforcement exception
Summary
HB 265, which expands video voyeurism prohibitions to include showing the body of a deceased person and clarifies when offender‑registration applies, was amended to add a law‑enforcement exception and reported favorably out of committee.
Lawmakers adopted amendments and reported House Bill 265 favorably after sponsors said the change would prevent families from seeing images of deceased relatives on commercial programming.
Representative Landry described how a production used Project NOLA footage that showed Jacob Carter's body, retraumatizing his family. The sponsor said the bill extends the crime of video voyeurism to prohibit showing the body of a deceased person and includes clarifying language in the amendment set to define the law-enforcement exception.
Clerk-read amendment set 32 75 makes technical fixes and adds a provision clarifying that the proposed law "does not apply to any law enforcement officer in his official capacity while in the performance of his official duties" and specifies when offender registration applies under certain paragraphs. The sponsor said those changes are meant to protect lawful investigative activity while preventing exploitative commercial use of crime-scene footage.
After the amendment was adopted by the committee with no objections, the committee reported HB 265 as amended.
