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Senate Judiciary A advances suite of bills including paternity acknowledgment, magistrate authority, court-fee adjustments and complex-litigation codification
Summary
The committee reported a broad package of civil and court-administration measures favorably on May 5, 2026 — including HCR 31 (study of the term "foreign"), HB 263 (magistrate authority in specialty courts), HB 299 (accepting checks for jury bonds), HB 535 (hospital paternity acknowledgments), HB 571 (codifying complex‑litigation section), HB 538 (juvenile-court fee increase), and several others — while setting some items for Finance or floor review.
The Senate Judiciary A Committee on May 5 cleared a broad set of bills addressing civil procedure, court administration and family-law matters, reporting most measures favorably and referring several to additional steps.
Representative Domingue sought study authority on HCR 31 to ask the Louisiana Law Institute to review the statutory use of the word "foreign," arguing that the generic phrase can cause public confusion when it is applied to ordinary out-of-state businesses. The committee reported the resolution favorably and will forward the study request.
On court administration, the panel voted to report HB 263 favorably; sponsors said parish magistrates would be able to handle some felony matters in specialty courts under existing safeguards. HB 571, which would codify an existing complex‑litigation pilot program in the 19th Judicial District, was also reported favorably after testimony from the district’s deputy judicial administrator about referral criteria (numerosity, need for experts, special masters).
Family‑law changes advanced as well. HB 535 would simplify hospital‑based acknowledgments of paternity by allowing notarization without two witnesses in hospital programs that fall under RS 40:46; hospital officials from Woman’s Hospital testified with usage statistics and the committee reported the bill favorably.
Other measures reported favorably included HB 299 (clarifying clerks may accept checks for jury bonds to avoid credit-card processing fees), HB 538 (raising certain juvenile‑court fees — sponsor said the maximum revenue would be about $16,000 for the court), HB 215 (raising the small‑succession affidavit threshold), and HB 1043 (raising parish‑court jurisdictional amount; an amendment raised the cap to $50,000). The committee also adopted an amendment to HB 324 restoring a year of judicial COLA and referred that bill to Finance.
"This package is largely technical reform and clarification to help courts run efficiently," said Lauren Steli, deputy judicial administrator for the 19th JDC, during testimony on HB 571.
Votes at a glance: the minutes recorded numerous items reported without objection; several measures required or received recorded votes or were adopted with amendments. HB 1006 and HB 190 received roll-call attention (HB 1006 reported with amendments; HB 190 failed on the committee floor). HB 519, applying judicial‑conduct rules to court‑appointed special masters, was reported favorably.
Next steps: measures reported favorably will move toward the Senate floor and, where noted, to the Finance Committee for budget or fiscal review. The law institute study requested by HCR 31 is expected to produce recommendations for clarifying statutory terminology.
