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Votes at a glance: major measures the Louisiana Senate passed on May 13, 2026
Summary
The Senate adopted dozens of bills and resolutions by recorded and voice votes on May 13, including election-code conference amendments (HB 842), several local bills for the new City of St. George, nursing-facility quality oversight (SB 405), school safety measures, and numerous House bills that passed third reading.
The Louisiana Senate disposed of a long calendar on May 13, adopting committee reports, numerous House messages and advancing a wide set of bills. Key floor outcomes included:
- HB 842 (conference committee report on omnibus election changes) — Senate concurred in conference committee amendments; tally recorded in floor proceedings (29 ayes, 7 nays on the motion to adopt). The report includes procedural changes for primary ballots and a return to an open (jungle) primary for congressional races this fall, with changes effective later for future years.
- SB 405 — A statewide quality oversight initiative for nursing facilities was passed; the sponsor said the bill requires the Department of Health to coordinate stakeholders and set short- and long-term goals; final passage was recorded in favor with unanimous or near-unanimous machine tallies as reported on the floor.
- Local bills for the City of St. George (SB 444 and SB 485) — The Senate passed local measures authorizing certain expropriation mechanisms and allocating municipal taxing authority for the newly created municipality; sponsors described notice and compensation processes; recorded passage was reported (SB 444: 33–0; SB 485: 36–0).
- A range of House bills received final passage on third reading across topics including higher-education dual-enrollment streamlining, parity for lab-school funding, charter-boat guide licensing, and reforms to the Office of Louisiana Highway Construction. Most such bills passed with largely unanimous tallies as read on the floor and then recorded.
- A number of resolutions were adopted, including SCR 68 (task force on blockchain/digital innovation), SCR designations for community-action month, and other commendations.
The Senate also handled committee reports and scheduled further business; some contested bills (notably SB 500 on medical-malpractice reform) were converted into study requests rather than receiving final passage.
This summary lists key passage outcomes recorded on the floor; the clerk’s official journal will contain the complete roll-call tallies and formal bill texts.
