Laws in Louisiana are passed by the Louisiana State Legislature, which consists of the Louisiana House of Representatives and the Louisiana Senate. The House of Representatives has 105 members and the Senate has 39 members. Members of each chamber serve four-year terms and are limited to three consecutive terms.
The proposed law is known as a bill, which can be introduced in either house of the Louisiana legislature. Once a bill is introduced, it will be referred to one or more standing committees. These committees determine whether the bill should be advanced, and they can also offer amendments to the bill. If the bill passes through the committee phase, it is returned to the chamber in which it was introduced. This chamber will debate the bill and consider any amendments proposed by the committee or members of the chamber. Once the bill is complete, the first chamber will vote on whether to pass it.
If passed, the bill will go through the same process in the other chamber. Sometimes the second chamber will amend the bill and pass a different version. The bill will not proceed to the next stage if the differences between these versions are not resolved. Each chamber must adopt identical versions of the draft law.
If each house of the legislature approves the bill, the governor of Louisiana will review it. The governor may sign the bill, or the governor may take no action, which means the bill will become law. However, if the governor vetoes the bill, it will go back to the legislature. The legislature can vote to override the governor’s veto and pass the bill into law. A two-thirds majority in each house of the legislature is required to override the governor’s veto.