What changed in Louisiana
Insurance law does not sit still, but most guides are written once and left alone. Repealed programs and retired forms keep circulating for years. This is what actually changed inLouisiana, when, and where to verify it.
Every state we cover, in one feed: what changed across the country · RSS
January 1, 2027
Moving hereSafety inspection sticker ends for ordinary vehicles (enacted, not yet in force)
Act 701 of 2026 (HB 1085) rewrites R.S. 32:1304 so that only commercial vehicles, covered farm vehicles rated over 26,000 pounds and student transportation vehicles must be inspected, plus vehicles registered in the five emissions parishes. A Louisiana Vehicle Identification Program sticker carrying the VIN, capped at $6 a year, replaces the brake tag. The Act already bars any citation for failing to produce or display an inspection certificate between June 30, 2026 and January 1, 2027. For the five emissions parishes the change takes effect only if and when the EPA adopts the state implementation plan amendments submitted by the Department of Environmental Quality; for every other parish it takes effect January 1, 2027.
Louisiana State Legislature — Acts 2026, No. 701 (HB 1085), enrolledJune 9, 2026
Driving uninsuredImpoundment for no proof of insurance extended to out-of-state vehicles
Act 861 of 2026 (HB 999) amended R.S. 32:863.1(C)(1)(a) and (I)(1) to state that the impoundment, notice of noncompliance and due-process procedures apply to every motor vehicle operated on Louisiana highways, including vehicles registered in another state. Before this, out-of-state drivers who could not show proof received only a notice of noncompliance and a later fine.
Louisiana State Legislature — Acts 2026, No. 861 (HB 999), enrolledJanuary 1, 2026
Fault systemPure comparative fault replaced by a 51% bar
Act 15 of 2025 (HB 431) rewrote La. Civ. Code art. 2323. A claimant whose share of the negligence is 51% or more now recovers nothing; below that, damages are still reduced in proportion to that share. Louisiana had been one of the few pure comparative fault states, where a claimant 90% at fault could still collect 10% of the damages.
Louisiana State Legislature — La. Civ. Code art. 2323January 1, 2026
Coverage lapseLapse surcharges: the ban now covers only a first lapse of 90 days or less
Act 476 of 2025 (HB 496) rewrote R.S. 22:1284.1, and it cuts both ways. Before the rewrite an insurer could not surcharge for any lapse, and could not use a lapse in setting rates at all. Now the protection reaches only an insured's first lapse of 90 days or less; later lapses may be surcharged, and the clause barring insurers from considering a lapse when setting rates was deleted. The counterweight: once an insured holds continuous coverage for five or more years, the next lapse counts as a first lapse again. The Act also repealed the old carve-out that let insurers surcharge anyway after sending a written notice about surrendering the plate.
Louisiana State Legislature — La. R.S. 22:1284.1August 1, 2025
Driving uninsured"No Pay, No Play" thresholds raised to $100,000
Act 16 of 2025 (HB 434) amended R.S. 32:866. An owner or operator who fails to carry the required liability security now recovers nothing for the first $100,000 of bodily injury and nothing for the first $100,000 of property damage, up from $15,000 and $25,000. The same figures govern the insurer's subrogation rights, and the $100,000 bodily injury figure also drives the court-costs rule in Subsection C. Guides still quoting $15,000/$25,000 are describing the pre-August 2025 law.
Louisiana State Legislature — Acts 2025, No. 16 (HB 434), enrolledJuly 1, 2024
Fault systemDeadline to sue over a crash doubled from one year to two
Act 423 of 2024 (HB 315) repealed La. Civ. Code arts. 3492 and 3493 and enacted art. 3493.1, which subjects delictual actions to a two-year liberative prescription running from the day the injury or damage is sustained. Louisiana's one-year deadline had been the shortest in the country. The two-year period applies to causes of action arising on or after July 1, 2024.
Louisiana State Legislature — La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1January 1, 2021
Fault systemCivil Justice Reform Act of 2020 cut the jury trial threshold from $50,000 to $10,000
Act 37 of the 2020 First Extraordinary Session (HB 57) amended La. C.C.P. art. 1732 so that a jury trial is available once an individual petitioner's cause of action exceeds $10,000, down from $50,000. The same Act limited recovery of past medical expenses to what a health insurer or Medicare actually paid rather than the billed amount, and barred telling the jury that liability insurance exists except in defined situations.
Louisiana State Legislature — La. C.C.P. art. 1732
What this list does and does not cover
Recorded here: changes to the rules this site tracks for Louisiana — liability minimums, SR-22 and proof-of-insurance requirements, penalties for driving uninsured, the fault system, what a lapse costs, new-resident deadlines and crash reporting. Each entry names the session law or statute that made the change and the date it took effect, not the date it was signed.
Not recorded: rate filings, individual insurer decisions, court rulings that do not change the text of the law, and changes to rules outside those seven subjects. A short list does not mean a quiet legislature — it means little moved in the parts of Louisiana law a driver has to comply with.
A change that has passed but has not yet taken effect is not shown as current anywhere on this site. It sits on the Louisiana pages as a dated pending value and replaces the current figure on the morning it comes into force. You can see every pending change across the country at the top of the national change feed, and the sources behind the Louisiana figures on its statute index.