2025 Policy Priorities for Louisiana

Strengthening Democracy and Voting Rights

36Kestimated number of individuals in Louisiana who have lost their voting rights due to felony convictions

A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2024 forced the Louisiana Legislature to create a second majority-minority congressional district for Louisianans. As a result, Louisiana (whose population is one-third Black) now has two African American members of its six-person congressional delegation. In the legislative session following the Supreme Court ruling, Louisiana lawmakers who were unhappy with the outcome introduced bills to restrict voter access, such as limits upon voter registration drives and absentee voting procedures, as well as encouraging aggressive scrubbing of voter registration rolls. Intentions to disenfranchise voters and make voting more difficult while also feeding the rhetoric of distrust in the voting process are painful and increasingly common examples of the erosion of democracy. Grappling with the tension of the victory of expanded congressional representation and counter-attempts to disenfranchise eligible voters demonstrates how crucial it is to pursue a fair and just democracy. 

Louisiana has made multiple changes over the years to expand voting access by providing additional days for early voting, longer time in the voting booth, and providing notices for changes in polling locations. We applaud these efforts to make sure voting is a simple, convenient process that allows every eligible voter to easily participate. However, it appears that the new Louisiana administration along with the new super majority in the state Legislature are aligned in their goal to restrict access and limit voter participation. One example of many scare tactics being used to intimidate and limit the voting pool is the governor’s executive order mandating the OMV include a disclaimer stating that it is illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in elections. 

In Louisiana, an estimated 36,000 individuals have lost their voting rights due to felony convictions. While voting rights can be restored after completing incarceration, parole, or probation, many of those eligible to do so face bureaucratic barriers such as providing burdensome documentation to election officials before being able to re-register. These expensive and time-consuming documentation requirements disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities, further exacerbating racial disparities in voter participation. 

Recommendations:

• Implement policies intended to expand voter access and participation; remove policies intended to disenfranchise voters.
• Work with coalition partners to expand absentee voting to those detained while awaiting trial.
• Permit same-day registration.
• Establish preclearance procedures to safeguard voters against changes that violate federal voting protections. 
• Implement universal voter registration for individuals with past criminal convictions.

Ending Unjust Imprisonment

Police departments and sheriffs’ offices across Louisiana are not required to report even the most fundamental law enforcement information, such as the number of stops or arrests they make. Critical accountability data on uses of force, citizen complaints, and officer discipline are similarly absent. Without robust data, Louisiana cannot objectively evaluate its law enforcement practices. Moreover, a void of transparency results in insufficient accountability for Louisiana’s more than 300 law enforcement agencies.

Louisiana cannot meaningfully improve how its law enforcement entities engage with their communities and the people they are supposed to serve and protect until they objectively evaluate their current practices. Additionally, until there is comprehensive reporting, it is not possible to assess how law enforcement practices impact the state’s alarmingly high incarceration rate. 

The SPLC’s research has identified an extreme lack of diversity in Louisiana law enforcement (over 90% of sheriffs were white men as of 2022). To achieve community stability and public safety, it is necessary to invest taxpayer funds in initiatives such as intentional and robust recruitment efforts that increase diversity of law enforcement; racial bias training; and requiring data transparency of police activity. Doing so will increase accountability for official law enforcement activities — including racial biases. Furthermore, SPLC recommends enabling a third-party ombudsman to evaluate complaints and concerns filed by Louisianans because police agencies cannot effectively evaluate their own performance or counter criticisms of unfair targeting and systemic misconduct. Trust can only be established if communities have access to information and public servants are held accountable for their misdeeds.

Recommendation:

• Mandate comprehensive data collection and public reporting by all law enforcement agencies — no exemptions should be made for those with racial profiling policies.
• Enable a third-party ombudsman to evaluate residents’ complaints and concerns about law enforcement behavior and tactics. 

Ending Unjust Imprisonment

Prior to 2016, Louisiana was one of only two states that automatically prosecuted 17-year-olds as adults, regardless of the severity of the offense. The Raise the Age Act, which took effect in 2017, raised the age for which a child was considered an adult from 17 to 18, meaning that individuals under the age of 18 would be processed through the youth justice system rather than the adult criminal system. Exceptions were implemented for certain serious crimes, where district attorneys had discretion on whether children could still be transferred to adult court.

However, in 2024, Louisiana lawmakers passed legislation to once again treat 17-year-olds as adults in criminal cases. This rollback of progress made by the Raise the Age Act reignites the debate over the appropriate age at which young people should be treated as adults in the criminal legal system.

Out of the 203 17-year-olds who were arrested in Orleans, Jefferson and East Baton Rouge parishes between April and September 2024, 141, or 69%, were arrested for offenses that are not listed as violent crimes under Louisiana law. Just 13% of the defendants — a little over two dozen — have been accused of the type of violent crimes that lawmakers cited when arguing for the legislation (e.g., rape, armed robbery and murder); there was no need to change the law —under the Raise the Age Act, district attorneys had the authority to try these crimes in adult court. Furthermore, this reversal was unnecessary because the low number of violent youth crime convictions mirrors the consistent trend of decreasing youth arrest rates. Between 2000 and 2020, Louisiana and the U.S. have seen youth arrest rates decline by 67% and 80% respectively — suggesting that adult prisons are not as necessary to deal with youth crime as current rhetoric makes it seem. 

According to SPLC research, youth incarcerated in adult facilities are more likely to experience extensive solitary confinement, greater recidivism, and higher suicide rates — making adult prisons hardly appropriate for children that are still in the early stages of brain development. When youth are prosecuted as adults and pushed into the adult prison system, that conviction will forever impact them — creating lifelong obstacles to finding housing, accessing education, and employment. Furthermore, when they return to their communities, they are more likely to be arrested again. This harms our communities as well as our family structures. To turn the tide, Louisiana needs to meaningfully invest in programs and community-based alternatives to incarceration of children such as additional resources for counseling, tutoring and substance abuse treatment, and investing in school policies and programs which have a proven positive impact on youth.

Recommendations:

• Raise the minimum age to be considered an adult within the criminal legal system to 18. Restore the Raise the Age Act. Provide appropriate education, health care, and social program assistance for children currently incarcerated within the youth justice system.
• Remove all children under the age of 18 from adult facilities.
• Fund diversion programs for youths as an alternative to incarceration. Examples include community-based alternatives, school-based policies and programs that prioritize rehabilitation, counseling, tutoring, and drug use treatment services. 

Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality

In recent years, we witnessed activists and politicians who advanced racist strategies to attack crucial anti-discrimination policies in K-12 and higher education settings. Our children deserve a truthful education about race and racism in this country. Attempts to quash these conversations are attacks on democracy, justice and community. Furthermore, they limit our ability, as a society, to deal frankly with our past or future. Students must learn the full picture of U.S. history, especially when it does not live up to our shared values. The U.S. is founded on ideals of liberty, freedom and equality, but built on slavery, exploitation and exclusion. Lesson plans and policies that suppress honest and vulnerable discussions and analysis of this history are harmful and fail to provide a path toward equity and mutual respect.

In addition to efforts to erase Black history from schools and to eliminate diversity and inclusion programs, a number of harmful polices that target the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ youth in Louisiana have been put forward. These include bills that prevent children from openly expressing themselves at school, playing on sports teams with their peers, or using the restroom in which they feel safe. As a result, LGBTQ+ kids and their families are forced to navigate ongoing and unacceptable obstacles to their educational futures and well-being. 

Recommendations:

• Reject the politicization of education. Instead, embrace the importance of teaching students to critically examine the history of slavery, racial discrimination, and the diversity of the United States. 
• Support the dignity of LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly youth. Reject policies that further harm children by censoring their personal expression, denying them access to educational materials, or putting them at greater risk of bullying or self-harm.
• Retain the independence of local libraries as safe havens within their communities.

Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality

Congress has long recognized the importance of food security programs. Beginning in 2011, it established and funded the Summer EBT pilot program. In 2022, with overwhelming bipartisan support, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which made the Summer EBT program permanent. 

257Kestimated number of children under the age of 18 were living in poverty in 2022 in Louisiana

The summer Pandemic-EBT Program has proven to be a lifeline for countless Louisiana families, ensuring that children in households experiencing food insecurity receive the nourishment they need even when schools are closed. Day care centers also use the funds year-round to provide infants and toddlers with consistent access to healthy meals. Further, according to the USDA, every dollar spent on food assistance generates local economic activity. Based on the USDA’s estimate of the nearly 600,000 children eligible for the program, Louisiana could expect an expected economic impact of $106.9 million to $128.3 million from Summer EBT benefits.

Although Louisiana opted out of the Summer EBT Program in 2024, during the regular session the Legislature approved a new grocery benefits program to provide families $120 for each eligible school-aged child to buy groceries when school is out. In Louisiana, an estimated 257,000 children under the age of 18 were living in poverty in 2022, with 40% of those being Black children. With hundreds of thousands of Louisiana’s youths living in poverty, it is critical that the Legislature use all available tools to guarantee that Louisiana’s children don’t go hungry. 

Recommendations:

• Provide adequate and ongoing funding for universal breakfast and summer nutrition programs for school-aged children. 
• Appropriate necessary matching funds from the USDA annually, or as available. 
• Establish outreach to children and families who are eligible but not participating in the Summer EBT program.

Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality

Louisiana’s ranking as one of the poorest states in the nation, coupled with the recent rise in inflation and lack of adequate housing and shelter, has increased the population of individuals facing housing stability. There is an increasing number of Louisiana residents who are simply trying to survive without shelter or are one surprise financial emergency away from being without a home themselves. Additionally, once people are housed, they often struggle to repair or maintain their homes.

We have been very vocal, particularly in Baton Rouge, in providing local municipalities with alternatives that are more beneficial to individuals facing homelessness. However, rather than allocating resources to provide adequate shelter for those in need, the 2024 state Legislature passed a law to criminalize individuals attempting to gain resources while standing in public roadways and highways and elected officials have instead passed local ordinances to criminalize individuals living in encampments. Additionally, municipalities such as Baton Rouge, Livingston, and New Orleans are adopting local laws aimed at removing unhoused people from public spaces, instead of working to address the most direct challenge — the lack of affordable homes for low-wage earners and other drivers of homelessness. State and local policies should instead be focused on funding solutions to foster stability and dignity, which enable individuals to rebuild financially and reintegrate into their communities — without calls to criminalize people experiencing homelessness. 

Recommendations:

• Reinforce the dignity of its residents by allocating U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds to ensure quality, affordable housing for Louisianans — regardless of their economic, physical, or mental health status.
• Address the needs of local unhoused populations and the drivers of homelessness by investing in alternative strategies, such as affordable and secure housing, which have proven successful nationwide. 
• Reject criminal penalties for people experiencing homelessness who establish encampment areas or solicit assistance and provide pathways towards safe housing.
• Clearly define the rights of unhoused individuals and families to minimize interactions with law enforcement and unnecessary and harmful jail time.

Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality

Years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the residents of the city of New Orleans continue to struggle to find affordable housing, quality food, decent wages, support for their families and a sense of safety in their neighborhoods. Fighting for the equitable and transparent allocation of over $388 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars has been a priority since 2022. The culmination of the work was the creation of the Big Easy Deal through a collaboration known as the Big Easy Budget Coalition.

$83.8Mfunds secured by the Big Easy Budget Coalition since 2022

In 2023 the coalition was able to secure the proper allocation of $26 million in ARPA funds and $20 million from the general budget to support investments in housing, basic needs, and community violence interventions, but several critical need areas were not covered in those allocations. In 2024, the goal was to have the city of New Orleans invest $125.5 million into the needs of its residents: $100 million in affordable housing; $18 million in youth services; $4 million in food security; and $3.5 million in violence prevention. Of that request, only $37.8 million was secured to be allocated in 2025. 

Since 2022, the coalition has successfully secured approximately $83.8 million in funds, but there is still work to be done to ensure that the residents of New Orleans are not only just surviving but thriving. When surveyed, nearly 500 residents of Orleans Parish stated that the top priorities for city investments should be education, safe and affordable housing for all residents, opportunities for youth, and mental health services. When it comes to community safety, New Orleanians’ top priorities are prevention through early intervention, skills and employment training, and treatment. Our state and local policies and funding priorities should match the community needs and priorities..

Recommendations:

• Fully fund the Big Easy Deal in 2025 to ensure that all areas of concern raised by the citizens of Orleans Parish are backed with adequate finances.
• Release the city budget earlier in the year to create more opportunities for community participation. 
• Increase transparency by making the budget process more equitable and accessible for all residents, including making the budget machine readable.