Provides relative to conduct that constitutes disturbing the peace (EG SEE FISC NOTE GF EX)

House Bill 68 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:103 by adding a new subsection to the crime of disturbing the peace. Specifically, the bill enacts R.S. 14:103(A)(9), which establishes that interrupting any worship service or religious ceremony at a church or other place of worship constitutes conduct that disturbs or alarms the public and therefore qualifies as disturbing the peace. The bill simultaneously enacts R.S. 14:103(B)(3), which prescribes the penalty for this specific form of disturbing the peace as a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, with a mandatory minimum of fifteen days to be served without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence.

The practical effect of this legislation is to provide criminal protection for religious worship services and ceremonies. Individuals who intentionally interrupt or disrupt religious services or ceremonies at churches or other houses of worship may now be prosecuted under this specific provision of the disturbing the peace statute. The mandatory minimum fifteen-day imprisonment without probation or suspension creates a stricter consequence for this particular conduct compared to what may apply to other forms of disturbing the peace. This protection applies broadly to all places of worship, not limited to churches but extending to any location where worship services or religious ceremonies are conducted.

This amendment operates within the existing framework of Louisiana's disturbing the peace statute found in R.S. 14:103, which already criminalizes various forms of conduct that foreseeably disturb or alarm the public. The new provision adds a ninth category of prohibited conduct to the enumerated list in Paragraph (A) while establishing a corresponding penalty provision in Paragraph (B). The statute follows Louisiana's approach of defining crimes by specific conduct rather than relying solely on general prohibitions, and the inclusion of this offense within the disturbing the peace framework places it among general offenses affecting public order and peace as codified in Chapter 1 of Title 14 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes.