Creates a public registry for repeat domestic violence offenders. (8/1/26) (OR +$610,195 GF EX See Note)

Senate Bill 371 creates Chapter 3-H of Title 15 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, establishing the Habitual Domestic Violence Offender Registry within the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information. The bill applies to adults who receive a second or subsequent conviction for specified domestic violence offenses on or after August 1, 2027, when the victims are family members, household members, or dating partners. These offenses include aggravated battery, various forms of sexual assault, stalking, violation of protective orders, and certain felonies involving force or threatened force against domestic relationships. The legislation requires courts to provide written notice to convicted offenders that they must register within three business days of release or as a condition of probation or parole, and imposes an additional $150 fine payable to the clerk of court, with proceeds remitted to the bureau to defray registration costs. Offenders must register in person with the sheriff of their parish of residence and provide detailed information including name, address, employment, school enrollment, photographs, vehicle descriptions, telephone numbers, online identifiers, and identifying characteristics.

The registry creates significant obligations and consequences for registered offenders and related parties. Offenders must notify local and campus police departments within fourteen days of registration and maintain current registration information for ten years from initial registration unless convictions are reversed, set aside, or vacated. Any person who provides an affidavit verifying an offender's residence becomes obligated to notify law enforcement within three business days if the offender is absent from the residence for thirty days or if either the offender or affiant vacates with intent to establish a new residence elsewhere. The Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information must develop and maintain a publicly accessible registry, receive information on out-of-state offenders establishing residence in Louisiana, promulgate implementing regulations, and implement information-sharing capabilities with social networking websites. The bill exempts offenders already required to register as sex offenders, child predators, or child abusers under existing law from these domestic violence registry requirements.

This legislation operates within Louisiana's existing criminal justice framework established in Title 14 and Title 15 of the Revised Statutes, building upon established domestic violence battery and assault statutes while creating parallel registration requirements to those in the sex offender registry system. The bill creates the crime of failure to register and notify as a habitual domestic violence offender, with penalties of up to one thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, plus revocation of any outstanding probation. Affidavits providing false address information or failing to notify law enforcement of changed circumstances may result in fines up to five hundred dollars or imprisonment for not more than six months. The effective date of August 1, 2026, for the statute itself precedes the August 1, 2027, applicability date for convictions triggering registration requirements. Implementation remains subject to legislative appropriation of necessary funds, indicating that the registry's operation depends on budgetary authorization.