Senate Bill No. 41, introduced by Senator Allain, amends R.S. 43:144 to extend the deadline for public bodies, such as municipal corporations, police juries, and school boards, to publish minutes from open meetings. The current law requires these entities to publish minutes within twenty days; the proposed legislation increases this timeframe to forty-five days. This change aims to provide public officials with additional time to prepare and submit the necessary documentation for publication.

The bill also outlines the penalties for officials who fail to comply with the new publication timeline. If an official neglects or fails to furnish the official journal with the required minutes, ordinances, resolutions, budgets, and proceedings within the specified forty-five days, they may face fines ranging from twenty-five to five hundred dollars, imprisonment for ten days to six months, or both. The new law is set to take effect on August 1, 2026.

Statutes affected:
SB41 Original:
SB41 Engrossed: