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HB 194LOUISIANASession 2026State BillSigned into law

Enacted

Louisiana House Bill 194 adjusts time limits for filing lawsuits against engineers, architects, and developers

Original title: LIABILITY: Provides relative to peremptive periods

Last action · May 15, 2026: Effective date: 08/01/2026.Sponsors: Neil Riser and 1 other

Bill progressHistory & official text ↓

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Committee

Floor Vote

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What This Bill Does

Louisiana HB 194 updates the legal time limits (s) for filing damage lawsuits against engineers, surveyors, interior designers, architects, and real estate developers. The law establishes that such actions must be brought within five years from specific milestones, such as the date of work registry, owner occupancy, or completion of services.

Why it matters

Property owners, developers, and design professionals face a revised five-year cutoff window to file or face lawsuits regarding construction, planning, and design defects, changing how long liability exposure lasts.

Who It Affects

Groups the bill's text affects, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.

Directly affected

Professional engineers, architects, surveyors, and developers

Their legal liability window and exposure time for construction and design lawsuits are explicitly defined by the updated five-year peremptive periods.

Directly affected

Property owners

The timeframe within which they can legally file a damage claim against project professionals is governed by the newly structured commencement dates.

Key Facts

You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

What professionals are covered under House Bill 194?

The bill covers professional engineers, surveyors, engineer interns, surveyor interns, professional architects, landscape architects, architect interns, professional interior designers, other similar state licensees, and real estate developers.

What is the time limit for filing a lawsuit under this law?

Lawsuits for damages must be filed in a court of competent jurisdiction and proper venue at the latest within five years from specific milestone dates such as work acceptance, owner occupancy, or completion of services.

What else do you want to know?

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Votes, people, money & the original source

Where This Stands

Current status: Signed into law.

Procedural history

22 actions

May 15, 2026HouseEnrolled
Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 135.
May 15, 2026House
Effective date: 08/01/2026.
May 13, 2026SenateEnrolled
Signed by the President of the Senate.
May 13, 2026House
Sent to the Governor for executive approval.
May 12, 2026HouseEnrolled
Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
May 11, 2026HouseIntroduced
Read by title, roll called, yeas 96, nays 1, Senate amendments concurred in.

Show 16 earlier actions

May 7, 2026House
Scheduled for concurrence on 05/11/2026.
May 6, 2026House
Received from the Senate with amendments.
May 5, 2026SenateFloor
Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 34 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.
Apr 27, 2026SenateFloor
Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
Apr 22, 2026SenateIntroduced
Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
Apr 21, 2026SenateCommittee
Reported favorably.
Apr 8, 2026SenateCommittee
Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary A.
Apr 7, 2026HouseFloor
Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 89, nays 8. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
Apr 7, 2026Senate
Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
Apr 1, 2026House
Scheduled for floor debate on 04/07/2026.
Mar 31, 2026HouseFloor
Read by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
Mar 30, 2026HouseCommittee
Reported favorably (6-0-1).
Mar 9, 2026HouseIntroduced
Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.
Feb 20, 2026House
First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/20/2026.
Feb 18, 2026House
Prefiled.
Feb 18, 2026HouseCommittee
Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.

Version history

Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.

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Lobbying Activity

No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.

Full breakdown

Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.

Connected Entities

Neil Riser, Stewart Cathey

PersonNeil Riser“Representative who authored House Bill 194”Map →

PersonStewart Cathey“Senator co-authoring the bill”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.legis.la.gov

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance60
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy20
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment5
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz15
Current news / social attention level

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