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HB 170LOUISIANASession 2026State BillSigned into law

Enacted

Louisiana enacts HB 170 excluding specific oil, gas, and property infrastructure agreements from construction contract restrictions

Original title: CONTRACTS: Provides relative to construction contracts

Last action · May 15, 2026: Effective date: See Act.Sponsors: Neil Riser and 1 other

Bill progressHistory & official text ↓

Introduced

Committee

Floor Vote

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What This Bill Does

Louisiana updates construction contract laws to exclude specific oil and gas infrastructure, gathering lines, access roads, and property interest agreements from statutory restrictions, while maintaining that out-of-state and governing law clauses in covered construction agreements remain void.

Why it matters

Parties entering into construction contracts, subcontracts, and purchase orders for oil, gas, chemical, or property lease agreements are newly exempted from specific Louisiana contract voidance rules regarding out-of-state dispute resolution, altering how cross-jurisdictional energy and property infrastructure agreements are litigated.

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

construction contractors and subcontractors

Their agreements are subject to statutory definitions regarding construction contracts and prohibitions against out-of-state forum selection clauses.

Directly affected

oil and gas facility and infrastructure operators

Their access roads, flow lines, gathering lines, and manufacturing facilities are explicitly excluded from the definition of construction contracts under R.S. 9:2779.

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 types of oil and gas infrastructure are excluded from the construction contract rules?

Excluded infrastructure includes dirt or gravel roads used to access oil and gas wells, oil flow lines, , property interest instruments like deeds and leases, and upstream, midstream, or downstream oil, gas, chemical, petrochemical, or fuel manufacturing facilities.

Are out-of-state forum selection clauses still prohibited for standard construction contracts?

Yes. Provisions in covered construction contracts, subcontracts, and purchase orders requiring suits or arbitration to be brought outside of Louisiana or interpreted under the laws of another jurisdiction remain null, void, and unenforceable.

Do these rules apply to negotiated labor contracts?

No. The provisions do not apply to negotiated labor contracts.

What else do you want to know?

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Where This Stands

Current status: Signed into law.

Procedural history

22 actions

May 15, 2026HouseEnrolled
Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 132.
May 15, 2026House
Effective date: See Act.
May 13, 2026House
Sent to the Governor for executive approval.
May 12, 2026HouseEnrolled
Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
May 12, 2026SenateEnrolled
Signed by the President of the Senate.
May 11, 2026HouseIntroduced
Read by title, roll called, yeas 96, nays 0, 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 35 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 13, 2026SenateCommittee
Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary A.
Apr 8, 2026Senate
Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
Apr 7, 2026HouseFloor
Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 96, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
Apr 1, 2026House
Scheduled for floor debate on 04/07/2026.
Mar 31, 2026HouseFloor
Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
Mar 30, 2026House
Reported with amendments (5-0-1).
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 sponsored House Bill No. 170”Map →

PersonStewart Cathey“Senator who cosponsored House Bill No. 170”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.legis.la.gov

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance60
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy15
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment5
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz20
Current news / social attention level

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