---
type: "Bill"
title: "CRIMINAL/PENALTIES: Provides relative to the suspension of a driver's license of a defendant who is financially unable to pay a criminal fine"
description: "CRIMINAL/PENALTIES: Provides relative to the suspension of a driver's license of a defendant who is financially unable to pay a criminal fine"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 397"
citation: "Louisiana HB 397 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John Bagneris"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 24
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-03-29"
last_action: "2019-06-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/16d84b74-0a91-4947-993a-9cd41bb82627"
source_url: "http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=236213"
source_hash: "db88f8a7ab2e6b6a97c2e86d5e7eab22b714bc62f2f649374a89d7be741cb889"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-la"]
---

# Louisiana HB 397 (2019) — CRIMINAL/PENALTIES: Provides relative to the suspension of a driver's license of a defendant who is financially unable to pay a criminal fine

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB397 Original** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1121466)
2. **HB397 Act 111** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1143292)
3. **HB397 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1127074)
4. **HB397 Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1132336)
5. **House Floor Amendment, #2128, Marino, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1130886)
6. **Senate Committee Amendment, #1879, JUDC, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1133782)
7. **Senate Floor Amendment, #2071, Claitor, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1135190)
8. **HB397 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1139507)

## Votes

- CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENTS (#647) — **87–12** (pass) · lower
- FINAL PASSAGE (#206) — **63–31** (pass) · lower
- FINAL PASSAGE (#431) — **20–11** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John Bagneris — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-06-04** Effective date: 08/01/2019.
- **2019-06-04** Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 111. `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-02** Sent to the Governor for executive approval. `executive-receipt`
- **2019-05-31** Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2019-05-31** Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
- **2019-05-29** Read by title, roll called, yeas 87, nays 12, Senate amendments concurred in.
- **2019-05-23** Scheduled for concurrence on 05/29/19.
- **2019-05-21** Received from the Senate with amendments.
- **2019-05-21** Rules suspended. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 20 yeas and 11 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2019-05-16** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
- **2019-05-15** Committee amendments read and adopted. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2019-05-14** Reported with amendments.
- **2019-05-09** Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary C. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-08** Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
- **2019-05-07** Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 63, nays 31. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2019-05-02** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/07/19.
- **2019-05-02** Notice given.
- **2019-05-02** Read by title, returned to the calendar.
- **2019-04-25** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/02/19.
- **2019-04-25** Read by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
- **2019-04-24** Reported favorably (15-0-1).
- **2019-04-08** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-29** Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-29** Prefiled. `filing`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/16d84b74-0a91-4947-993a-9cd41bb82627`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).