---
type: "Bill"
title: "LIABILITY: Limits liability of persons who provide relief or recovery equipment or services during a declared state emergency. (gov sig)"
description: "LIABILITY: Limits liability of persons who provide relief or recovery equipment or services during a declared state emergency. (gov sig)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 491"
citation: "Louisiana SB 491 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Sharon Hewitt"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 17
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-03-31"
last_action: "2020-06-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8b21c848-6015-45ec-8d5c-cc903b752332"
source_url: "http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=238825"
source_hash: "583c1273c9b544a34fb68715e885f45cd9fb5e3f837bbfbbc95a69fcdc81524b"
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 SB 491 (2020) — LIABILITY: Limits liability of persons who provide relief or recovery equipment or services during a declared state emergency. (gov sig)

## Version chain

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

1. **SB491 Original** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1168211)
2. **SB491 Act 303** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1182329)
3. **SB491 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1169724)
4. **SB491 Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1172608)
5. **Senate Committee Amendment, #1131, JUDA, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1170465)
6. **Senate Floor Amendment, #1366, Hewitt, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1171758)
7. **SB491 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1177513)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE (#194) — **28–6** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE (#555) — **99–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Sharon Hewitt — primary (person)
- Barbara Reich Freiberg — cosponsor (person)
- Beau Beaullieu — cosponsor (person)
- Beryl Amedee — cosponsor (person)
- Dodie Horton — cosponsor (person)
- Francis C. Thompson — cosponsor (person)
- Jack McFarland — cosponsor (person)
- Larry Frieman — cosponsor (person)
- Mark Wright — cosponsor (person)
- Mary DuBuisson — cosponsor (person)
- Paula Davis — cosponsor (person)
- Polly Thomas — cosponsor (person)
- Ray Garofalo — cosponsor (person)
- Rhonda Butler — cosponsor (person)
- Richard Nelson — cosponsor (person)
- Rick Edmonds — cosponsor (person)
- Tony Bacala — cosponsor (person)
- William "Bill" Wheat , Jr. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-06-12** Effective date 6/12/2020.
- **2020-06-12** Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 303. `executive-signature`
- **2020-06-01** Sent to the Governor by the Secretary of the Senate on 6/2/2020. `executive-receipt`
- **2020-06-01** Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
- **2020-05-31** Enrolled. Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2020-05-29** Received from the House without amendments.
- **2020-05-29** Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 99, nays 0. Finally passed, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2020-05-26** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/29/20.
- **2020-05-26** Read by title, passed to 3rd reading.
- **2020-05-26** Rules suspended.
- **2020-05-26** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments.
- **2020-05-26** Reported favorably (13-0-1). Referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2020-05-15** Received in the House from the Senate, rules suspended, read by title, referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure. `referral-committee`
- **2020-05-14** Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title and passed by a vote of 28 yeas and 6 nays; ordered reengrossed and sent to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2020-05-07** Reported with amendments. Rules suspended. Read by title; Committee amendments read and adopted. Ordered engrossed and passed to third reading and final passage.
- **2020-05-04** Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary A. `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-31** Introduced in the Senate. Read by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8b21c848-6015-45ec-8d5c-cc903b752332`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).