---
type: "Bill"
title: "WATERWAYS: Extends the period for which the Comite River is exempt from certain provisions of the Louisiana Scenic Rivers Act"
description: "WATERWAYS: Extends the period for which the Comite River is exempt from certain provisions of the Louisiana Scenic Rivers Act"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 544"
citation: "Louisiana HB 544 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Valarie Hodges"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 22
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2021-04-02"
last_action: "2021-06-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9e84cdca-751a-4e6a-b1ee-ec188de295c1"
source_url: "http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=240506"
source_hash: "07ab78f836e6965cad1cf3c3db60b6da9c7651a9bae520ec91bf88ee0070c0c7"
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 544 (2021) — WATERWAYS: Extends the period for which the Comite River is exempt from certain provisions of the Louisiana Scenic Rivers Act

## Version chain

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

1. **HB544 Original** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1211855)
2. **HB544 Act 368** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1235696)
3. **HB544 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1216532)
4. **Senate Floor Amendment, #2225, Lambert, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1225839)
5. **HB544 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1230962)

## Votes

- CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENTS (#917) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- FINAL PASSAGE (#479) — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- CO-AUTHORS (#480) — **4–0** (fail) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE (#164) — **100–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Valarie Hodges — primary (person)
- Glen Womack — cosponsor (person)
- J. Rogers Pope — cosponsor (person)
- Mack Bodi White, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- R. L. Bret Allain, II — cosponsor (person)
- Rick Ward, III — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-06-16** Effective date: 08/01/2021.
- **2021-06-16** Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 368. `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-03** Sent to the Governor for executive approval. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-03** Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2021-06-03** Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
- **2021-06-02** Read by title, roll called, yeas 97, nays 0, Senate amendments concurred in.
- **2021-06-01** Scheduled for concurrence on 06/02/2021.
- **2021-05-26** Received from the Senate with amendments.
- **2021-05-25** Rules suspended. 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. `passage`
- **2021-05-19** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
- **2021-05-18** Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2021-05-17** Reported favorably.
- **2021-05-05** Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-04** Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
- **2021-05-03** Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 100, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2021-04-27** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/03/2021.
- **2021-04-27** Read by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
- **2021-04-26** Reported favorably (14-0).
- **2021-04-12** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and Environment. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-02** First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 4/2/2021.
- **2021-04-02** Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and Environment. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-02** Prefiled. `filing`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9e84cdca-751a-4e6a-b1ee-ec188de295c1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).