---
type: "Bill"
title: "MENTAL HEALTH: Provides relative to treatment facilities for mental health patients"
description: "MENTAL HEALTH: Provides relative to treatment facilities for mental health patients"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 79"
citation: "Louisiana HB 79 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wayne McMahen"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2021-03-08"
last_action: "2021-06-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/81e350fa-6839-4199-b545-aee3418fe3de"
source_url: "http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=239874"
source_hash: "4140bbb3bdb0c3eab009d1607d4bdcc8db89ddc4a635461ffdba2f4b43e67b05"
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 79 (2021) — MENTAL HEALTH: Provides relative to treatment facilities for mental health patients

## Version chain

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

1. **HB79 Original** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1202709)
2. **HB79 Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1235705)
3. **HB79 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1224354)
4. **House Committee Amendment, #2726, H&W, Draft** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1223354)
5. **House Committee Amendment, #2875, H&W, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1224264)
6. **Senate Floor Amendment, #3244, Cathey, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1231163)
7. **HB79 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1233317)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE (#504) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- FINAL PASSAGE (#860) — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENTS (#1089) — **95–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Wayne McMahen — primary (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. 372. `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-09** Sent to the Governor for executive approval. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-09** Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2021-06-08** Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
- **2021-06-08** Read by title, roll called, yeas 95, nays 0, Senate amendments concurred in.
- **2021-06-07** Scheduled for concurrence on 06/08/2021.
- **2021-06-07** Received from the Senate with amendments.
- **2021-06-07** Rules suspended. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 36 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2021-06-01** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
- **2021-05-27** Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2021-05-26** Reported favorably.
- **2021-05-20** Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Health and Welfare. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-19** Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
- **2021-05-18** Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 97, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2021-05-13** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/18/2021.
- **2021-05-13** Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
- **2021-05-12** Reported with amendments (15-0).
- **2021-04-12** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Health and Welfare. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-12** First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 3/12/2021.
- **2021-03-09** Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Health and Welfare. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-08** Prefiled. `filing`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/81e350fa-6839-4199-b545-aee3418fe3de`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).