---
type: "Bill"
title: "CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Provides for post conviction relief with regard to successful \"actual innocence\" claims. (8/1/21)"
description: "CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Provides for post conviction relief with regard to successful \"actual innocence\" claims. (8/1/21)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 186"
citation: "Louisiana SB 186 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gary L. Smith, Jr."]
version_count: 8
action_count: 18
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-04-01"
last_action: "2021-06-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c1bd59f4-a099-4892-abf4-10841d9a7d18"
source_url: "http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=240392"
source_hash: "1d8132594bd6cfe37dfd4877223ee4b00faaf0a9d137c428240a266a81417c55"
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 186 (2021) — CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Provides for post conviction relief with regard to successful "actual innocence" claims. (8/1/21)

## Version chain

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

1. **SB186 Original** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1211195)
2. **SB186 Act** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1232831)
3. **SB186 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1217866)
4. **SB186 Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1218941)
5. **Senate Committee Amendment, #1018, JUDC, Draft** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1217101)
6. **Senate Committee Amendment, #1035, JUDC, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1217143)
7. **Senate Floor Legislative Bureau Amendment, #1205, Mills, Fred, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1218186)
8. **SB186 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1229679)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE (#195) — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE (#829) — **104–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gary L. Smith, Jr. — primary (person)
- C. Denise Marcelle — cosponsor (person)
- Jonathan Goudeau — cosponsor (person)
- Joseph Marino — cosponsor (person)
- Marcus Bryant — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-06-04** Effective date 8/1/2021.
- **2021-06-04** Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 104. `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-01** Sent to the Governor by the Secretary of the Senate. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-01** Signed by the Speaker of the House.
- **2021-06-01** Enrolled. Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2021-06-01** Received from the House without amendments.
- **2021-05-27** Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 104, nays 1. Finally passed, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2021-05-26** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/27/2021.
- **2021-05-24** Read by title, passed to 3rd reading.
- **2021-05-20** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments.
- **2021-05-19** Reported favorably (9-0). Referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2021-05-04** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-03** Received in the House from the Senate, read by title, lies over under the rules.
- **2021-04-29** Rules suspended. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title and passed by a vote of 34 yeas and 0 nays; ordered reengrossed and sent to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2021-04-28** Read by title. Committee amendments read and adopted. Ordered engrossed and passed to third reading and final passage.
- **2021-04-27** Reported with amendments.
- **2021-04-12** Introduced in the Senate; read by title. Rules suspended. Read second time and referred to the Committee on Judiciary C. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-01** Prefiled and under the rules provisionally referred to the Committee on Judiciary C. `filing, referral-committee`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c1bd59f4-a099-4892-abf4-10841d9a7d18`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).