---
type: "Bill"
title: "SCHOOLS: Requires display of the national motto, \"In God We Trust\", in every public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education classroom"
description: "SCHOOLS: Requires display of the national motto, \"In God We Trust\", in every public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education classroom"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 8"
citation: "Louisiana HB 8 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dodie Horton"]
version_count: 14
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-12"
last_action: "2023-06-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0627cfe7-bbb1-49e1-9e25-8fdcc20672ec"
source_url: "https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=243813"
source_hash: "f13b560433b38042ffe34d7d384197674a05d5dd4d43e51e5012a10065288f70"
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 8 (2023) — SCHOOLS: Requires display of the national motto, "In God We Trust", in every public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education classroom

## Version chain

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

1. **HB8 Original** (filed) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1297906)
2. **HB8 Act 264** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1332426)
3. **HB8 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1316406)
4. **HB8 Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1319992)
5. **House Committee Amendment, #1908, EDUC, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1316372)
6. **House Committee Amendment, #286, EDUC, Draft** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1298389)
7. **House Floor Amendment, #2445, Ivey, Withdrawn** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1319552)
8. **House Floor Amendment, #2495, Ivey, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1319824)
9. **House Floor Amendment, #2497, Ivey, Rejected** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1319825)
10. **Senate Committee Amendment, #1917, EDUC, Draft** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1323630)
11. **Senate Committee Amendment, #1923, EDUC, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1323655)
12. **Senate Floor Amendment, #2218, Peacock, Withdrawn** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1325828)
13. **Senate Floor Amendment, #2801, Barrow, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1329431)
14. **HB8 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1330764)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE (#742) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- AMENDMENT # 2497 BY IVEY, MOTION TO ADOPT (#240) — **22–77** (fail) · lower
- FINAL PASSAGE (#241) — **98–4** (pass) · lower
- CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENTS (#1045) — **100–0** (pass) · lower
- CO-AUTHORS (#743) — **20–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dodie Horton — primary (person)
- Barrow Peacock — cosponsor (person)
- Beryl Amedee — cosponsor (person)
- Bob Hensgens — cosponsor (person)
- Eddie Lambert — cosponsor (person)
- Gary L. Smith, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Glen Womack — cosponsor (person)
- Heather Cloud — cosponsor (person)
- Jack McFarland — cosponsor (person)
- Jay Morris — cosponsor (person)
- Jeremy Stine — cosponsor (person)
- Julie Emerson — cosponsor (person)
- Katrina Jackson — cosponsor (person)
- Louie Bernard — cosponsor (person)
- Mark Abraham — cosponsor (person)
- Michael "Big Mike" Fesi — cosponsor (person)
- Mike Reese — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick Connick — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick McMath — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick Page Cortez — cosponsor (person)
- Ray Garofalo — cosponsor (person)
- Regina Ashford Barrow — cosponsor (person)
- Robert Mills — cosponsor (person)
- Sharon Hewitt — cosponsor (person)
- Stewart Cathey , Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Tony Bacala — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-06-09** Effective date: 08/01/2023.
- **2023-06-09** Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 264. `became-law, executive-signature`
- **2023-06-08** Sent to the Governor for executive approval. `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-07** Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2023-06-07** Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House. `enrolled`
- **2023-06-06** Read by title, roll called, yeas 100, nays 0, Senate amendments concurred in.
- **2023-06-05** Scheduled for concurrence on 06/06/2023.
- **2023-06-05** Received from the Senate with amendments. `receipt`
- **2023-06-04** Rules suspended. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 37 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2023-05-23** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage. `reading-3`
- **2023-05-22** Committee amendments read and adopted. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2023-05-18** Reported with amendments. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-10** Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Education. `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-09** Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-08** Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 98, nays 4. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2023-05-04** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/08/2023.
- **2023-04-27** Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading. `reading-3`
- **2023-04-26** Reported with amendments (12-0). `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-10** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Education. `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-03** First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/3/2023.
- **2023-01-12** Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Education. `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-12** Prefiled. `filing`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0627cfe7-bbb1-49e1-9e25-8fdcc20672ec`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).