---
type: "Bill"
title: "VETERANS: Creates the Preserving Lawful Utilization of Services for Veterans Act. (gov sig)"
description: "VETERANS: Creates the Preserving Lawful Utilization of Services for Veterans Act. (gov sig)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 159"
citation: "Louisiana SB 159 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stewart Cathey , Jr."]
version_count: 8
action_count: 18
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2024-02-29"
last_action: "2024-06-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fe322d2d-66c0-40b4-a4cf-ec967da1c44f"
source_url: "https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=246181"
source_hash: "3ba56a66655e0ac6b3c95b384c9a9ea4259a0d5c29b716bf238986da1e99ca78"
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 159 (2024) — VETERANS: Creates the Preserving Lawful Utilization of Services for Veterans Act. (gov sig)

## Version chain

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

1. **SB159 Original** (filed) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1350886)
2. **SB159 Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1381966)
3. **SB159 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1366647)
4. **SB159 Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1368537)
5. **Senate Committee Amendment, #1994, H&W, Draft** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1365812)
6. **Senate Committee Amendment, #2064, H&W, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1366294)
7. **Senate Floor Amendment, #2393, Cathey, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1368369)
8. **SB159 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1376559)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE (#401) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE (#1139) — **87–9** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Stewart Cathey , Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-06-03** Effective date 6/3/2024.
- **2024-06-03** Becomes Act No. 479 without the Governor's signature. `became-law`
- **2024-05-23** Sent to the Governor by the Secretary of the Senate. `executive-receipt`
- **2024-05-22** Signed by the Speaker of the House.
- **2024-05-21** Enrolled. Signed by the President of the Senate. `enrolled`
- **2024-05-20** Received from the House without amendments. `receipt`
- **2024-05-20** Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 87, nays 9. Finally passed, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2024-05-15** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/20/2024.
- **2024-05-07** Read by title, passed to 3rd reading. `reading-3`
- **2024-05-06** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments.
- **2024-05-01** Reported favorably (9-3-1). Referred to the Legislative Bureau. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-04-25** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Judiciary. `referral-committee`
- **2024-04-24** Received in the House from the Senate, read by title, lies over under the rules.
- **2024-04-23** Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title and passed by a vote of 39 yeas and 0 nays; ordered reengrossed and sent to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2024-04-22** Read by title. Committee amendments read and adopted. Ordered engrossed and passed to third reading and final passage.
- **2024-04-17** Reported with amendments. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-03-11** Introduced in the Senate; read by title. Rules suspended. Read second time and referred to the Committee on Health and Welfare. `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-29** Prefiled and under the rules provisionally referred to the Committee on Health and Welfare. `filing, referral-committee`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fe322d2d-66c0-40b4-a4cf-ec967da1c44f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).