---
type: "Bill"
title: "CRIMINAL/PROCEDURE: Provides relative to procedures in capital cases"
description: "CRIMINAL/PROCEDURE: Provides relative to procedures in capital cases"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 394"
citation: "Louisiana HB 394 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nicholas Muscarello"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-04-03"
last_action: "2025-06-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b1f75253-b1ed-4ebf-b60d-5e0eac2eacc2"
source_url: "https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=248390"
source_hash: "a25ce1ac785e78f375288918728d88479b9798e6f899c9e69929d1d06074f70f"
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 394 (2025) — CRIMINAL/PROCEDURE: Provides relative to procedures in capital cases

## Version chain

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

1. **HB394 Original** (filed) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1403167)
2. **HB394 Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1425120)
3. **HB394 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1407616)
4. **HB394 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1420809)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE (#596) — **26–11** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE (#140) — **75–20** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Nicholas Muscarello — primary (person)
- Regina Ashford Barrow — cosponsor (person)
- Valarie Hodges — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-06-08** Effective date: 06/08/2025.
- **2025-06-08** Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 193. `became-law, executive-signature`
- **2025-06-05** Sent to the Governor for executive approval. `executive-receipt`
- **2025-06-04** Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2025-06-03** Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House. `enrolled`
- **2025-06-03** Received from the Senate without amendments. `receipt`
- **2025-06-02** Read by title, passed by a vote of 26 yeas and 11 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2025-06-01** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage. `reading-3`
- **2025-05-29** Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2025-05-28** Reported favorably. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-05** Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary C. `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-30** Received in the Senate. Rules suspended. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading. `reading-1`
- **2025-04-30** Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 75, nays 20. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2025-04-28** Scheduled for floor debate on 04/30/2025.
- **2025-04-24** Read by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading. `reading-3`
- **2025-04-23** Reported favorably (10-0). `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-14** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-03** Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-03** Prefiled. `filing`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b1f75253-b1ed-4ebf-b60d-5e0eac2eacc2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).