---
type: "Bill"
title: "CRIMINAL/SENTENCING: Provides relative to pleas of guilty or nolo contendere in felony cases"
description: "CRIMINAL/SENTENCING: Provides relative to pleas of guilty or nolo contendere in felony cases"
jurisdiction: "us/states/la"
legislature: "Louisiana Legislature"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 351"
citation: "Louisiana HB 351 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barbara Carpenter"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-03-29"
last_action: "2019-06-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e8f0e71f-8fbb-4ecc-b407-10eaa560a7eb"
source_url: "http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=236167"
source_hash: "3dd44e3a30fe0c1bf054f349871888c5800983df6e332020dc4162b736ed2314"
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 351 (2019) — CRIMINAL/SENTENCING: Provides relative to pleas of guilty or nolo contendere in felony cases

## Version chain

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

1. **HB351 Original** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1121353)
2. **HB351 Act 158** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1143691)
3. **HB351 Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1130186)
4. **HB351 Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1134103)
5. **House Committee Amendment, #1973, ACRJ, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1129989)
6. **House Floor Amendment, #2402, Marino, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1132460)
7. **House Floor Legislative Bureau Amendment, #1481, Pierre, Adopted** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1130634)
8. **HB351 Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1138436)

## Votes

- FINAL PASSAGE (#287) — **88–0** (pass) · lower
- FINAL PASSAGE (#508) — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Barbara Carpenter — primary (person)
- Regina Ashford Barrow — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-06-06** Effective date: 08/01/2019.
- **2019-06-06** Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 158. `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-29** Sent to the Governor for executive approval. `executive-receipt`
- **2019-05-29** Signed by the President of the Senate.
- **2019-05-29** Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
- **2019-05-28** Received from the Senate without amendments.
- **2019-05-27** Rules suspended. Read by title, passed by a vote of 38 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled. `passage`
- **2019-05-23** Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
- **2019-05-22** Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- **2019-05-21** Reported favorably.
- **2019-05-16** Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary C. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-15** Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
- **2019-05-14** Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 88, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate. `passage`
- **2019-05-02** Scheduled for floor debate on 05/14/19.
- **2019-05-02** Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
- **2019-05-01** Reported with amendments (8-6).
- **2019-04-08** Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-29** Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-29** Prefiled. `filing`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e8f0e71f-8fbb-4ecc-b407-10eaa560a7eb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Louisiana legislature records).