By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Louisiana Baptists can celebrate multiple victories on key moral issues and social concerns resulting from measures that were passed or defeated during the 2025 Legislative Regular Session, with two directly impacting churches’ abilities to carry out essential ministries.
CHURCH INSURANCE
When Gov. Landry signed HB460 into law as Act 461 on June 23, he completed the legislative process for supplemental appropriations that include payment of $2.9 million to the Fellowship of Louisiana Churches and Non-profit Religious Organizations, the corporation that was established in 2023 to launch a church self-insurance program in response to the church insurance crisis in the state.
FLCNRO is recognized as a nonprofit by the Louisiana secretary of state and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, and its board of directors includes leaders in six state faith communities (Assemblies of God; Church of God in Christ; Home and Foreign Missions Baptist; Louisiana Baptist; Missionary Baptist; United Pentecostal). When the insurance program is launched it will be open to congregations of any Louisiana denomination as well as religious nonprofits.
Several Louisiana Baptist lawmakers were critical to securing these one-time funds for the church self-insurance start up: Rep. Julie Emerson (member, First Lafayette), chair, House Ways and Means Committee; Gabe Firment (deacon, First Pollock), chair, House Insurance Committee; and Jack McFarland (member, Caney Lake, Chatham), chair, House Appropriations Committee and author of HB460.
MINISTRY PROTECTIONS
Rep. Beryl Amedee, a member of the legislature’s Freedom Caucus, championed HB371 to ensure that churches face no stricter regulations than the least restrictive rules applied to secular businesses. The measure was drafted largely in response to bureaucratic red tape which had prohibited Ridge Avenue Baptist Church in West Monroe from opening its children’s building to outside groups such as Mother’s Day Out and a homeschool cooperative, each for a few hours several days each week.
RABC Pastor Jim Wolfe testified before the House Committee on Civil Law, May 6, that the congregation was in “the 19th month of struggling with a situation where some officials have come in, interpreting the law as saying that the business of the church is Sunday morning and Wednesday night.” He further shared that any other activity with children and youth, even Vacation Bible School, which met outside those defi ned days of ministry, were considered outside the church’s occupancy permit. His testimony was received favorably, and the committee moved the bill 12-0 to the House chamber where lawmakers adopted it 97-0. The measure was well received by the Sen[1]ate, too, with the Education Committee unanimously moving it forward to the full Senate which adopted the bill 33-5.
OTHER KEY BILLS
In odd-numbered years, by law, the Louisiana legislature holds Fiscal Sessions during which bills whose “object is to enact the General Appropriation Bill” are considered as well as other financial matters relating to the state budget. However, each lawmaker may also prefile up to five bills on other subject matters. Among the non-budgetary items, Louisiana Baptist legislators championed some significant measures.
— Sen. Rick Edmonds, a retired pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Shreveport, and current pastor, First Baptist Church, McComb, Mississippi, carried the banner for SCR41, which declares July “as a month of prayer and fasting, depriving ourselves in order to awaken our hunger for and need of God, humbling ourselves before Him, asking His forgiveness, and seeking His blessings, grace, and mercy so that we, our communities, our State, and our na[1]tion will be transformed.”
— Rep. Kim Carver, a deacon with First Baptist Church, Covington, battled Apple and other technology giants to move HB570 to become law as Act 481, which empowers parents to screen harmful material from children. Until this legislation was adopted, app stores allowed minors to download apps, agree to contractual “terms of service,” and then make purchases without a parent’s consent – leaving children susceptible to exploitative contracts and adult content. Effective July 1, 2026, app stores will be required to verify the age of customers, provide accurate age ratings for apps and contact parents for consent to allow minors to make app purchases. HB570 was adopted 98-0 by the House and 38-0 by the Senate and signed by Gov. Landry.
— Rep. Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House Pro Tempore), a member with First Baptist Church, Pineville, led the fight to protect victims of domestic abuse from being stalked electronically in their cars. HB74, which was adopted unanimously in the House and the Senate and signed by the governor, requires motor vehicle manufacturers to provide the means for an abuse survivor to turn off remote access technology which could be used by the perpetrator of domestic abuse to track the vehicle.
— Sen. Adam Bass, a member with Cypress Baptist Church, Benton, successfully advanced SB181 through the legislative process in his efforts to restrict the expansion of gambling in the state via the internet. This measure would have prevented “gambling by computer” by making it illegal for companies to conduct “sweepstakes” that are in fact gambling (a person risks something of value to realize a profit). The measure passed the House 99-0 and the Senate 39-0, and religious leaders across the state urged the governor to sign SB181, citing concerns about increases “in divorces, bankruptcies, depression, and brokenness” from any expansion in gambling. However, Gov. Landry vetoed the measure, writing that SB181 “is not necessary” because the “Louisiana Gaming Control Board … is already taking active steps to combat illegal gambling in Louisiana.
MORAL & SOCIAL VICTORIES
Louisiana Baptists contributed to multiple other legislative victories via their representation through the Louisiana Baptist Office of Public Policy.
The LBC OPP gave testimony in:
— support of SB58, which creates the crime of “child grooming” in Louisiana (“the pursuit of an intimate relationship with a child under the age of seventeen … with the specific intent to commit a sex offense”). The bill was presented by Sen. Patrick Connick with input and counsel from the Louisiana District Attorneys Association. The LBC OPP is continuing to work with the LDAA to strengthen protections for students older than 17 years who might be vulnerable to being groomed by a teacher or professor or other authority fi gure in a Louisiana educational institution.
— opposition to HB636, which proposed to create a system for taxing recreational marijuana. Rep. Edmond Jordan authored the bill, claiming that pot legalization would create a financial windfall for the state and that a tax system should be in place beforehand. The LBC OPP was the lone witness to testify against the measure, offering factual evidence that showed: (1) California’s drastic drop in tax revenues from legal pot because of surging black markets of cheaper illegal pot; (2) Oregon’s human trafficking surge on pot farms (“narco slavery”); (3) Louisiana’s emergency room visits due to pot exceeding those due to opioids, heroin and other stimulants combined (even though recreational pot is illegal in the state); and, (4) Louisiana’s youth (ages 12-17) abusing pot (ninth in the nation among other states). HB636 lost 8-7 in the House Ways and Means Committee, and the bill was withdrawn.
— opposition to HB22 that proposed residents in Concordia Parish vote on “whether to allow the operation of video draw poker devices.” The LBC OPP testified that a legislatively sponsored study about the impact of legalized gambling in the state showed that, on average, about 40 percent of Louisiana students, 6th – 12th grades, already are gambling, and that expanding gambling opportunities for adults would negatively affect young people, too. Rep. Travis Johnson, who authored HB22, withdrew the bill when it became apparent that it was not going to pass.
— offering two key amendments that were included in SB121/Act 469, authored by Sen. Larry Selders. This measure “requires each public school to offer mental health screenings for all students in grades K-12 during the first semester of the school year,” starting in 2026-2027. In order to mitigate potential overreach by this legislation, whose stated intent is to aid parents in getting help for their child, the LBC OPP successfully argued for (1) a ban against “metadata” (combining the information from all the individual screenings), and (2) that parents have access to the actual questions that would be asked (so parents can make a fully informed decision about whether to allow their child to be screened).
