HB 911 Louisiana House · 2026 Regular Session

PARISH/ORLEANS: Provides for the complete reform and modernization of the judicial components of Orleans Parish (EG SEE FISC NOTE GF EX)

HB 911 merges Orleans Parish's civil, criminal, and juvenile courts into a single "Forty-First Judicial District," directly affecting New Orleans residents, judges, clerks, and court staff. It abolishes 10 specific court divisions (including juvenile and civil/criminal divisions) and reduces judgeships from 31 to 22, while creating a unified clerk of court position and consolidating judicial offices. Key provisions include transferring juvenile court jurisdiction to the new district, eliminating duplicate court clerks, and extending current juvenile court judges' terms until 2027. The bill aims to streamline operations, reduce costs through economies of scale, and modernize a system described as "fragmented and inefficient" following Hurricane Katrina and financial challenges.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 27, 2026 Last action May 5, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB911 Original → HB911 Engrossed · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to correct the list of repealed statutes and adjust the count of judicial districts in the summary section. The most significant substantive change is the reorganization of the Orleans Parish court system, which now abolishes specific divisions of the Criminal and Civil District Courts and the Juvenile Court, while creating a new Forty-First Judicial District. These changes alter the jurisdictional boundaries and the number of judgeships available, directly impacting the court structure and election cycles.

Scope change

The bill's scope was technically expanded to include additional repealed statutes (R.S. 1381 and 1566-1595) and corrected the count of large judicial districts from four to three. The primary scope change involves the consolidation of court divisions into a new judicial district.

TIMELINE

The effective dates for abolishing specific court divisions were adjusted; for example, the Orleans Juvenile Court divisions and certain Criminal District Court divisions are now set to be abolished effective December 31, 2026, rather than January 1, 2027.

SCOPE

The list of repealed statutes was updated to include R.S. 1381 (introductory paragraph) and sections 1566 through 1595, while removing R.S. 13:474 and 621.41-621.43 from the reenactment list.

The summary description of judicial districts was corrected from 'four' to 'three' districts larger than Orleans Parish.

The bill now explicitly includes the abolition of Divisions A, C, L, M, and N of the Orleans Civil District Court, which were not clearly listed in the original version.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 21, 2026

Introduced

Read by title, amended, returned to the calendar.

lower

Apr 13, 2026

Introduced

Read by title, amended, returned to the calendar.

lower

Apr 1, 2026

Introduced

Read by title, amended, returned to the calendar.

lower

Mar 26, 2026

Lower · Passed

Reported with amendments (10-5).

lower

Mar 9, 2026

Committee

Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

lower

Feb 27, 2026

Committee

Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors