Louisiana

Arrestees: Yes. First arrestee law in the nation. Booking Station Rapid Ready.

Qualifying Crimes: Felonies and other specified offenses (listed below), including some misdemeanors and felony-grade delinquent acts — reaching attempt, conspiracy, criminal solicitation, and accessory after the fact.

Other specified offenses: battery of a police officer, school teacher, school or recreation athletic contest official, or correctional facility employee; simple battery; battery of a child welfare or adult protective service worker; simple battery of persons with infirmities; domestic abuse battery; assault; aggravated assault; unlawful use of a laser on a police officer; simple assault; assault on a school teacher; stalking; misdemeanor sexual battery; identity theft; misdemeanor carnal knowledge of a juvenile; prohibited sexual conduct between educator and student; prostitution; soliciting for prostitutes; inciting prostitution; prostitution by massage; massage, sexual conduct prohibited; letting premises for prostitution; contributing to the delinquency of juveniles; illegal carrying of weapons; illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile; hate crimes; peeping tom; inciting to riot.

Time of Collection: Taken at the same time the arrestee is fingerprinted during booking. The sample may be analyzed during or immediately after booking, or at any point afterward.

Expungement: By written request with a certified court order of expungement and sealing, where the arrest produced neither a conviction nor a plea agreement.

Statutes / Case Law

LSA-R.S. §15:603 Definitions

§15:604. Powers and duties of state police

§15:609. Drawing or taking of DNA samples

§15:610. Procedures for withdrawal, collection, and transmission of DNA samples

§15:614. Removal of records

LA. Admin. Code TIT. 55, § I-2722

Convicted Offenders: Yes.

Qualifying Crimes: Felonies, other specified offenses (listed below), and felony-grade delinquent acts — reaching attempt, conspiracy, criminal solicitation, and accessory after the fact. The other specified offenses are: battery of a police officer, school teacher, school or recreation athletic contest official, or correctional facility employee; simple battery; battery of a child welfare or adult protective service worker; simple battery of persons with infirmities; domestic abuse battery; assault; aggravated assault; unlawful use of a laser on a police officer; simple assault; assault on a school teacher; stalking; misdemeanor sexual battery; identity theft; misdemeanor carnal knowledge of a juvenile; prohibited sexual conduct between educator and student; prostitution; soliciting for prostitutes; inciting prostitution; prostitution by massage; massage, sexual conduct prohibited; letting premises for prostitution; contributing to the delinquency of juveniles; illegal carrying of weapons; illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile; hate crimes; peeping tom; inciting to riot.

Time of Collection: Where no sample was taken at arrest: immediately after sentencing, at intake, or before release. If sentenced to confinement, collection occurs at intake to the prison, jail, or other facility — or immediately after sentencing at a facility the court specifies. Where a plea results in no incarceration, collection occurs before release. In every case the sample must be taken before release.

Expungement: By written request with a certified court order of expungement and sealing, where the conviction was reversed and the case dismissed.

Statutes / Case Law

LSA-R.S. § 15:603. Definitions;

LSA-R.S. § 15:604. Powers and Duties of State Police;

LSA-R.S. § 15:609. Drawing or taking of DNA samples;

LSA-R.S. § 15:610. Procedures for withdrawal, collection, and transmission of DNA Samples;

LSA-R.S. § 15:614. Removal of Records

Legislative History

• HB 1377 (1997 Regular Session) → Acts 1997, No. 737, signed July 9, 1997, effective September 1, 1999. Created Chapter 6-A of Title 15, the “DNA Detection of Sexual and Violent Offenders Act,” enacting R.S. 15:601 through 15:619 in a single act. Established the State Police powers and duties (§ 604), the DNA data base (§ 605), the DNA data bank (§ 606), and the core collection mandate (§ 609). The two-year lag between signing and effectiveness was deliberate, to allow the State Police crime laboratory time to stand up the program.
• HCR 40 (1999 Regular Session) — effective on adoption, June 21, 1999. This resolution suspended Chapter 6-A in its entirety, R.S. 15:601 through 620, rather than confirming its start date. The stated reason was that additional funding and a two-year start-up phase were needed to properly equip and operate the State Police crime laboratory. The suspension ran through the sixtieth day after final adjournment of the 2000 Regular Session, so the chapter did not become operational on September 1, 1999 as originally set.
• SB 346 (2003 Regular Session) → Acts 2003, No. 487, effective June 20, 2003. The most substantial early expansion — amended the definitions at R.S. 15:603(8)–(11), including new definitions of “felony” and “felony-grade delinquent act,” and rewrote the collection mandate at § 609(A)–(C) while adding new subsections (F) through (I), extending sampling to arrestees as well as convicted offenders. Repealed R.S. 15:615 and 619 in their entirety. Critically, Section 5 conditioned the arrestee provisions on appropriations — they were not to be implemented “until, and only to the extent that funding is available.”
• HB 346 (2009 Regular Session) → Acts 2009, No. 9. Amended R.S. 15:609(B)(1) and (C) and § 610 to revise the method of collecting samples from persons arrested for or convicted of covered offenses. Specified that a person sentenced to confinement has a sample drawn upon intake to a prison, jail, or other detention facility, and authorized samples to be drawn or taken rather than only drawn.
• SB 544 (2010 Regular Session) → Acts 2010, No. 209. Amended and reenacted R.S. 15:603(10), the “other specified offense” list, in full. This is the act that built out the broad non-sex-offense list — R.S. 14:34.2 through 34.5, 14:35 through 37, 14:37.3, 14:38, 14:38.2, 14:40.2, 14:67.16, 14:80.1, 14:81.4, 14:82, 14:83 through 83.1, 14:83.3 through 83.4, 14:85 through 85.1, and others. The result was a collection mandate reaching well beyond sex offenses and violent felonies.
• SB 678 (2010 Regular Session) → Acts 2010, No. 213. Enacted a new R.S. 15:609(J), creating a mechanism to compel collection after the fact. Where a sample was never taken, or was taken and then destroyed, tainted, or failed to generate a full DNA profile, a court may order the person to produce a sample on an ex parte motion. The motion may be brought by the investigating law enforcement agency, the warden or administrator of the booking or correctional facility, or the district attorney or attorney general assigned to prosecute.
• HB 506 (2017 Regular Session) → Acts 2017, No. 362, effective August 1, 2017. A broad juvenile and criminal records bill, not a DNA-specific measure, that amended R.S. 15:614(B) as part of Louisiana’s overhaul of its expungement framework. It replaced the cross-reference to R.S. 44:9 with a requirement that State Police remove DNA records only upon a written request plus a certified court order of expungement and sealing obtained under Title XXXIV of the Code of Criminal Procedure or Children’s Code Articles 917 through 926. The practical effect is that removal now requires a formal court expungement order rather than a written request alone. Passed House 83-0, Senate 26-8.
• HB 260 (2018 Regular Session) → Acts 2018, No. 126, effective August 1, 2018. A targeted DNA bill that enacted three new subparagraphs to the “other specified offense” list at R.S. 15:603(10): paragraph (r), a violation of R.S. 14:43.1.1; paragraph (s), a violation of R.S. 14:95.8; and paragraph (t), a violation of R.S. 14:95. Also directed the Law Institute to place the added offenses in proper order within the list. Passed House 97-0, Senate 34-0.
• HB 158 (2019 Regular Session) → Acts 2019, No. 147, effective August 1, 2019. Primarily a juvenile detention bill amending R.S. 15:1110 and several Children’s Code articles, it also enacted R.S. 15:609(A)(3). That new paragraph provides that when a peace officer elects to counsel and release a child under Children’s Code Article 814, the officer is not required to draw or take a DNA sample. The statute had previously been silent on diversion by counsel-and-release, so this created an explicit exception. Passed House 99-0, Senate 37-1.
• SB 132 (2021 Regular Session) → Acts 2021, No. 99, effective June 4, 2021. Amended and reenacted R.S. 15:609(A)(1) only. It preserved the rule that an arrestee’s sample is drawn at the same time as fingerprinting during booking, and added that the sample “may be analyzed during or immediately following the booking of the arrestee, or at any time thereafter.” The effect is timing flexibility for the State Police on analysis, decoupled from the moment of collection.
• SB 151 (2026 Regular Session). Enacted R.S. 15:609(K), creating a driver’s license enforcement mechanism. Any person required by law to submit a DNA sample who has failed to do so is deemed noncompliant, and upon notification the Office of Motor Vehicles must flag the person’s driving record and may not issue, renew, or reinstate a license until proof of compliance is received. Directs the State Police to promulgate implementing rules no later than January 1, 2027.
• SB 320 (2026 Regular Session) → Acts 2026, No. 488. Enacted R.S. 15:605.1, establishing outstanding CODIS hit data reporting. Creates a central repository and a statewide tracking system for unresolved CODIS hits, with legislative findings that tracking is essential to ensuring crime laboratory work translates into case resolution and that older cases are not buried under new caseloads. Adds reporting requirements around the hit notification and resolution process.

• Louisiana has a Rapid DNA Booking Station Program. First agency in the US to receive FBI approval to operate a Rapid DNA Booking Program using Rapid DNA. Several active parishes:
  • East Baton Rouge PSO
  • Livingston PSO
  • Ascension PSO
  • Ouachita PSO
  • Grant PSO
  • Jefferson PSO
  • Orleans PSO (not online but in progress)
• SB 132 (2021, enacted) passed gave more collection / timing authority to allow Rapid DNA.

No program or law found.

• State Police received FY2024 SAKI funding ($1.5M) to research, review, and collect lawfully owed DNA from arrestees and convicted offenders for CODIS. DOJ award announcement · SAKI – LSP
• SB 151 (2026, enacte) – Driver Licenses may not be issued or renewed if there is a flag on the person’s record for a lawfully owed DNA sample (due to a prior qualifying arrest or conviction), or if there is an outstanding request for a DNA sample due to a CODIS match (needed for confirmation).

• SB 320 (2026, enacted) – tracking and performance monitoring of outstanding CODIS hits for sexual or violent offenses. Establishes a centralized accountability structure to ensure that scientific matches successfully translate into active law enforcement investigations and legal resolutions.