Constitutional carry since July 2024. No AWB, no mag limit, strong preemption. Stand-your-ground codified. Suppressors legal. No waiting period, no red-flag law.

Medical cannabis (smokable form added 2022). Decriminalized possession up to 14g (HB 652, 2021) - civil $100 fine. No recreational. Naloxone widely available. No automatic expungement, no psychedelic reform.

State minimum wage $7.25/hr (no state minimum, federal applies). MIT living wage for 1 adult: $14.62/hr. Ratio 0.50 — minimum-wage workers earn 50% of what's needed to live there alone.

Bottom-tier USNews rank (#50) and low life expectancy, but Louisiana posted the only 4th-grade reading gain in NAEP 2024 (jumped to 15th nationally) on below-median spending — a dramatic efficiency win that lifts the grade above other Deep South states.

IJ grades LA D (low burden, profit incentive, heavy equitable-sharing). No QI reform. No-knock allowed. No body cam mandate. No comprehensive privacy law. HB 646 / mandates ICE cooperation. Heavy ALPR and gang database use in NOLA.

Excuse required for absentee voting. Early voting 7 days. No same-day registration. Strict photo ID law. Felons disenfranchised until 5 years post-release (Act 636). Recent Republican legislature passed multiple restrictions including SB 218 (2024). Court-ordered new VRA-compliant congressional map after Robinson v. Ardoin. Limited polling access in rural Black parishes.

Medicaid expansion adopted 2016. Total abortion ban (trigger law; mifepristone/misoprostol now Schedule IV controlled substances 2024). Trans youth gender-affirming care ban. Worst maternal mortality outcomes. Rural hospital closures.

No qualified immunity reform. No statewide BWC mandate. Officer Bill of Rights protects disciplinary records. POST decertification limited. No no-knock ban. No necessity standard. Local DAs prosecute. No statewide chokehold ban. Per-capita killings consistently among highest in nation.

Total abortion ban. First state to mandate Ten Commandments in every public classroom (now in effect after 5th Cir. cleared in Feb 2026). Misoprostol/mifepristone classified as controlled substances. Covenant marriage statute. Gender-affirming care ban. 2025 law allowing private suits against shield-state providers. No LGBTQ+ protections. Worst-tier Christian-nationalist legislative momentum.

Right-to-work state. No paid family leave. No paid sick leave. Federal OSHA only. No prevailing wage law. Very weak wage theft enforcement. Among highest fatal occupational injury rates in nation. No heat, domestic worker, or scheduling protections.