SSHB54 3944 4039
HOUSE SUMMARY OF SENATE AMENDMENTS
HB 54 2021 Regular Session Edmonds
CRIME: Creates the crime of adoption deception
Synopsis of Senate Amendments
1.Makes technical changes.
Digest of Bill as Finally Passed by Senate
Proposed law creates the crime of adoption deception and defines the crime as being
committed by any person who is a birth mother, or who holds herself out to be a birth
mother, who is interested in making an adoption plan and who knowingly or intentionally
benefits from payment of adoption-related expenses in connection with that adoption plan
if any of the following occur:
(1)The person knows or should have known that she is not pregnant at the time the
payments were requested or received.
(2)The person accepts living expenses assistance from a prospective adoptive parent or
adoption entity without disclosing that she is receiving living expenses assistance
from another prospective adoptive parent or adoption entity at the same time in an
effort to adopt the same child.
Proposed law provides for the following penalties:
(1)If the amount received by the person is $1,000 or less, the person shall either be fined
up to $500, imprisoned for up to 60 days, or both.
(2)If the amount received by the person exceeds $1,000, the person shall either be fined
up to $5,000, imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than five years, or
both.
(Adds R.S. 14:67.5)
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