ENROLLED
2021 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 5
BY REPRESENTATIVES MCCORMICK AND HODGES AND SENATORS MILLIGAN,
ROBERT MILLS, AND TARVER
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To suspend until sixty days after final adjournment of the 2022 Regular Session of the
Legislature of Louisiana criminal penalties and restrictions related to the free
exercise of religion, including but not limited to R.S. 14:329.6(A)(3), R.S. 29:724(E)
and 727(G), and any other criminal penalty or restriction that could be imposed on
religious assembly provided for in Title 14, Title 29, or any other Title or Code of
the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 that provides a criminal penalty for violations
of any COVID-19 proclamation or declaration of emergency order or any other order
declared by any state or local official that is related to the free exercise of religion
guaranteed by the Constitution of Louisiana and the Constitution of the United States
of America.
WHEREAS, the Constitution of Louisiana, as provided by Article III, Section 20,
authorizes the legislature to suspend a law and fix the period of suspension which shall not
extend beyond the sixtieth day after final adjournment of the next regular session; and
WHEREAS, this House Concurrent Resolution is intended to follow the form and
precedent set forth in Louisiana Chem. Ass'n v. State through Louisiana Dep't of Revenue,
2016-0501 (La. App. 1 Cir. 4/7/17), 217 So. 3d 455, writ denied, 2017-0761 (La. 9/22/17),
227 So. 3d 826 affirming the legislature's constitutional role to suspend the application of
certain laws related to certain categories of individuals in House Concurrent Resolution No.
8 of the 2015 Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic; and
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WHEREAS, since March 11, 2020, various executives of the state and local
governing authorities have issued proclamations to declare a public health emergency due
to COVID-19 as well as various declarations of disaster related to hurricanes and other
emergencies; and
WHEREAS, in response to the declarations of public health or other emergencies
various states including Louisiana have issued executive orders at the state and local level
which restricted attendance to religious services and have directly or indirectly closed
churches; and
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in Roman Catholic Diocese of
Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 141 S. Ct. 63 (2020), struck down the New York governor's COVID-19
executive order that restricted churches so severely that it effectively closed them down
while the same executive order allowed secular businesses to operate with few or no
restrictions. The court further noted that "Catholics who watch a Mass at home cannot
receive communion. . ." and stated that "But even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be
put away and forgotten. The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from
attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment's guarantee of
religious liberty"; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana pastors, clergy, and other persons met and continue to meet
under the assumption that, in America and in Louisiana, their guarantee of religious liberty
found in the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of Louisiana
protects their free exercise of religion so that they can ultimately succeed if they follow the
instruction found in the Holy Bible in Hebrews 10:25 not to engage in "forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and
so much the more, as ye see the day approaching"; and
WHEREAS, even a technical violation of R.S. 14:329.6, R.S. 29:721, or R.S. 29:727,
et seq. can impose fines, or imprisonment, or both on any person who violates a governor's,
mayor's, or parish president's executive order declaring an emergency or disaster, and a two
year time limitation on prescription would apply to any violation thereof, pursuant to Code
of Criminal Procedure Article 572; and
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WHEREAS, the legislature declares that it is not the intention of the legislature that
any provision of law which would be construed to authorize the arrest, imprisonment, or
imposition of a monetary fine against any person in Louisiana for exercising that person's
constitutionally guaranteed right of free exercise of religion, including but not limited to the
right to attend or conduct a religious service at a church, house of worship, or one's home
because such an implementation would violate Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of
Louisiana and the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America and
thereby violate the oaths that we took as legislators to uphold the Constitution of Louisiana
and the Constitution of the United States of America.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana hereby suspends
all criminal penalties and restrictions related to religious assembly including but not limited
to R.S. 14:329.6(A)(3), R.S. 29:724(E), R.S. 29:727(G) and any other criminal penalty or
restriction on religious assembly provided for in Title 14, Title 29, or any other Title or Code
of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 that provides a criminal penalty for violations of
any COVID-19 proclamation or declaration of emergency order or any other order declared
by any state or local official that is related to the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the
Constitution of Louisiana and the Constitution of the United States of America.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this suspension shall become effective upon
adoption of this Resolution and shall extend through the sixtieth day after final adjournment
of the 2022 Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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