HLS 22RS-525 ENGROSSED
2022 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 248
BY REPRESENTATIVES WILLARD AND LANDRY
HOLIDAYS: Provides relative to Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day
1 AN ACT
2To amend and reenact R.S. 1:55(A)(1), relative to legal holidays; to provide for the removal
3 of certain holidays; and to provide for related matters.
4Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
5 Section 1. R.S. 1:55(A)(1) is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
6 ยง55. Days of public rest, legal holidays, and half-holidays
7 A. The following shall be days of public rest and legal holidays and
8 half-holidays:
9 (1) The following shall be days of public rest and legal holidays: Sundays;
10 January 1, New Year's Day; January 8, Battle of New Orleans; the third Monday in
11 January, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday; January 19, Robert E. Lee Day; third
12 Monday in February, Washington's Birthday; Good Friday; the last Monday in May,
13 National Memorial Day; June 3, Confederate Memorial Day; July 4, Independence
14 Day; August 30, Huey P. Long Day; the first Monday in September, Labor Day; the
15 second Monday in October, Christopher Columbus Day; November 1, All Saints'
16 Day; November 11, Veterans' Day; the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving
17 Day; December 25, Christmas Day; Inauguration Day in the city of Baton Rouge;
18 provided, however, that in the parish of Orleans, the city of Baton Rouge, in each of
19 the parishes comprising the second and sixth congressional districts, except the
20 parish of Ascension, and in each of the parishes comprising the fourteenth and
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HB NO. 248
1 thirty-first judicial districts of the state, the whole of every Saturday shall be a legal
2 holiday, and in the parishes of Catahoula, Caldwell, West Carroll, Concordia, East
3 Carroll, Franklin, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, Union, Jackson,
4 Avoyelles, West Feliciana, Rapides, Natchitoches, Grant, LaSalle, Winn, Lincoln,
5 and East Baton Rouge, the whole of every Saturday shall be a holiday for all banking
6 institutions, and in the parishes of Sabine and Vernon each Wednesday and Saturday,
7 from 12:00 o'clock noon until 12:00 o'clock midnight, shall be a half-holiday for all
8 banking institutions. All banks and trust companies, however, may, each at its
9 option, remain open and exercise all of its regular banking functions and duties upon
10 January 8; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday; January 19; Washington's
11 Birthday; Good Friday; National Memorial Day; June 3; August 30; Christopher
12 Columbus Day; November 1; and Veterans' Day; and all banks and trust companies
13 located in Ward 1 of the parish of Avoyelles may, each at its option, remain open and
14 exercise all of its regular banking functions and duties until 12 o'clock noon on
15 Saturdays; however, when on any of said last named days any bank or trust company
16 does actually remain open it shall, as to transactions on such day, to exactly the same
17 extent as if such day were not otherwise a legal holiday, be not subject to any of the
18 provisions of R.S. 7:85 and 251 or any other laws of Louisiana covering the matters
19 of maturity of negotiable instruments and demand, notice, presentment, acceptance,
20 or protest thereof on legal holidays and half-holidays, and all instruments payable to
21 or at such bank upon such day shall become due on such day; and provided, further,
22 that the option of remaining open shall not, except as otherwise provided in this
23 Paragraph, apply to Saturdays or Wednesdays which are holidays or half-holidays,
24 or to Mardi Gras when the same has been declared a legal holiday; and provided still
25 further that nothing in any law of this state shall in any manner whatsoever affect the
26 validity of or render void or voidable the payment, certification, or acceptance of a
27 check or other negotiable instrument or any other transaction by a bank in Louisiana
28 because done on any holiday or half-holiday or because done on any day upon which
29 such bank, if remaining open because of the option given it herein, if the payment,
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HB NO. 248
1 certification, acceptance, or other transaction could have been validly done on any
2 other day.
3 * * *
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 248 Engrossed 2022 Regular Session Willard
Abstract: Removes Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day as legal holidays.
Present law provides for a list of legal holidays and days of public rest.
Proposed law retains present law and removes Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial
Day as legal holidays.
(Amends R.S. 1:55(A)(1))
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