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)]
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP ORT DIGEST
HB 556 2023 Regular Session Davis
Keyword and oneliner of the instrument as it left the House
CORRECTIONS: Provides relative to electronic monitoring
Report adopts Senate amendments to:
1. Make technical changes.
2. Require corrections services, the office of state police, and the La. Commission on Law
Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice, in addition to the DPS&C, to develop
written policies and procedures for electronic monitoring providers within the APA.
3. Clarify that the policies and procedures shall encompass operational capacity for electronic
equipment utilized for pre-trial, post-conviction, or monitoring.
4. Provide that the timely alert notifications sent to an authorizing judge or law enforcement
agency from the office of technology services shall also include alert notifications sent from
applicable local, municipal, and parish authorities.
5. Remove proposed law from DPS&C's policies and procedures relative to the development
of a statewide system for the use of global position system monitoring and other electronic
methods of monitoring as an alternative to incarceration in certain circumstances.
6. Move proposed law relative to the development of guidelines and criteria for contracts
between a local government and a person or entity who provides electronic monitoring
services from DPS&C's policies and procedures to the Integrated Criminal Justice
Information System Policy Board as a topic to be evaluated for feasability.
7. Move proposed law relative to the development and maintenance of a centralized registry
that collects data pertaining to the number of persons who are electronically monitored and
the number of violations that occur within each jurisdiction from DPS&C's policies and
procedures to the Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Policy Board as a topic to
be evaluated for feasability. 8. Clarify that an electronic monitoring service provider that monitors, tracks, or supervises
pretrial or post-conviction persons within La. shall have to certify in writing that the provider
meets the criteria provided in proposed law.
Report rejects Senate amendments which would have:
1. Provided that the registration application shall have to be submitted on forms provided by
the office of the attorney general, rather than the DPS&C.
Report amends the bill to:
1. Provide that electronic monitoring service providers shall have to register with the DPS&C,
no later than Dec. 1, 2024.
2. Provide that the registration application shall have to be submitted on forms provided by the
DPS&C.
3. Provide that the DPS&C, rather than the attorney general, shall be the entity responsible for
the maintenance of the electronic monitoring service provider registry as well as the removal
of violators from the registry.
Digest of the bill as proposed by the Conference Committee
Present law (R.S. 14:110.2) provides for the crime of tampering with electronic monitoring
equipment and provides for penalties.
Proposed law retains present law, but adds an additional penalty of a fine of not more than $1,000
and imprisonment at hard labor for not more than one year for an offender who violates present law
after being released pursuant to a bail undertaking for a felony crime of violence enumerated or
defined in present law (R.S. 14:2(B)).
Present law (R.S. 15:571.36) requires DPS&C to develop written policies and procedures in the
manner provided in Administrative Procedure Act (APA) for the promulgation of a rule governing
the availability, storage, and use of electronic monitoring equipment.
Proposed law amends present law to provide that corrections services, the office of state police, and
the La. Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice (LCLE) shall also
work with DPS&C to develop written policies and procedures in the manner provided in the APA
for the promulgation of rules governing mandatory requirements for electronic monitoring service
providers, including governing the availability, storage, use of, and operational capacity for
electronic monitoring equipment, utilized for pre-trial, post-conviction, or monitoring. Present law requires the policies and procedures to include the following criteria:
(1)Secure storage.
(2)Timely visual inspection of equipment worn by the monitored individual.
(3)A master listing and inventory.
(4)Availability of at least one complete backup unit for a number of specified units.
(5)Responses to system malfunctions.
(6)Restricted password access to authorized staff.
(7)Maintenance and cleaning of equipment.
Proposed law retains present law, specifies that the policies and procedures be developed pursuant
to the APA, and adds the following criteria:
(1)Location accuracy for the indoor, outdoor, and on-demand location of a monitored
individual. Also provides for the ability to provide a monitored offender's location accuracy
within three minutes of a request.
(2)Development of zoning capabilities for inclusion and exclusion zones.
(3)Timely alert notifications from the applicable local, municipal, and parish authorities and
the office of technology services to an authorizing judge or law enforcement agency for all
of the following:
(a)The tampering of the electronic monitoring equipment and the ability to provide an
alert of this violation within three minutes of the violation.
(b)The presence of the electronic monitoring equipment in an exclusion zone and the
ability to provide an alert of this violation within four minutes of the violation.
(c)Low battery alert prior to the complete discharge of the battery within the electronic
monitoring equipment.
(4)Simultaneous access to an authorizing judge or law enforcement agency for all monitoring
records of an electronic monitoring provider.
Proposed law provides that when an individual has been placed under electronic monitoring, the
provider of the electronic monitoring service shall, by noon of the following day, provide law
enforcement agencies within the appropriate jurisdiction all of the following information: (1)The name and any aliases used by the monitored individual.
(2)The physical address or addresses of residence of the monitored individual.
(3)The name and physical address of place of employment. Further provides that if the
monitored individual does not have a fixed place of employment, he shall provide
information with as much specificity as possible regarding the places where he works,
including but not limited to travel routes used by the monitored offender.
(4)The pending criminal charges against the monitored individual.
(5)The reason why the monitored individual has been placed under electronic monitoring.
Proposed law provides that after an individual has been placed under electronic monitoring, the court
exercising jurisdiction over the monitored individual shall report the information provided in
proposed law to all law enforcement agencies within its jurisdiction.
Proposed law provides that any provider of an electronic monitoring service who intentionally
withholds or intentionally fails to timely report information as required by proposed law shall be
subject to a civil fine of not more than $1,000 and shall be prohibited from registering to provide
electronic monitoring services in La. for a period of five years.
Proposed law provides that the attorney general shall have the authority to pursue the civil fine
imposed pursuant to proposed law and may institute any civil action to prohibit any violator of
proposed law from conducting business in this state for a period of five years.
Proposed law provides that the Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Policy Board, in
consultation with the DPS&C, corrections services, the office of state police, the office of the
attorney general, the office of information and technology systems, and the LCLE shall evaluate the
feasibility of all of the following:
(1)Development of a statewide system for the use of global position system monitoring and
other electronic methods of monitoring as an alternative to incarceration for persons who
have been arrested, who are awaiting trial, or who have been convicted.
(2)Development of guidelines and criteria for contracts between a local government and a
person or entity that provides electronic monitoring services.
(3)Development and maintenance of a centralized registry that can assist the state in the
collection of the following data:
(a)The number of persons who are electronically monitored by jurisdiction.
(b) The number of violations that occur within each jurisdiction. Proposed law provides that any person or entity who provides electronic monitoring services for the
purpose of monitoring, tracking, or supervising pretrial or post-conviction persons within the state
of La. shall certify in writing that the provider meets the criteria provided in proposed law and shall
register with the DPS&C no later than Dec. 1, 2024.
Proposed law provides that no person or entity shall provide electronic monitoring services in this
state without having first complied with the registration requirements as provided in proposed law.
Further provides that the application for registration shall be submitted on forms provided by the
DPS&C and shall contain all the information required by such forms and any accompanying
instructions.
Proposed law provides that the DPS&C shall remove from its registry any person or entity that
provides electronic monitoring services in this state if the office determines that the person or entity
has violated the provisions of proposed law (R.S. 15:571.36(C)).
(Amends R.S. 14:110.2(B); Adds R.S. 15:571.36(8)-(11) and (B)-(D) and 835)