HLS 23RS-1003 ENGROSSED
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 126
BY REPRESENTATIVE STEFANSKI
LEGISLATION/INSTRUMENTS: Expresses intent of the legislature regarding House Bill
No. 586 of the 2023 R.S.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To express the intent of the legislature regarding the Act originating as House Bill No. 586
3 of the 2023 Regular Session of the Legislature.
4 WHEREAS, R.S. 24:177(B)(2)(b) provides that the "legislature may express the
5intended meaning of a law in a duly adopted concurrent resolution, by the same vote and,
6except for gubernatorial veto and time limitations for introduction, according to the same
7procedures and formalities required for enactment of that law; and
8 WHEREAS, during the 2023 Regular Session of the Legislature, the Act originating
9as House Bill No. 586 (House Bill No. 586) provided for civil liability for any entity or
10foreign state engaging in or facilitating any illicit fentanyl trafficking or its related
11commercial activity, for serious bodily injury or death to all persons beginning January 1,
122015, resulting from the unintended ingestion of illicit fentanyl in this state if the entity or
13foreign state was engaging in or facilitating in illicit fentanyl trafficking or its related
14commercial activity; and
15 WHEREAS, the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express its intent regarding the
16application of House Bill No. 586 to provide civil litigants who have suffered serious bodily
17injury or death as a result of the unintended ingestion of illicit fentanyl in this state with the
18broadest possible basis, consistent with the constitutions of the United States and Louisiana,
19to seek relief against any entity or foreign state that engages in the trafficking of illicit
20fentanyl into the United States, by creating a rebuttable presumption of fault of any entity
21or foreign state if the entity or foreign state is engaging in or facilitating illicit fentanyl
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1trafficking or its related commercial activity having a sufficient nexus or substantial contact
2with this state at the time of the ingestion resulting in the injury or death or at a time bearing
3a rational nexus to the ingestion, if supported by credible information or statistical data
4pertaining thereto, in accordance with this Act, or other evidence satisfactory to the court in
5an action brought pursuant to this Act. This presumption of fault is established in favor of
6all persons suffering serious bodily injury or death in this state as a result of unintended
7ingestion of illicit fentanyl beginning January 1, 2015, pursuant to credible information or
8statistical data pertaining to, in accordance with House Bill No. 586, and particularly as an
9expression of legislative intent, pertaining to the findings of the Legislature of Louisiana;
10and
11 WHEREAS, the legislature finds that in order to give credence to the stated purpose
12of House Bill No. 586 to provide civil litigants who have suffered serious bodily injury or
13death beginning January 1, 2015, as a result of the unintended ingestion of illicit fentanyl in
14this state with the broadest possible basis to seek relief in keeping with the stated purpose
15of House Bill No. 586 and particularly to facilitate the prosecution of the action established
16for such civil litigants by the Act; and
17 WHEREAS, the legislature wishes to express its intent regarding the intended
18meaning of the law and its application of House Bill No. 586 pertaining to its finding of
19credible information and statistical data of the United States government and of the state of
20Louisiana pertaining to illicit fentanyl trafficking. The legislature does hereby find the
21following to be credible information or statistical data from sources whose accuracy cannot
22reasonably be questioned of the United States government and of the state of Louisiana
23constituting sufficient evidence in order for the plaintiff to meet the burden of proof for the
24establishment of an action brought pursuant to House Bill No. 586:
25 (1) International illicit fentanyl trafficking and its related commercial activity is a
26serious and deadly problem that threatens the vital interests of the United States, the state
27of Louisiana, and the safety and health of every citizen.
28 (2) Illicit fentanyl is primarily produced in laboratories in Mexico by drug cartels
29and trafficked into the United States and Louisiana in powder and pill form, including
30fentanyl-laced substances, counterfeit pills, and fentanyl analogues.
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1 (3) The People's Republic of China, hereinafter China, is the primary source country
2of fentanyl precursor chemicals used to manufacture the illicit fentanyl.
3 (4) Since 2013, China has been the principal source of the fentanyl flooding the
4United State illicit drug market through its production of fentanyl precursor agents and
5fueling the deadly drug epidemic in the history of the United States.
6 (5) In 2016, the United States Customs and Border Protection agency seized nearly
7two hundred pounds of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, primarily from along the
8southwest border of the United States. This is a twenty-five-fold increase over seizures in
92015. Between 2014 and 2015, deaths involving synthetic opioids, including fentanyl,
10increased by seventy-two percent and took more than nine thousand five hundred American
11lives.
12 (6) The Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, established under
13Section 7221 of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2020, reported in
142022 that China, which supplied seventy to eighty percent of fentanyl seized by federal
15authorities between 2014 and 2019, has been surpassed by Mexico as the "dominant source"
16of illicit fentanyl in the United States.
17 (7) Illicit fentanyl is primarily trafficked by land into the United States through legal
18ports of entry at the Mexican border, as well as between such ports of entry, with some
19trafficking facilitated by domestic and foreign-based social media and encrypted
20communication applications.
21 (8) In fiscal years 2021 and 2022, the United States Customs and Border Protection
22agency seized over twenty four thousand pounds of fentanyl at ports of entry at the Mexican
23border, a two hundred percent increase from the amounts seized in fiscal years 2019 and
242020.
25 (9) In August 2022, the United States Department of Justice reported that Mexican
26cartels are increasingly manufacturing fentanyl for distribution and sale into the United
27States.
28 (10) Deaths caused by the trafficking of illicit fentanyl have reached epidemic
29proportions in the United States with fentanyl being involved in nearly two hundred
30thousand deaths in the United States between 2014 and 2020.
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1 (11) The number of drug overdose deaths in the United States surpassed one hundred
2thousand during the period between May 2020 and April 2021, with sixty four thousand
3deaths being related to fentanyl.
4 (12) Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids caused approximately two thirds of the
5fatal overdoses in the United States in 2021.
6 (13) The Louisiana Department of Health reported in June 2019 that deaths
7involving fentanyl have increased by more than five hundred percent since the end of 2014.
8 (14) The Louisiana Department of Health reported in December 2022 that fentanyl-
9related deaths increased from fewer than two hundred statewide in 2017 to nearly one
10thousand in 2021, representing an approximate five hundred percent increase in fentanyl-
11related deaths in Louisiana.
12 (15) The New Orleans division of the Drug Enforcement Administration attributes
13the increase in the amount of fentanyl transported into Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and
14Alabama to the activities of China and the Mexican drug cartels Sinaloa and Jalisco.
15 (16) The New Orleans division of the Drug Enforcement Administration reported
16a seizure of over twenty million fatal doses in 2022, or enough fentanyl to wipe out the
17population of four states and including more than five hundred thousand pills and over six
18hundred pounds of powder containing fentanyl.
19 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
20express its intent regarding the intended meaning and application of the Act originating as
21House Bill No. 586 of the 2023 Regular Session pertaining to the credible information or
22statistical data constituting sufficient evidence in order for the plaintiff to meet the burden
23of proof for the establishment of an action brought pursuant to the Act originating as House
24Bill No. 586 of the 2023 Regular Session and more particularly to give credence to the stated
25purpose of the Act originating as House Bill No. 586 of the 2023 Regular Session, to provide
26civil litigants who have suffered serious bodily injury or death beginning January 1, 2015,
27as a result of the unintended ingestion of illicit fentanyl in this state, with the broadest
28possible basis to seek relief, and to provide a mechanism to facilitate an expeditious
29prosecution of the action established for such civil litigants by the Act originating as House
30Bill No. 586 of the 2023 Regular Session.
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1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby further
2express its intent regarding the intended meaning and application of the Act originating as
3House Bill No. 586 of the 2023 Regular Session by finding, upon the foregoing credible
4information or statistical data, provided in this Resolution:
5 (1) Since 2013, China and the Mexican drug cartels have been engaging in or
6facilitating illicit fentanyl trafficking into the United States constituting a regular course of
7conduct of commercial activity within the meaning of the Federal Sovereign Immunities Act,
828 U.S.C. §1603 and 1605.
9 (2) Beginning January 1, 2015, the illicit fentanyl trafficking by China and the
10Mexican drug cartels has had substantial contact with and a direct effect in the state of
11Louisiana within the meaning of the Federal Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. §1603
12and 1605, particularly, in accordance with statistics reported by the Louisiana Department
13of Health in June 2019 showing that fentanyl-related deaths have increased in Louisiana by
14more than five hundred percent since the end of 2014, and further reporting in December
152022 of an approximate five hundred percent increase of fentanyl-related deaths in Louisiana
16between 2017 and 2021.
17 (3) Illicit fentanyl trafficking, or its related commercial activity, by China and the
18Mexican drug cartels has continued through the date of the passage of this Act to have a
19substantial conduct with and a direct effect in the State of Louisiana within the meaning of
20the Federal Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. §1603 and 1605, through the date of the
21passage of the Act originating as House Bill No. 586 of the 2023 Regular Session,
22particularly pertaining to the number of fentanyl related deaths and the amount of illicit
23fentanyl seized in Louisiana.
24 (4) The illicit fentanyl trafficking by China and the Mexican drug cartels, in
25solidarity with each other, beginning on January 1, 2015, has played a substantial part in
26causing or bringing about injury or death to all persons in this state resulting from the
27unintended ingestion of illicit fentanyl.
28 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express
29its intent regarding the application of the Act originating as House Bill No. 586 of the 2023
30Regular Session.
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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)]
HCR 126 Engrossed 2023 Regular Session Stefanski
Expresses the intent of the legislature regarding House Bill No. 586 of the 2023 Regular
Session.
Summary of Amendments Adopted by House
The Committee Amendments Proposed by House Committee on Civil Law and
Procedure to the original bill:
1. Provide for a rebuttable presumption of fault.
2. Provide for a time period regarding the ingestion of fentanyl.
3. Delete language regarding credible information from sources whose accuracy
cannot reasonably be questioned.
4. Provide for information from the U.S. and La. governments as credible.
5. Make technical changes.
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