2024 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 26
BY SENATORS LUNEAU, ABRAHAM, ALLAIN, BARROW, BASS, BOUDREAUX,
CARTER, CATHEY, CLOUD, CONNICK, DUPLESSIS, EDMONDS,
FIELDS, FOIL, HARRIS, HENRY, HODGES, JACKSON-ANDREW S,
JENKINS, KLEINPETER, MIGUEZ, PRICE, TALBOT AND
WOMACK AND REPRESENTATIVES BACALA, BAMBURG,
BAYHAM, BERAULT, BILLINGS, BOYD, BOYER, BRASS,
BROWN, BRYANT, BUTLER, CARPENTER, WILFORD CARTER,
CARVER, CHASSION, CHENEVERT, COATES, COX, CREWS,
DAVIS, DESHOTEL, DEVILLIER, DEWITT, DOMANGUE,
EDMONSTON, EGAN, FISHER, FONTENOT, FREEMAN,
FREIBERG, GLORIOSO, GREEN, HEBERT, HILFERTY, HORTON,
HUGHES, JACKSON, MIKE JOHNSON, TRAVIS JOHNSON,
JORDAN, KERNER, KNOX, LACOMBE, LAFLEUR, JACOB
LANDRY, MANDIE LANDRY, LARVADAIN, LYONS, MACK,
MARCELLE, MCMAHEN, MCMAKIN, MELERINE, MILLER,
MYERS, NEWELL, OWEN, PHELPS, SCHAMERHORN, SCHLEGEL,
SELDERS, ST. BLANC, STAGNI, TAYLOR, THOMPSON,
VENTRELLA, VILLIO, WALTERS, WILDER, WILEY, WILLARD,
WYBLE, YOUNG AND ZERINGUE
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To provide for legislative intent of certain Acts of the Legislature relating to causes of action
for abuse of a minor.
WHEREAS, prior to the adoption of Act No. 322 of the 2021 Regular Session of the
Legislature of Louisiana, R.S. 9:2800.9 provided for a liberative prescriptive period of ten
years for an action against a person for sexual abuse of a minor, commencing to run from
the day the minor attained the age of majority; and
WHEREAS, Act No. 322 became effective on June 14, 2021, and eliminated the
ten-year prescriptive period, providing instead that actions against a person for sexual abuse
of a minor do not prescribe; and
WHEREAS, Section 2 of Act No. 322 authorized any party whose action against a
person under R.S. 9:2800.9, but would have been barred by the ten-year liberative
prescriptive period eliminated by the Act, to file the action for a period of three years from
the effective date of the Act, thus reviving, for three years, any claim against a party that
would have been barred prior to the enactment of the Act; and
WHEREAS, the legislature intended that Act No. 322 be applied retroactively; and
Page 1 of 5 SCR NO. 26 ENROLLED
WHEREAS, Act No. 386 of the 2022 Regular Session of the Legislature affirmed
the legislature's intent that the provisions of R.S. 9:2800.9, as amended by Act No. 322
providing that actions against a person for sexual abuse of a minor do not prescribe, be
applied retroactively to permit those persons who may have had a cause of action barred by
the previous ten-year liberative prescriptive period to file an action under R.S. 9:2800.9 until
June 14, 2024; and
WHEREAS, there have been numerous constitutional challenges to the retroactive
application reviving previously prescribed causes of action for sexual abuse against minors,
alleging that retroactive application violates Art. I, Sec. 2 of the Constitution of Louisiana;
and
WHEREAS, pending the outcome of these various legal challenges and considering
the expiration of the revival period established in Act No. 322 of the 2021 Regular Session
and Act No. 386 of the 2022 Regular Session, Senate Bill No. 246 of the 2024 Regular
Session of the Legislature of Louisiana was prefiled in the legislature on March 1, 2024, and
was introduced in the Senate on March 11, 2024, in order to preserve the retroactive
application and revival of claims for those victims of acts of sexual abuse suffered as a
minor who are now adults and whose claims were barred by the previous ten-year
prescriptive period of R.S. 9:2800.9 that existed prior to the enactment of Act No. 322 of the
2021 Regular Session; and
WHEREAS, on March 22, 2024, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued a ruling in
Douglas Bienvenu, et al. vs. Defendant 1 and Defendant 2, C/W John Doe, et al., vs
Defendant 1 and Defendant 2, 23-01194, (La. 03/22/24), wherein the court found defendants
have a vested property right in accrued prescription, that the Legislature of Louisiana lacks
the authority to revive prescribed claims for cases of sexual abuse against minors, and
declared Sections 2 of Act No. 322 of the 2021 and Act No. 386 of the 2022 Regular
Sessions of the Legislature of Louisiana unconstitutional; and
WHEREAS, Article II of the Constitution of Louisiana provides that the powers of
the government of the state of Louisiana are exercised by the legislative, executive, and
judicial branches of government and prohibits any branch from exercising power belonging
to either of the other unless explicitly provided by the constitution; and
Page 2 of 5 SCR NO. 26 ENROLLED
WHEREAS, Art. I, Sec. 2 of the Constitution of Louisiana provides that no person
shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, except by due process of law; and
WHEREAS, it is well settled that the legislature may enact any legislation that the
Constitution of Louisiana does not prohibit and the burden of proving a constitutional
provision prohibits the enactment of a statute rests with the party challenging the
constitutionality; and
WHEREAS, the legislature respects that interpretation of the laws is vested with the
judiciary, but does take note of the distinction between liberative prescription, which serves
to bar an action as a result of inaction for a certain period of time, and peremption, which
acknowledges the existing of a right and the extinguishing of that right upon the expiration
of the preemptive period – this is not a distinction without a difference; and
WHEREAS, the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby recognize the hierarchy of the
sources of law in the state of Louisiana, established in Civil Code, making superior
legislative enactment over custom; and
WHEREAS, the constitution does not anticipate that the rights afforded under Art.
I, Sec. 2 are absolute, instead they are conditioned upon whether the guarantee of due
process has been met; and
WHEREAS, whether a right is a vested property right or a fundamental right is not
dispositive of whether a due process analysis is required in the court's evaluation of the
constitutionality of an enactment of the legislature under Art. I, Sec. 2 of the Constitution
of Louisiana; rather this determination is necessary and relevant only for the purposes of
determining the applicable standard the court should apply in evaluating whether an action
of the government violates a party's substantive due process protections; and
WHEREAS, in the case of fundamental rights, government restrictions are subject
to a strict scrutiny analysis, compared to the rational basis analysis that is applicable to
evaluation of government action as it relates to rights that are not fundamental; and
WHEREAS, sexual abuse of a minor is a unique tort to which ordinary laws of
prescription should not apply.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana hereby finds
that laws requiring claims of sexual abuse of a minor be filed within a certain period of time
Page 3 of 5 SCR NO. 26 ENROLLED
of the actions that serve as the basis of the cause of action do not create vested rights for the
alleged perpetrator against whom the action is claimed.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby find
that the time within which a cause of action may be filed by an adult, who is a victim of acts
of sexual abuse committed against him as a minor, should not be limited in time by
legislative enactment.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby find
that the Constitution of Louisiana requires any restriction on rights enumerated in Art. I, Sec.
2 of the Constitution be balanced against the protections required by due process.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana hereby finds that
due process does not require the outright prohibition of retroactive application of substantive
law when the legislature's intent on retroactivity is clear, but instead requires an analysis of
whether implementation of retroactive application survives due process scrutiny.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana recognizes that the
judiciary has established different levels of due process analyses depending on the right
alleged to be violated by government action.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana hereby asserts that
the passage of the provisions of Act No. 322 of the 2021 Regular Session of the Legislature
of Louisiana, and each amending Act relative to retroactive application, is rationally related
to the legitimate governmental interest of addressing a systemic societal problem impacting
children, who are the most vulnerable among us, that has remained hidden for years and
serves a public purpose by preventing abuse of children in the future by identifying hidden
child predators, educating the public about the prevalence and harm from child sex abuse in
an effort to prevent future abuse, and shifting the costs of abuse to the predator rather than
the victim and the public in general.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, in addition to the original Acts of the legislature
themselves, the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby expressly declare its intent that the
provisions of Act No. 322 of the 2021 Regular Session of the Legislature, as amended by
Act No. 386 of the 2022 Regular Session of the Legislature and the Act that originated as
Senate Bill No. 246 of the 2024 Regular Session of the Legislature, be applied retroactively
Page 4 of 5 SCR NO. 26 ENROLLED
for the limited period of time contained in those Acts to permit child victims of sexual abuse
who have attained the age of majority and would otherwise be barred from a cause of action
against the alleged perpetrators under prior law, to assert claims in furtherance of the
legitimate government interests enumerated by the legislature in the passage of Act No. 322,
each amending provision thereafter, and this Concurrent Resolution.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted
individually to the justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Page 5 of 5