HB194 • 2026

LIABILITY: Provides relative to peremptive periods

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Neil Riser
Last action: 2026-05-15
Official status: Signed by the Governor - Act 135
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how the changes will impact existing legal claims or if there are additional professional categories included beyond those listed in the bill text.

Law Changes Time Limits for Legal Claims Against Professionals

This law changes the time limits within which people can file legal claims against professionals like engineers, architects, and real estate developers in Louisiana.

What This Bill Does

Changes the deadline to five years from when a property owner accepts work or takes possession of an improvement.
Sets a six-month window for recording acceptance if no record is made within that time after taking possession.
Establishes a new deadline based on when services are completed by professionals who do not perform inspections.

Who It Names or Affects

People who hire engineers, architects, or real estate developers for construction projects.
Professionals like engineers, surveyors, interior designers, and architects who provide services in Louisiana.

Terms To Know

Peremptive period: The time limit within which a legal claim must be filed after an incident occurs or is discovered.
Licensee: A person who has been granted permission by the state to practice a profession, such as engineering or architecture.

Limits and Unknowns

The law does not specify what happens if acceptance of work is not recorded within six months.
It's unclear how this change will affect existing legal claims that were filed before the new deadline was set.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

Summary of Senate Amendments to HB194

Filed

Plain English: SSHB194 4469 5081 HOUSE SUMMARY OF SENATE AMENDMENTS HB 194 2026 Regular Session Riser LIABILITY: Provides relative to peremptive periods Synopsis of Senate Amendments 1.

SSHB194 4469 5081 HOUSE SUMMARY OF SENATE AMENDMENTS HB 194 2026 Regular Session Riser LIABILITY: Provides relative to peremptive periods Synopsis of Senate Amendments 1.
Makes a technical change.
Digest of Bill as Finally Passed by Senate Present law (R.S.
9:5607(A)) provides a peremptive period of five years for actions against certain design and construction professionals.

House Vote on HB 194 CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENTS (#1078)

Filed

Plain English: 2026 Regular Session Sequence: 1078 HBS AMENDED BY SENATE TO BE CONCURRED IN HB 194 BY RISER CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENTS Date: 5/11/2026 Time: 3:19:31 PM ROLL CALL The roll was called with the following result: YEAS Mr.

2026 Regular Session Sequence: 1078 HBS AMENDED BY SENATE TO BE CONCURRED IN HB 194 BY RISER CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENTS Date: 5/11/2026 Time: 3:19:31 PM ROLL CALL The roll was called with the following result: YEAS Mr.
Speaker Adams Amedee Bacala Bagley Bamburg Bayham Beaullieu Berault Billings Boudreaux Bourriaque Boyd Boyer Brass Braud Broussard Butler Carpenter Carrier Carter, R.
Carter, W.
Carver Chenevert Coates Cox Crews Deshotel Dewitt Dickerson Domangue Echols Egan Farnum Firment Fisher Freiberg Gadberry Galle Geymann Glorioso Green Hebert Henry, C.

Bill History

2026-05-15 H
Effective date: 08/01/2026.
2026-05-15 H
Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 135.
2026-05-13 H
Sent to the Governor for executive approval.
2026-05-13 S
Signed by the President of the Senate.
2026-05-12 H
Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
2026-05-11 H
Read by title, roll called, yeas 96, nays 1, Senate amendments concurred in.
2026-05-07 H
Scheduled for concurrence on 05/11/2026.
2026-05-06 H
Received from the Senate with amendments.
2026-05-05 S
Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 34 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.
2026-04-27 S
Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
2026-04-22 S
Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
2026-04-21 S
Reported favorably.
2026-04-08 S
Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary A.
2026-04-07 S
Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
2026-04-07 H
Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 89, nays 8. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
2026-04-01 H
Scheduled for floor debate on 04/07/2026.
2026-03-31 H
Read by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
2026-03-30 H
Reported favorably (6-0-1).
2026-03-09 H
Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.
2026-02-20 H
First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/20/2026.
2026-02-18 H
Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.
2026-02-18 H
Prefiled.

Official Summary Text

LIABILITY: Provides relative to peremptive periods

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

ENROLLED
ACT No. 1352026 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 194
BY REPRESENTATIVE RISER AND SENATOR CATHEY
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact R.S. 9:5607(A), relative to actions against a professional engineer,
3 surveyor, professional interior designer, architect, or real estate developer; to provide
4 relative to peremptive periods; and to provide for related matters.
5 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
6 Section 1. R.S. 9:5607(A) is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
7 §5607. Actions against a professional engineer, surveyor, professional interior
8 designer, architect, real estate developer; peremptive periods
9 A. No action for damages against any professional engineer, surveyor,
10 engineer intern, surveyor intern, or licensee as defined in R.S. 37:682, or any
11 professional architect, landscape architect, architect intern, or agent as defined in
12 R.S. 37:141, or professional interior designer, or licensee as defined in R.S. 37:3171,
13 or other similar licensee licensed under pursuant to the laws of this state, or real
14 estate developer relative to development plans which have been certified by a
15 professional engineer or professional architect, whether based upon tort, or breach
16 of contract, or otherwise arising out of an engagement to provide any manner of
17 movable or immovable planning, construction, design, or building, which may
18 include but is not limited to consultation, planning, designs, drawings, specifications,
19 investigation, evaluation, measuring, or administration related to any building,
20 construction, demolition, or work, shall be brought unless filed in a court of
21 competent jurisdiction and proper venue at the latest within five years from:
Page 1 of 2
CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.
HB NO. 194 ENROLLED
1 (1)(a) The date of registry in the mortgage office of acceptance of the work
2 by the owner; or.
3 (2)(b) The date the owner has occupied or taken possession of the
4 improvement, in whole or in part, if no such acceptance is recorded; or If no such
5 acceptance is recorded within six months from the date the owner has occupied or
6 taken possession of the improvement, in whole or in part, the date the improvement
7 has been occupied by the owner.
8 (3)(2) The date the person furnishing such the services has completed the
9 services with regard to actions against that person, if the person performing or
10 furnishing the services, as described herein, described in this Subsection does not
11 render the services preparatory to construction, or if the person furnishes such
12 services preparatory to construction but the person furnishing such services does not
13 perform any inspection of the work.
14 * * *
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
Page 2 of 2
CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.