The Louisiana House signed off Monday on a closely watched bill that would let courts hit parents in the wallet if their child makes a threat against a school, a move supporters say will cut down on hoaxes and critics fear could squeeze families that are already struggling. Lawmakers tussled over stiffer criminal penalties and new reporting rules before the vote, which split the chamber and sparked some tense back-and-forth on the House floor.
House Bill 137, filed earlier this session, would overhaul sentencing rules for posting or calling in threats to schools and lists Rep. Mike Johnson of Pineville as a primary sponsor, according to the bill tracker at LegiScan. The tracker notes that the proposal revises penalties for terrorizing and menacing aimed at schools and adds new provisions for parental accountability. Lawmakers have pitched the measure as a response to dozens of threats that disrupted campuses last year.
The House approved HB137 on a 71-26 vote, KATC reported. KATC says the bill would expose parents to financial penalties and would require juveniles under 14 who are convicted of making a school threat to undergo mental evaluations, face probation or up to six months in juvenile detention, and participate in the Back on Track Youth Pilot Program. "We want to make our schools as safe as we possibly can," Johnson told reporters, while Rep. Troy Carter of New Orleans cautioned that the measure could set "a dangerous precedent."
What the bill would do
Supporters argue HB137 would raise the stakes for hoax threats and tamp down on prank calls and viral posts that send campuses into lockdown. Reporting from WBRZ notes that the bill would increase prison ranges for terrorizing and menacing and allow courts to fine parents up to $5,000 for a first conviction and as much as $10,000 for repeat offenses. The measure also calls on schools to spell out the consequences to students and families early in the school year, sponsors say, so no one can claim they did not know the rules.
Supporters and critics
Backers frame the bill as a kind of fiscal pressure valve, saying it would discourage bogus threats and help districts recoup emergency-response costs instead of leaving taxpayers on the hook, WAFB reported. Opponents counter that it risks criminalizing adolescent acting-out and pulling attention away from mental health treatment for kids who are in crisis. Residents WAFB spoke with said they liked the push to educate families but were uneasy about piling on punitive measures for teenagers making bad decisions. Lawmakers stressed that judges would keep discretion to consider how much a parent knew or was involved before handing down any fines.
Legal questions
Legal observers say the bill's parental-liability language could invite constitutional and civil challenges if it is applied in cases where parents had no real role in what their child did, a concern critics have raised and coverage has echoed. The measure leaves key calls, including whether a parent "contributed to" or knew about a threat, up to individual judges, which could lead to uneven results from parish to parish, KATC reported. Sponsors respond that the target is narrow: hoax threats that keep draining public safety budgets and shaking up schools.
Next steps
With the House vote in the books, HB137 now moves along the legislative calendar and will need approval from both chambers before it can land on Gov. Jeff Landry's desk. The bill tracker shows HB137 was prefiled Feb. 13 and has cleared initial readings and committee referrals this month, according to LegiScan. Lawmakers say the next few weeks will determine whether fines and tougher sentences become part of Louisiana's official answer to the wave of school threats.
