DONATIONS: Provides procedures and methods to execute gifts under the Anatomical Gift Act. (1/1/27)
SB 311 revises Louisiana’s Anatomical Gift Act to clarify how anatomical gifts and refusals may be made, amended, revoked, and given legal effect. The bill expands and modernizes definitions, expressly recognizes donor registries and refusal registries, and specifies acceptable methods for executing a gift or refusal, including signed records, wills, certain communications during terminal illness or injury, and license or registry designations. It also provides that a gift indicated on a driver’s license, identification card, fishing license, or hunting license remains valid even if the underlying license is later revoked, suspended, expired, or canceled.
The bill adds new protections and procedures for minors, premortem interventions, post-death handling, and judicial review. It bars state agencies and contractors from soliciting or recording a minor’s anatomical gift choice without a parent or guardian present, and it requires parental or guardian concurrence for any minor’s recorded statement. It also creates rules for premortem interventions, requiring separate informed consent and prohibiting any intervention that could hasten death or interfere with death determination. In addition, it requires disclosure and express authorization for transporting a decedent after death determination or continuing mechanical support, and it establishes a limited, expedited judicial review process for alleged material violations of the statute or of a legally effective authorization, refusal, or consent.
SB 311 would amend R.S. 17:2351, 2354, 2354.1, and 2354.2 and add new provisions in R.S. 17:2351.1 and 2354.10 through 2354.13. Its effect would be to tighten and clarify the legal framework governing organ, eye, and tissue donation in Louisiana, including donor intent, refusal rights, minor participation, premortem medical procedures, and post-determination transport and support. It would also limit court involvement to narrow, expedited review of material statutory violations and would not create a damages remedy.
The bill appears to have been presented as a technical and policy clarification measure aimed at strengthening certainty around anatomical gift decisions and protecting donor intent while setting boundaries on medical and post-death procedures. The available record shows no committee transcript or vote history, so there is no documented floor or committee debate in the materials provided. The only recorded action is that a substitute was adopted on the Senate floor and the measure became SB 427, suggesting the proposal was actively revised during the legislative process.
The most likely areas of contention are the bill’s restrictions on premortem interventions, its requirement for separate and express consent for those interventions, and its rules governing post-death transport and continued mechanical support. Another sensitive issue is the treatment of minors: the bill prohibits state entities from seeking anatomical gift decisions from minors without a parent or guardian and delays legal effect until majority unless the minor is emancipated or married. The limited judicial review provision may also draw scrutiny because it narrows standing, bars damages, and is designed to avoid delaying organ recovery except in cases of material violations.