Louisiana expanded its Religious Freedom Act in 2025. It does not reach your HOA
Louisiana expanded its Religious Freedom Act in 2025. It does not reach your HOA
2026-09-10 · Louisiana · Legislation
What happened. Louisiana expanded its Preservation of Religious Freedom Act in the 2025 Regular Session. Because the timing coincided with the new Planned Community Act, owners have begun citing it to boards in disputes about mezuzahs, crosses, nativity scenes, statuary and yard displays.
It is the wrong statute for that argument, and the reason is structural rather than technical.
What a religious-freedom statute of this kind does
Louisiana's Act, like the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act it is modelled on, is a constraint on government action. It tells the state, its agencies and its political subdivisions what they must show before substantially burdening the exercise of religion. It does not create a private right against a neighbour, a landlord or a homeowners association.
A Louisiana homeowners association is not a political subdivision. Under R.S. 9:1141.19 it is required to be “organized as a nonprofit corporation authorized to do business in Louisiana” — a private juridical person. The Attorney General's civil opinions, for the same reason, serve public bodies rather than associations; a sweep of every AG opinion released between January 1, 2025 and September 10, 2026 returns none on homeowners associations, condominiums, building restrictions or subdivision covenants.1
What actually governs a religious display in a Louisiana community
Three things, in order: the recorded declaration; the amendment thresholds in R.S. 9:1141.14(C) if the association wants to tighten what is permitted; and the rule-making section, R.S. 9:1141.37, if the board is acting by rule.
That last section carries the standard everything else is measured against:
“F. Every rule adopted pursuant to this Section is required to be reasonable.”
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