Act 117 of Louisiana's 2026 Regular Session took effect August 1, 2026, and it does put a twelve-year mandatory minimum into the state's DWI statute. What a lot of the coverage left out is who that minimum actually reaches.
The twelve-year floor is not the new penalty for a fourth DWI. It applies only when the driver already carries a conviction for vehicular homicide (La. R.S. 14:32.1), third degree feticide (R.S. 14:32.8), or first degree vehicular negligent injuring (R.S. 14:39.2), or an equivalent law from another state. Without one of those three convictions in the history, a fourth offense DWI in Louisiana carries exactly what it carried on July 31, 2026: a $5,000 fine and ten to thirty years, with two years to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
That distinction is the entire story. If you or someone in your family is facing a repeat DWI charge in Louisiana, the first question is not how severe the new law is. It is whether the new law applies to your case at all. For the large majority of repeat-DWI defendants, it does not.
What Act 117 Is, and How It Got Here
The bill was House Bill 82, filed by Rep. Debbie Villio (R-Kenner). It passed the House 93-0 on April 13, 2026, cleared the Senate 35-0 on May 11, and was signed by the governor on May 15, becoming Act No. 117.
The August 1 effective date was not a legislative choice about urgency. Article III, Section 19 of the Louisiana Constitution provides that laws enacted during a regular session take effect on August 1 of that calendar year unless the bill says otherwise. Act 117 said nothing, so it took the default.
The twelve-year number itself has an interesting paper trail. As originally filed, HB 82 set the enhanced fourth-offense minimum at twelve months. The House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice amended the word "months" to "years," a change documented in the engrossed bill and its digest. A single word in committee produced the headline figure.
What Act 117 Actually Changed, Subsection by Subsection
Act 117 amended R.S. 14:98.2(D), 98.3(A)(1) and (C), and 98.4(A)(1), (C), and (D), and enacted new R.S. 14:98.3(D) and 98.4(E). Two of those look alarming on a list and are nothing: the amendments to 98.3(A)(1) and 98.4(A)(1) are cross-reference housekeeping, changing "Subsection B" to "Subsections B and C" and "Subsections B and C" to "Subsections B, C, and D." The base penalties in those paragraphs were not touched.
Here is what moved. Every row below requires the same trigger: a prior conviction for vehicular homicide, third degree feticide, or first degree vehicular negligent injuring, or an equivalent law of any state.
ProvisionApplies toPenalty under Act 117
R.S. 14:98.2(D) (amended)Second offense DWI where the first offense was vehicular homicide, third degree feticide, or first degree vehicular negligent injuring$2,000 fine; not less than two years and not more than five years; at least one year without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension R.S. 14:98.3(C)(1) (new)Third or subsequent offense with one of the qualifying priors$2,000 fine; five to fifteen years; at least five years without benefits; the mandatory minimum cannot be served on home incarceration except under R.S. 14:98.5(B)(1) R.S. 14:98.4(C) (new)Fourth or subsequent offense with one of the qualifying priors$5,000 fine; twelve to thirty years, with or without hard labor; no part of the sentence with benefit of parole, probation, or suspension; no portion may run concurrently with the remaining balance of any sentence for a prior conviction for any offense
Note what happened at the second-offense level. R.S. 14:98.2(D) is not new. It already existed and already applied only to that narrow class of drivers. Act 117 raised its imprisonment floor from one year to two and its without-benefits portion from six months to one year. The five-year maximum stayed put. If you have read that "a second DWI in Louisiana now carries a $2,000 fine and prison without benefits," that description is describing a subsection that has been on the books and has never applied to an ordinary second offense.
One more piece of renumbering worth knowing: the old R.S. 14:98.4(C) was redesignated as (D) without any change to its text. That provision covers an offender who previously received parole, probation, or suspension of sentence on a fourth-or-subsequent DWI conviction, and it carries $5,000 and ten to thirty years at hard labor, entirely without benefits and consecutive. The vehicle seizure and forfeiture provisions moved to the newly enacted 98.3(D) and 98.4(E).
What Did Not Change
This is the most useful section for a worried reader, and it is the part missing from most of the August commentary.
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Third offense DWI, R.S. 14:98.3(A)(1): $2,000 fine, one to five years, at least one year without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension. Unchanged.
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Fourth or subsequent offense DWI, R.S. 14:98.4(A)(1): $5,000 fine, ten to thirty years, two years without benefits. Unchanged.
A person with four DWI convictions and no vehicular homicide, feticide, or first degree vehicular negligent injuring in the record faces the same statutory exposure on August 2, 2026 that they faced on July 30, 2026. Act 117 is a scalpel aimed at a specific population. It is not a general rewrite of Louisiana's repeat-DWI penalties, and reading it as one leads to bad decisions about whether to fight a case or resolve it.
Unpacking "Without Benefit of Parole, Probation, or Suspension of Sentence"
This phrase carries more weight than most people realize. It means three separate things at once:
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The sentencing judge cannot suspend that portion of the sentence.
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The judge cannot place the person on probation in lieu of serving it.
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The Committee on Parole has no jurisdiction to release the person early during that portion.
Under the baseline fourth-offense provision, only two years of a ten-to-thirty-year sentence carry that restriction. Under new R.S. 14:98.4(C), the restriction covers the entire term. A twelve-year sentence under that subsection is twelve years in custody, subject only to whatever diminution-of-sentence credit is separately available under Louisiana law. There is no parole date to work toward.
Act 117 also stacks. New 98.4(C) states that no portion of the sentence may be imposed concurrently with the remaining balance of any sentence being served for a prior conviction for any offense. For someone finishing time on an earlier case, the new sentence begins after that one ends.
At the third-offense level, new 98.3(C)(1) adds a related restriction: except as provided in R.S. 14:98.5(B)(1), the five-year mandatory minimum cannot be served on home incarceration.
How Louisiana Counts Prior Convictions
Under R.S. 14:98(C)(1), a "prior conviction" for DWI enhancement purposes is broader than most people assume. It includes convictions under R.S. 14:98 itself, plus:
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R.S. 14:32.1, vehicular homicide
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R.S. 14:32.8, third degree feticide
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R.S. 14:39.1, vehicular negligent injuring
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R.S. 14:39.2, first degree vehicular negligent injuring
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Any other state's impaired-driving law, and municipal or parish ordinances prohibiting the same conduct
Under R.S. 14:98(C)(2), whether a particular prior counts is decided by the court as a matter of law, not by a jury.
Pay close attention to the difference between R.S. 14:39.1 and R.S. 14:39.2. Vehicular negligent injuring under 14:39.1 counts as a prior DWI conviction for ordinary enhancement, but it is not one of the three offenses that triggers Act 117. First degree vehicular negligent injuring under 14:39.2 is. Those statutes sit next to each other, sound nearly identical, and produce radically different sentencing exposure. Anyone reviewing a client's record needs to confirm which one is actually in the minute entry.
The Cleansing Period, and the Trap Inside It
Louisiana has a ten-year cleansing period. R.S. 14:98(C)(3) provides that when ten years have elapsed between the current offense and the prior, the prior does not count for enhancement. That is the general understanding, and it is where most people stop reading.
Two things complicate it.
First, the clock stops running more often than you would think. Excluded from the ten-year computation is any time the person spent awaiting trial, under an order of attachment for failure to appear, on probation or parole for a listed offense, or incarcerated in any state for any offense. A conviction that is calendar-ten-years old is frequently not ten years old for enhancement math. A defendant who did two years on an unrelated charge in that window just lost two years off the clock.
Second, and this is the part that deserves far more attention than it has gotten: the ten-year washout in 14:98(C)(3) is written to apply to priors under R.S. 14:98 itself, under R.S. 14:39.1, and to out-of-state and municipal impaired-driving equivalents. Vehicular homicide, third degree feticide, and first degree vehicular negligent injuring are absent from that list.
Those are the exact three convictions that trigger Act 117. They never cleanse. A vehicular homicide conviction from 1998 is as live for Act 117 purposes in 2026 as one from last year. A driver who served their time decades ago, completed supervision, and has had no DWI in the intervening period can still walk into a fourth-offense charge and face a twelve-year floor with no parole eligibility. The predicate that produces the harshest sentence in the statute is also the one with no expiration date.
One related point on record clearing: an expunged conviction can still be used as a predicate. Expungement limits public access to the record. It does not erase the conviction for enhancement purposes, and cleansing prevents enhancement without erasing anything.
The Offense Date Controls, Not the Sentencing Date
Louisiana follows the rule that the law in effect when the offense was committed determines the penalty, not the law in effect at sentencing. The Louisiana Supreme Court set this out in State v. Sugasti, 2001-K-3407 (La. 6/21/02).
The practical consequence is precise and easy to state. Conduct on July 31, 2026 is sentenced under prior law even if the case is not resolved until 2028. Conduct on August 1, 2026 is sentenced under Act 117. What does not matter: the date on the arrest paperwork, the booking date, the date the bill of information was filed, or the date of the plea. The date of the driving is the date that governs.
Given how long a felony DWI case takes to move through a Louisiana district court, cases arising from conduct in the spring and summer of 2026 will be sentenced under two different regimes for months to come. If your case sits near that line, the offense date is the first thing to nail down, with documentation.
What a Defense Lawyer Examines First
In a repeat-DWI case where the State is invoking Act 117, the analysis tends to run in this order.
1. Does a qualifying predicate actually exist?
This is the threshold question and it resolves a large share of cases. The State must have a conviction under 14:32.1, 14:32.8, or 14:39.2, or a genuine out-of-state equivalent. A 14:39.1 conviction does not qualify, and unlike the trigger offenses, it cleanses. Out-of-state predicates require an actual comparison of the elements of the foreign statute, not a similarity of names.
2. Are the predicate pleas valid?
Louisiana uses a burden-shifting framework for collateral attacks on predicate DWI guilty pleas. State v. Carlos, 98-1366 (La. 7/7/99), extended the scheme of State v. Shelton, 621 So.2d 769 (La. 1993), to the recidivist portions of the DWI statute, and the Supreme Court applied it in State v. Naquin, 2000-K-0291 (La. 9/29/00). The sequence:
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The State first proves the prior guilty plea existed and that the defendant was represented by counsel when it was taken.
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If the State does that, the burden shifts to the defendant to produce affirmative evidence of an infringement of rights or a procedural irregularity in the taking of the plea.
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Only if the defendant produces that evidence does the burden of proving constitutionality revert to the State.
This is why plea colloquy transcripts and minute entries matter so much. A general assertion that a twenty-year-old plea was defective will not carry the defendant's burden.
3. Was counsel present, or validly waived?
An uncounseled misdemeanor DWI plea can still serve as a predicate if the State shows a knowing and intelligent waiver of the right to counsel. Under State v. Strain, 585 So.2d 540 (La. 1991), DWI is treated as a non-complex misdemeanor requiring less judicial inquiry than a felony waiver, and the court is generally not required to warn the defendant of the dangers of self-representation. Validity turns on the age, education, background, experience, and conduct of the accused.
Be realistic about this one. Louisiana courts routinely uphold uncounseled predicate pleas. In State v. Potts, 32,252-KA (La. App. 2d Cir. 8/18/99), the Second Circuit upheld a 1991 uncounseled plea as a valid predicate. It is a challenge worth investigating in every case and one that frequently fails. Any lawyer who presents it as a likely escape hatch is overselling it.
4. Is the identity proof sound on the old convictions?
On decades-old records, the State still has to connect the person in the courtroom to the name on the conviction. Fingerprint cards, photographs, and identifying data in the certified records are where that either holds up or does not.
Why the Legislature Went Here
The votes were unanimous in both chambers, which tells you something about how narrowly the bill was drawn. A general increase in repeat-DWI sentencing exposure does not clear the Louisiana House 93-0 and the Senate 35-0. A targeted enhancement aimed at drivers who already have a vehicular homicide or serious vehicular injury conviction and then drove impaired again does.
Louisiana broadcast coverage of the bill framed the rationale in those terms, describing the target population as people who had already caused serious injury or death and then chose to drive impaired again. That framing matches the statutory text, which is not something you can always say about legislative messaging.
It is worth noting how the change is being described in the field. Some Louisiana defense-bar commentary summarizing the criminal laws taking effect August 1, 2026 presents the $2,000 fine, the two-year second-offense floor, and the twelve-year figure without mentioning the predicate-conviction trigger. If practitioners are compressing it that way, defendants reading secondhand summaries are almost certainly walking into consultations believing their exposure is far worse than it is. Check the statute, or have someone check it for you.
What to Gather Before a First Consultation
If you are facing a repeat DWI in Louisiana, the enhancement analysis depends almost entirely on documents. Bring or request:
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Certified copies of every prior conviction, including the bill of information and the judgment, showing the exact statute of conviction
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Minute entries from each prior case
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Plea colloquy transcripts, if they still exist
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Any waiver-of-counsel forms signed in the prior cases
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Dates of every period of incarceration, probation, and parole, in any state, for cleansing-period math
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The precise date of the conduct in the current case, which controls which version of the law applies
The difference between a two-year restriction and a twelve-year sentence with no parole eligibility can come down to which of two adjacent statutes appears on a twenty-year-old judgment. That is a records question before it is a legal argument, and it is worth resolving early.
Related reading
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[South Carolina Just Sent a Man to Prison for 30 Years for Selling the Drug, Not Taking It: The First Conviction Under the Fentanyl-Induced Homicide Act](/article/south-carolina-first-fentanyl-induced-homicide-conviction-30-years)
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[Federal Judges No Longer Have to Put You on Supervised Release: The November 1 Rewrite That Ended Automatic Post-Prison Supervision](/article/federal-judges-no-longer-required-supervised-release-november-rewrite)
Sources
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Louisiana Legislature, HB 82 (2026 Regular Session) bill information and legislative history
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La. R.S. 14:98, Operating a vehicle while impaired (current text)
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Louisiana Constitution art. III, §19, Effective Date of Laws
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WAFB, "Repeat DWI offenders in Louisiana to face harsher penalties under new law"
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Stephen D. Hebert, "The Louisiana Criminal Laws Taking Effect August 1, 2026"
Note: This article contains AI-assisted content and has been reviewed by our editorial team.
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