Louisiana Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent Rules

Louisiana is a one-party consent state under La. R.S. § 15:1303(C)(4). A party to a wire, electronic, or oral communication, or anyone with the prior consent of one party, may record without telling the other participants. Recording without that consent is a felony at hard labor carrying 2 to 10 years and a civil wrong with statutory damages plus punitive damages and attorney fees. Louisiana is also notable for the harshest baseline wiretap criminal penalty among one-party consent states, a broad "injurious act" carveout, and a pending notice-requirement bill (HB 410, enrolled June 1, 2026, awaiting the Governor's signature as of this writing).

Louisiana recording law at a glance

For deeper analysis of each scenario, see Louisiana recording laws in depth.

Recording in-person conversations in Louisiana

Louisiana's one-party consent rule flows from La. R.S. § 15:1303(C)(4), part of the Louisiana Electronic Surveillance Act enacted by 1988 La. Act 515 (effective January 1, 1989). The statute covers wire communications, electronic communications, and oral communications. The oral communication category reaches any utterance by a person with a reasonable expectation of non-interception.

The one-party exception text is direct: a person "not acting under color of law" may intercept a communication where that person is a party or where one party has given prior consent, "unless such communication is intercepted for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act in violation of the constitution or laws of the United States or of the state, or for the purpose of committing any other injurious act." That final phrase, "any other injurious act," is broader than the federal floor at 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d), which reaches only criminal or tortious conduct. A recording made to blackmail, harass, stalk, or damage someone's reputation can fall within Louisiana's injurious-act carveout even if it does not satisfy every element of a named tort or crime.

The Louisiana Supreme Court confirmed the constitutional soundness of one-party consent recording in State v. Reeves, 427 So.2d 403 (La. 1982), holding that consensual electronic surveillance with the consent of one party does not violate La. Const. art. I, § 5.

Recording phone calls in Louisiana

Phone call recording follows the same one-party rule. Under La. R.S. § 15:1303(C)(4), a Louisiana party to a call may record without notifying the other side. The statute's reach covers landline calls, cell calls, VoIP (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, FaceTime), and video calls: all fall within "wire, electronic, or oral communication."

For interstate calls, the safer approach is to apply the stricter state's rule. Federal ECPA sets a one-party floor and does not preempt stricter state law. The states that require all-party or explicit consent for at least some recording contexts include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. A Louisiana caller reaching someone in any of those states should obtain all-party consent before recording. New Orleans hospitality and tourism calls into Florida, and Baton Rouge oil-and-gas calls into California, are common situations where this matters.

Businesses recording Louisiana calls for quality assurance or training purposes can do so under La. R.S. § 15:1303(C)(4). A verbal announcement before the call or a recorded disclosure during hold is good practice and documents the one-party basis on the record. For interstate calls, disclose by default.

For more detail, see Louisiana Phone Call Recording Laws.

Hidden cameras, doorbells, and nanny cams

Louisiana's video voyeurism statute, La. R.S. § 14:283, prohibits using any camera, video device, photo-optical or photo-electric device, or a drone equipped with such a device, to observe, photograph, film, or videotape a person without consent for a lewd or lascivious purpose where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The lewd-or-lascivious purpose element and the reasonable-expectation-of-privacy element are both required; a camera pointed at a driveway or front door generally does not satisfy either.

The penalty is tiered across four levels:

Sex offender registration is required upon conviction at any tier. A separate statute, La. R.S. § 14:283.1, covers physical voyeurism (peeping without a device): first conviction is a misdemeanor up to $500 and 6 months; a subsequent conviction reaches up to $1,000 and up to 1 year (with or without hard labor).

A Ring doorbell or similar camera covering a public-facing porch, sidewalk, or driveway is generally outside La. R.S. § 14:283 because those locations lack a reasonable expectation of privacy. On the audio side, the homeowner is typically a party to conversations on their porch, satisfying one-party consent. Audio captured from a passing pedestrian's private conversation is more contestable; disabling audio on angles that cover public sidewalks is the safest default. For nanny cams, placement in common areas (kitchen, living room) of the owner's home is generally lawful. Placement in a guest bathroom, guest bedroom, or any area where a tenant or worker expects privacy can satisfy La. R.S. § 14:283's elements if lewd purpose is present, and can support an invasion-of-privacy tort claim regardless.

See Louisiana Voyeurism and Hidden Camera Laws and Louisiana Security Camera Laws for extended treatment.

Penalties for illegal recording in Louisiana

Louisiana's criminal penalty is the harshest baseline among one-party consent states. La. R.S. § 15:1303(B) imposes "not less than two years nor more than ten years at hard labor" and a fine up to $10,000 for any willful violation of the interception, disclosure, or use prohibitions. Hard labor is mandatory; there is no option to serve the sentence without it. By comparison, Missouri's wiretap offense is a Class E felony (up to 4 years), Oklahoma's reaches up to 5 years, and Arkansas's is only a Class A misdemeanor (1 year).

On the civil side, La. R.S. § 15:1312 provides four recovery layers:

• Actual damages: No cap; the plaintiff recovers all provable harm.
• Liquidated damages floor: Actual damages "but not less than" $100 per day of violation or $1,000, whichever is greater. A one-day violation has a $1,000 floor; a violation running more than 10 days accrues at $100 per day.
• Punitive damages: Available in appropriate cases.
• Attorney fees and litigation costs: A prevailing plaintiff recovers reasonable fees as a separate category from costs.

A good-faith reliance on a court order is a complete defense to civil or criminal action. The civil limitations period is not stated in La. R.S. § 15:1312; Louisiana's general one-year delictual prescription under La. C.C. art. 3492 likely governs. Consult a Louisiana attorney for the deadline in your situation.

Recording the police in Louisiana

The right to record police in Louisiana rests on Turner v. Driver, 848 F.3d 678 (5th Cir. 2017), which established that the First Amendment protects filming officers performing their duties in public, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. The Fifth Circuit covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The right is clearly established post-Turner; qualified immunity will not protect an officer who retaliates against a filmer engaged in lawful recording in public.

Louisiana's 25-foot police buffer zone (La. R.S. § 14:108.4, created by 2024 La. Act 259 / HB 173, signed by Governor Landry on May 24, 2024) was preliminarily enjoined on January 31, 2025, in Deep South Today, d/b/a Verite News, et al. v. Murrill, No. 3:24-cv-00623-JWD-SDJ (M.D. La.). Judge John W. deGravelles held the statute unconstitutionally vague under the Fourteenth Amendment: it provides no standard governing when an officer may order a person to retreat. The First Amendment newsgathering harm appeared in the irreparable-harm analysis, not as the substantive ground. The State appealed; the Fifth Circuit (No. 25-30128) heard oral arguments on June 1, 2026, with the panel appearing divided. As of June 5, 2026, no merits ruling has issued and the preliminary injunction remains in force. The statute is on the books but unenforceable.

Practical limits remain. Filmers should avoid physically interfering with operations, avoid trespassing onto closed scenes, and comply with orders to step back where compliance does not require abandoning the right to film. See Louisiana Laws on Recording Police for extended analysis.

Special topics in Louisiana

HB 410 (2026): enrolled notice-requirement bill

HB 410 of the 2026 Regular Session (by Rep. Schlegel) passed both chambers on June 1, 2026 (House concurred 62-27 in Senate amendments) and was enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House. As of June 5, 2026, it has NOT been signed by Governor Landry and is not yet law. The bill creates a civil-only notice requirement: a person using a portable device must inform all participants before recording a private in-person conversation. It does NOT amend La. R.S. § 15:1303 and does NOT create a criminal offense. Broad exceptions cover law enforcement, public meetings, public officials performing official duties, recording police in public, preserving evidence of crimes or civil proceedings, recordings in one's own home or vehicle, and documenting public corruption. If signed, the law would add a civil cause of action (actual damages, court costs, and attorney fees) separate from the wiretap statute. Watch legis.la.gov for gubernatorial action.

Deepfakes and AI-generated images

Louisiana has one of the harshest deepfake regimes in the country. La. R.S. § 14:73.13 (created by 2023 La. Act 457, effective August 1, 2023) criminalizes deepfake sexual material in three tiers: creating or possessing deepfake sexual material of a minor reaches 5 to 20 years at hard labor; distributing adult deepfake sexual material without consent or distributing minor deepfake sexual material reaches 10 to 30 years at hard labor and up to $50,000 fine. The companion statute, La. R.S. § 14:73.14, covers AI-generated images of identifiable adults in sexually explicit conduct without consent.

The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act, Pub. L. No. 119-12 (signed May 19, 2025), criminalizes nonconsensual intimate imagery including AI-generated deepfakes of identifiable persons and requires covered platforms to remove flagged content within 48 hours. The platform compliance deadline was May 19, 2026. The federal Act runs in parallel with Louisiana's state regime; La. R.S. § 14:283.2 (traditional NCII), La. R.S. § 14:73.13, and La. R.S. § 14:73.14 all remain in force.

Workplace recording and NLRB

Louisiana is a one-party consent state, so employees recording their own conversations at work are generally acting lawfully under La. R.S. § 15:1303(C)(4). For private-sector employers covered by the NLRA, blanket no-recording handbook policies are presumptively unlawful under Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023): an employer must show a substantial, legitimate business interest that cannot be achieved with a narrower policy. NLRB GC 25-05 (Feb. 14, 2025) rescinded certain prior General Counsel memoranda but did not overturn the Stericycle Board decision. NLRB GC 25-07 (June 2025) treats surreptitious recording of collective-bargaining sessions as a per se Section 8(a)(5) or 8(b)(3) violation; it is narrowly scoped to the bargaining table and does not govern ordinary workplace recording. See Louisiana Workplace Recording Laws.

Body-worn cameras and open meetings

La. R.S. § 40:2551 authorizes law enforcement agencies to use body-worn cameras and requires a written policy on activation, retention, and disclosure. Coverage is voluntary and agency-by-agency. Camera recordings are subject to the Louisiana Public Records Act, La. R.S. § 44:1 et seq., with law-enforcement investigative carve-outs at La. R.S. § 44:3. The Open Meetings Law at La. R.S. § 42:11 et seq. explicitly allows video or audio recording of any public body proceeding without seeking permission.

Federal overlay: ECPA, FCC, and HIPAA

Federal ECPA at 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) sets a one-party floor and does not preempt stricter state law. 18 U.S.C. § 2520 provides a parallel federal civil cause ($100/day or $10,000 minimum, punitive, fees, equitable relief). FCC Declaratory Ruling 24-17 (Feb. 8, 2024) confirms AI-generated voices are "artificial or prerecorded voice" under the TCPA; it remains in force. The FCC's one-to-one consent rule (FCC 24-24) was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit in Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, No. 24-10277 (11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025). 47 C.F.R. § 64.501 was removed effective November 20, 2017 and is not a live carrier obligation. HIPAA does not prohibit a patient from audio-recording their own provider visit; La. R.S. § 15:1303(C)(4) governs the patient's recording legality.

Recent legal developments

• June 1, 2026: Louisiana HB 410 passed both chambers (enrolled, signed by Speaker). Creates a civil-only in-person-recording notice requirement with broad exceptions. Awaiting Governor's signature as of June 5, 2026.
• May 19, 2026: TAKE IT DOWN Act platform compliance deadline took effect. Covered platforms must remove flagged nonconsensual intimate imagery within 48 hours.
• June 1, 2026: Fifth Circuit (No. 25-30128) heard oral argument in Verite News v. Murrill on the Louisiana police buffer zone; panel appeared divided. Merits ruling pending; preliminary injunction remains in force as of June 5, 2026.
• January 31, 2025: Preliminary injunction in Verite News v. Murrill, No. 3:24-cv-00623-JWD-SDJ (M.D. La.), blocks enforcement of La. R.S. § 14:108.4 (25-foot police buffer zone) on Fourteenth Amendment vagueness grounds.
• August 1, 2023: La. R.S. § 14:73.13 (deepfakes) and La. R.S. § 14:73.14 (AI-generated images) took effect under 2023 La. Act 457.

Louisiana recording laws in depth

Want to know more? The guides below cover specific Louisiana recording-law contexts in depth.

By type of recording

• Louisiana Audio Recording Laws: One-Party Consent Rules and Penalties
• Louisiana Phone Call Recording Laws: What You Need to Know
• Louisiana Video Recording Laws: Surveillance Rules and Privacy Limits
• Louisiana Dashcam Laws: Mounting, Recording, and Evidence Rules

By place or relationship

• Louisiana Laws on Recording Police: Your Rights and the Buffer Zone Law
• Louisiana Workplace Recording Laws: Employee and Employer Rights
• Louisiana Laws on Recording in Public: Rights, Limits, and Exceptions
• Louisiana Landlord-Tenant Recording Laws: Rights and Restrictions
• Louisiana Medical Recording Laws: Patient Rights and HIPAA Rules
• Louisiana School Recording Laws: Student and Parent Rights
• Louisiana Voyeurism and Hidden Camera Laws: Offenses, Penalties, and Protections
• Louisiana Security Camera Laws: Residential and Business Rules

More Louisiana laws

• Louisiana Alimony Laws
• Louisiana At-Will Employment Laws
• Louisiana Child Custody Laws
• Louisiana Landlord-Tenant Laws
• Louisiana Divorce Laws

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Recording laws change and apply differently to each situation. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed Louisiana attorney.

More Louisiana Laws

• Louisiana AI Meeting Recording Laws
• Louisiana Alimony Laws
• Louisiana At-Will Employment Laws
• Louisiana Car Accident Laws
• Louisiana Car Seat Laws
• Louisiana Child Custody Laws
• Louisiana Child Support Laws
• Louisiana Common Law Marriage Laws
• Louisiana Data Privacy Laws
• Louisiana Deepfake Laws
• Louisiana Divorce Laws
• Louisiana Dog Bite Laws
• Louisiana Emancipation Laws
• Louisiana Expungement Laws
• Louisiana Hit and Run Laws
• Louisiana Landlord-Tenant Laws

Related news

• Louisiana HB 410: recording-notice bill heads to the governor