A Louisiana House committee voted 9-1 to report House Bill 554 favorably after extended public testimony and questioning from committee members.

House Bill 554, presented to the committee by Representative Clay McMakin on behalf of the attorney general and with a card of support from Secretary of State Nancy Landry, would establish a notice of voting restriction and a restriction code applicable to people who are not U.S. citizens and to aliens lawfully present in the United States who have not attained citizenship.

The bill’s sponsor said it is intended to clarify the state’s identification and voter records. A committee member said the measure is aimed at protecting voter integrity and the databases used by state agencies.

Tia Fields, a policy associate for the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants and chair of the NAACP political action committees for the state and Baton Rouge branch, opposed the bill and warned it could revive historic forms of racial and civic control. "They say it's about integrity, but history tells the truth. It's about control," Fields told the committee, adding that the measure could lead to racial profiling of lawfully present immigrants and their families.

Terrell Arrakis of the Office of Motor Vehicles told the committee that the state currently issues driver's licenses and identification cards to people with lawful presence and that the bill would place a restriction code on those IDs so the secretary of state would know the holder is restricted from voting. Arrakis said the bill would not, under current language, prevent issuance of the ID but would add a flag in state systems.

Committee members asked whether there were documented instances of ineligible people casting ballots. A committee member said the secretary of state's office recently removed 48 noncitizens from voter rolls; committee staff said the secretary of state's office was coordinating with authors to clarify technical language in later drafts.

Representative Michael Tarver moved to report the bill favorably. An objection prompted a roll call; the committee recorded a final tally of nine yeas and one nay. Representative Phelps was recorded as the lone no vote. The committee did not adopt any amendments on the floor during the hearing.

The committee’s action reports the bill favorably to the next stage of legislative consideration. The secretary of state's office and the attorney general's office were listed as supporters on committee cards; multiple immigrant-rights organizations and individual residents registered opposition on cards and in-person testimony.