Last week, the state Senate Judiciary committee passed SB 74, a bill that would automatically funnel all arrested 15- and 16-year-olds into the adult court system. Yet, as Sarah Omojola notes, every single senator on that committee comes from a district that recently voted down Amendment 3.  

On March 29, 2025, Louisiana voters overwhelmingly rejected all four constitutional amendments on the ballot—most notably Amendment 3, which would have paved the way for the legislature to send more of our kids to adult court, jail, and prison. 

Yet only two weeks after voters decisively rejected this heinous attempt, our legislature began introducing more bills intended to circumvent the will of their constituents. 

Among them is Senate Bill (SB) 74, authored and filed by Sen. Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport), which would automatically put 15- and 16-year-olds accused of any felony into adult court.

Kids are not tiny adults (as much as our teenagers might argue differently). 

As parents know, teenagers still make childish mistakes. Modern advances in brain science confirm what we know:their brains and bodies are rapidly growing, and they are developmentally unable to understand long-term consequences the way adult brains do. 

But parents also know the potential within teenagers: they are also tremendously capable of growth and change, and that’s why our country developed separate juvenile-justice systems in the first place. In Louisiana, we already have a juvenile-justice system that’s intended to address the particular challenges and profound opportunities facing kids who have lost their way. If we have criticisms of that system, we should work together to fix them.

Earlier this year, legislators proposed Amendment 3, to overwrite these realities and funnel more of our children into the adult criminal legal system. Voters said no. SB 74 is just a remix of the same flawed approach.

If our lawmakers were serious about safety and the future of our communities, they would invest in education, mental health resources, after-school programs, job training, and skill-building opportunities. Though many issues are caught up in partisan politics, support for youth programs has always been one place where we can agree.  In a 2024 poll of Louisiana voters—the majority of whom voted for President Trump—84% agreed that investing in our communities through programs for youth is an effective way to reduce crime. 

SB 74 is no such solution and goes directly against the will of the people. Why would we want every 15-year-old and 16-year-old who is arrested to go into the adult system? There already is a way to transfer teenagers that age for the worst crimes.. To do so automatically doesn’t reflect reality: that kids make mistakes and should be given a chance to deal with them within the juvenile-justice system.

District 31, which Sen. Seabaugh represents, voted Amendment 3 down by nearly 55%. Bossier Parish, which passed every other amendment on the ballot, voted to keep youth out of the adult system. Even Amendment 3’s author, Sen. Heather Cloud, saw the ballot attempt fail resoundingly with her constituents: every parish in her district voted down Amendment 3, with a whopping 67% of St. Landry Parish voting against the measure.

Yet last  week, Judiciary C Committee approved SB 74 by a 6-1 vote, despite testimony opposing the bill from young people, juvenile-justice experts, representation from a sheriff’s office, and advocates—and no supporting testimony from the public at all. 

Through the testimony, committee members were given a clear message to keep kids accused of crimes in the juvenile system, yet they still ignored most of their own constituents’ interests. 

Consider the proportion of constituents who voted against Amendment 3 within the districts of senators on the Judiciary C committee: Every parish in Senators Blake Miguez and Caleb Kleinpeter’s districts voted against Amendment 3, with Lafayette voting 65% no and West Baton Rouge voting 71% no. In Sen. Mark Abraham’s district too, 59.7% voted against putting more children in the adult system through Amendment 3; while a little more than 51% of Sen. Jay Morris’s district also voted no.

Sen. Valarie Hodges’ district voted no on Amendment 3 by 53 percent.

Sen. Regina Barrow, the only Senator to vote against SB 74, cast her vote in a way that reflected the will of her district—East Baton Rouge Parish—which resoundingly rejected Amendment 3 at nearly 93% of the vote.

We as Louisianans must ask ourselves whether our votes matter or not and if this is a government that seeks to serve the people. We have the right to political representation and government leaders who act in the best interests of our communities and our future. We deserve policies and legislation that create safe, healthy neighborhoods, where we and our children can thrive.

Elected officials need to do their duty—to understand that their constituents are watching and do not approve. The phone number and email address of every legislator is listed online; it is your right as a Louisianan and a member of your community to remind each of them that they represent you. Call your legislators—and then call them again and again. 

Remember, they will have to run for office in 2027. Remind them that they must earn your vote by reflecting the will of  those they represent.

Sarah Omojola is the director of Vera Louisiana.