BATON ROUGE - A Louisiana House Bill that would create a new homeless court system cleared its first hurdle in the Legislature on Thursday, April 9.

House Bill 211 would also make unauthorized camping or sleeping in public places illegal.

Lawmakers in the House Judiciary Committee debated HB 211 for nearly three hours Thursday, before ultimately approving the measure in a 12-4 vote. But the bill did not move forward without pushback. Members of the NAACP, including Stephanie Anthony, wanted the committee to kill that bill.

"Louisiana is one of the poorest, if not the poorest, states in the nation. We have a homeless problem, and the last thing we need to do is criminalize homelessness," said Anthony.

HB 211 sponsor, Representative Debbie Villio, said the goal is to help connect homeless people to resources.

"This legislation, which we are naming 'streets to success,' prioritizes and balances accountability, compassion, fiscal responsibility," said Rep. Villio.

This proposal follows a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows cities to fine, or even jail people, for sleeping in public areas. If this bill passes, Louisiana would join several southern states, including Florida, Georgia, and Texas, that have adopted similar restrictions.

Advocates for homeless people, including the president of Louisiana's NAACP, Mike McClanahan, warn that this proposed law could do more harm than good.

"You're turning homeless people into criminals. You're going to put them in jail because they didn't have the means to make it," asked McClanahan.

Despite the opposition, Rep. Villio continues to claim her goal is intervention, not punishment.

"We're not looking to jail anyone. We're looking to integrate them with the criminal justice system in an effort to connect them to service providers," said Villio.

Villio declined to answer questions from opponents of the bill during the hearing. She also declined to answer questions from WBRZ after the hearing. 

Right now, the current fiscal analysis of HB 211 does not give any estimated costs for the state to create this proposed homeless court system.