Senate panel approves amendment requiring backup power at assisted-living facilities

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday reported Senate Bill 145 as amended, a measure that would require assisted‑living facilities to maintain a generator or another alternative electrical power source.

Supporters said the change responds to failures exposed by recent severe-weather events. "I received some calls from constituents of a place that housed 62 and older people, and they had no power. They had no heat, no air, no food, wrapped up in blankets," Senator Womack told the committee, recounting constituent accounts of a facility with no generator backup or external hookup.

The amendment the committee adopted — amendment set 27‑13 — removed an older two‑tier standard that treated facilities differently based on construction date and instead set a single requirement that facilities have a generator or an alternative form of backup power, Miss Trapp, committee staff, said. Kevin Hayes of the Louisiana Assisted Living Association told the committee most assisted‑living sites already have generators and called the amendment a reasonable compromise, noting a two‑year ramp and the option to contract for generation service. "You don't necessarily have one on‑site because some of these cost up to $2,000,000," Hayes said.

Committee members asked about the bill's effective date and whether other vulnerable groups might be left out; Kimberly Humbles, deputy executive counsel for the Louisiana Department of Health, said nursing homes had previously been addressed and that the amendment targets adult residential care providers who remain without backup power. The committee approved the bill as amended with no recorded objections on the motion to report.

The bill moves next to the Senate floor; lawmakers said implementation details — including timelines for compliance and whether contracts with off‑site generator providers will be allowed — can be clarified as the measure advances.