Louisiana HB 619 Treasury Department Digital Assets Bill

HB 619 proposed to enact Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:94(D), adding a specific investment authority for the Budget Stabilization Fund. The core authorization was narrow: the treasurer could invest an aggregate amount of up to 5% of the fund’s balance in two asset categories. The first was precious metals. The second was digital assets with a market capitalization above $750 billion, averaged over the previous calendar year.

The bill did not create a general digital asset investment mandate. Its language was framed as permissive authority for the treasurer, and the fiscal note likewise described the proposal as authorizing, but not requiring, the investment. The bill would have changed the set of assets available for a portion of the reserve fund, rather than directing an immediate purchase.

The proposed definition of “digital assets” covered assets that exist only in digital form and confer economic, proprietary, or access rights. The text expressly included virtual currency, cryptocurrency, and other natively electronic assets. The bill also defined “exchange-traded product” as a regulated security or financial instrument approved by the SEC, CFTC, or another appropriate regulator, traded on a regulated U.S. exchange, and deriving value from an underlying pool of assets.

HB 619 set out several ways acquired assets could be held. Assets could be held on behalf of the state by a qualified custodian, as an exchange-traded product, through a secure-custody solution for digital assets, or in physical form for precious metals. The custody language included controls around private keys, encryption, access controls, multi-party authorization, audit logs, disaster recovery, independent security audits, and penetration testing.

The bill included a conditional effectiveness clause. It would become operative only if a related proposed amendment to Article VII, Section 14(B) of the Louisiana Constitution was adopted at a statewide election and became effective. That related measure appears to be HB 603, also by Rep. Wright, which proposed constitutional authority for investment of state funds in digital assets and precious metals. HB 603 advanced further than HB 619, but official records reviewed for this profile show HB 619 remained in House Appropriations.

The official HB 619 page recorded the bill as pending House Appropriations and scheduled for an April 7, 2026 committee agenda. The agenda page later showed the meeting as adjourned. The bill history lists prefiling on February 26, interim calendar appearance on February 27, and referral to House Appropriations on March 9. No later HB 619 floor passage, Senate action, enrollment, or governor action was found in the official page reviewed for this draft.

The Legislative Fiscal Office fiscal note stated that, as of March 26, 2026, Bitcoin was the only digital asset meeting the bill’s $750 billion threshold. For illustrative purposes, the note assumed a $100 million investment and estimated increased state general fund expenditures of about $2.25 million in fiscal year 2027 through fiscal year 2031. It also flagged custody, transaction, liquidity, audit, insurance, volatility, cyberattack, phishing, and hacking considerations.