Amendment 8: Prohibit Expropriation of Property by Foreign Adversaries
Statewide — all of Louisiana
General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
- Referred to the ballot by the Louisiana Legislature as House Bill 192 (Act 277), sponsored by Rep. Charles Owen (R); amendments require a two-thirds vote of each chamber and no gubernatorial signature. The House passed it 100-0 and the Senate 36-0 (per the bill history).[1][3]
The question on the ballot
Do you support an amendment to prohibit expropriation of property by a foreign adversary or an agent of a foreign adversary? (Amends Article I, Section 4(B)(4))[2][4]
Article I, Section 4(B)(4) of the Louisiana Constitution allows a private entity authorized by law to expropriate property only for a public and necessary purpose with just compensation. The amendment adds that no private entity that is a foreign adversary or an agent of a foreign adversary, "as defined by law," may take or damage property. No fiscal note was posted with the bill.[3][2]
A YES vote means
Adds to the Constitution a prohibition on a private entity that is a foreign adversary, or an agent of one (as defined by law), expropriating property.
A NO vote means
Leaves Article I, Section 4(B)(4) unchanged, with no express constitutional ban on expropriation by foreign adversaries.
The law today
Article I, Section 4(B)(4) allows private entities authorized by law to expropriate property only for a public and necessary purpose with just compensation. A separate state law already bars entities connected to a foreign adversary from expropriating property within 50 miles of a military base or buying or leasing immovable property in Louisiana.[4]
Arguments made for
- None found in public sources.
Arguments made against
- None found in public sources.
Research notes & limits
Ballot question text is the proposition printed in the enrolled joint resolution, which directs that it be placed on the Nov 3, 2026 ballot; vote counts, Act numbers and fiscal information are from the Louisiana Legislature's bill pages, résumé digests and Legislative Fiscal Office notes. The Louisiana Secretary of State's certified list could not be loaded (sos.la.gov election pages returned 404 on Oct 19, 2026), so the Amendment 1-10 numbering and the question wording were checked against the nonpartisan PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments, which lists the same ten amendments in the same order with the same question text; the parenthetical effective-date and constitutional-citation text follows the enrolled resolution. Louisiana has no citizen initiative and publishes no voter-pamphlet arguments; a majority of votes cast approves an amendment. No argument against was found; the bill passed with no recorded no votes. A sponsor quote that Ballotpedia relayed has no locatable original source and is omitted, so no supporting argument is listed. Enrichment (Oct 19): current law and fiscal impact are drawn from the enrolled-version Legislative Fiscal Office notes (or the Legislative Auditor's actuarial note for Amendment 5) and the PAR guide; Amendments 4 and 8 have no fiscal note. PAR's guide gives unattributed 'argument for/against' summaries rather than quotes from named people or groups, so they are not used as arguments. No registered campaign committees or campaign-finance filings were found for any of these amendments.
Sources · 4
Researched 2026-10-19. Green citations are official government records.
- 1.HB 192 (Act 277), bill history and votes · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 2.Enrolled HB 192: joint resolution and ballot proposition · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 3.Résumé Digest, Act 277 (HB 192) · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 4.PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments · Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana · 2026-10 Reference