LOUISIANA ADOPTS NEW STATE LAW TO PROTECT AGAINST DATA THEFT Dateline Alabama
New laws allow 'early voting' and target identity theft
The Associated PressDecember 31, 2005
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• Louisiana residents won't need to come up with an excuse for voting absentee anymore, with a new law taking effect Sunday that changes absentee voting to "early voting" and lets any registered voter in the state vote before election day.The new law by Rep. Wayne Waddell, R-Shreveport, is intended to raise the percentage of voters who cast ballots by allowing them to vote in person at a registrar's office during the week before the election - without needing an excuse, like a medical problem or planned trip out of town. Nearly two dozen states have similar laws, according to Waddell.The voting change is one of 14 state legislative acts taking effect with the start of the new year. The bulk of the Legislature's acts take effect on Aug. 15 or immediately when signed by the governor, leaving only a handful earmarked specifically to go into effect on New Year's Day.Lawmakers approved the changes - either new laws or adjustments to old ones - in the legislative session that ended in June. Nearly all the changes won't be noticeable to the average state citizen.

Among the other noteworthy acts taking effect Sunday is a new state law that requires persons or businesses with computerized databases to notify Louisiana residents if their data has been hacked or the security has been breached and their personal information could have been stolen. The law, by Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans, was designed to combat identify theft.Minnesota also has a new law requiring similar notification that takes effect on New Year's Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and other states have passed similar laws recently.Under Louisiana's new law, however, the notification isn't required if the person or business whose computer information has been breached "determines that there is no reasonable likelihood of harm to customers."