Storm contractor rules in Louisiana: the price gouging statute and the contractor licence thresholds
Louisiana's price gouging law is a short section of the emergency statutes, and its contractor licensing board publishes the project values at which each licence applies. This page restates both as they were read on October 9, 2026.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The wider picture is on the storm contractor rules page. The first source is the statute text, the other two are pages from the licensing board.
The three sources in one table
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| Revised Statutes 29:732 | During a state of emergency declared by the governor or a parish president, prices for goods and services in the designated emergency area may not exceed the prices ordinarily charged for comparable goods and services in the same market area at or immediately before the emergency, with exceptions for commodity market fluctuations, regional or national market trends, and reasonable expenses and business risk |
| Types of licenses | Commercial licence for projects of US$50,000 or more. Residential licence for residential construction and home improvement projects exceeding US$50,000. Home improvement is defined at US$7,500 or more |
| Licensing Requirements for Contractors in Louisiana | Residential or home improvement projects of US$50,000 or more, or requiring any structural work, must be bid and performed by a licensed Residential Building Contractor |
Price gouging
Section 29:732 sets its prohibition for an initial period not to exceed thirty days under the initial declared state of emergency, and says it is renewed only by specific reference in later proclamations by the governor. Each sale or offer for sale in violation is a separate offence. The penalties in section 29:734 apply in addition to civil remedies, including attorney fees. Local governing authorities may adopt ordinances to carry out the section. The statute says it does not create a private cause of action for a person damaged by a violation. The text names goods and services in general and gives fuel its own subsections. It does not name tree work.
Licence thresholds
The licensing board describes four basic licence types and gives project values in each. A commercial licence applies to commercial projects of US$50,000 or more including labour and materials, and a residential licence to residential construction and to home improvement projects on existing residential structures exceeding US$50,000. The board defines home improvement as reconstruction, alteration, renovation, repair, modernization, conversion, improvement, removal or demolition, or an addition to an existing residential structure, for which the project value is US$7,500 or more. Its leaflet repeats the US$50,000 line for residential projects and adds that work requiring any structural work falls under the residential building contractor.
What the pages do not say
Neither board page uses the words tree work, tree removal or arborist, and neither mentions storm periods, so they do not say whether a tree service falls under any licence or whether the emergency changes a threshold. For how other states treat tree work, see contractor licences for tree work. The scams that attorney general offices warn about after storms are on the page about storm tree scams.
Sources
- Louisiana State Legislature, Revised Statutes 29:732, Price gouging; prohibited, read October 9, 2026
- Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, Types of licenses, read October 9, 2026
- Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, Licensing Requirements for Contractors in Louisiana, read October 9, 2026