The Gulf Coast chapter recently hosted a legislative program in Baton Rouge summarizing the 2025 session of the Louisiana state Legislature that adjourned on June 12. Chris Stelly, director of legislative affairs at Louisiana Economic Development (LED), outlined pieces of legislation for “positioning Louisiana [and commercial real estate] to win.” A couple of highlights included:

• HB 507: The legislation creates a new High Impact Jobs Program, a grant-based program within the LED that provides qualifying employees with a percentage of their annualized wages’
• HB 433: The legislation transfers $150 million to the LED to pay for infrastructure and other improvements at sites in order to be more competitive in attract private businesses and investments

The program concluded with a presentation by Russell Richardson, senior vice president for business development at Baton Rouge Area Chamber, on the organization’s efforts to promote the region as the right place to do business.