BATON ROUGE — State lawmakers are considering a bill that would require people to notify others before recording audio of conversations.

House Bill 410 would mandate what is known as two-party consent. If passed, anyone electronically recording someone else would have to notify the other person before starting the recording.

Right now, Louisiana law does not require permission to record a conversation. Lawmakers are debating whether this should change as technology makes it easier to secretly record and share private moments.

"It levels the playing field," legal expert Franz Borghardt said.

The current language of the bill would not require permission before recording begins, just notice.

"Do I have to tell you, 'Hey, I'm about to record you?' Can I have something on my office wall that says, 'All conversations are to be recorded?'" Borghardt said. 

Supporters say the bill would add transparency. Critics, like community advocate M.E. Cormier, argued it could make it harder to document abuse or wrongdoing.

"Laws on the books for video voyeurism, we already have protections in place for victims of abuse, and I think in this case, the way that the law is written in the legislation is proposed, it would actually do more harm to the victims and protect abusers," Cormier said.

Cormier says recordings can be critical to building a case, and that could be harder if the law requires the other person to be told.

"It's a he-said, she-said, and then the truth is the third story. When you have recordings of conversations and meetings, you have an objective record," Cormier said.

The bill does include exceptions, such as recording police activity in public, during emergencies and at all public meetings.

Questions remain about how this law would play out in real-life situations, such as in courtrooms.

Borghardt says someone admitting to wrongdoing on a recording could now turn around and sue the person who recorded them.

"And can get attorneys fees, court costs and damages, and there's no definition of what the damages are. Isn't that funny? Thank you, legislature," he said.

Lawmakers will debate on the bill April 7.