Citation of unpublished decisions soon to be okay in Louisiana

This one is for Louisiana lawyers. Currently in Louisiana, unpublished decisions of the courts of appeal cannot be cited. See Rule 2-16.3 Unif. R. La. Cts. App. That will change when Act 644 of the recently concluded legislative session becomes effective. The Act creates new Code of Civil Procedure Article 2168 which (a) requires Louisiana appellate courts to post their unpublished decisions on their respective web sites; and (b) authorizes citation of those unpublished opinions as legal authorities.

p.s. Coincidentally, the U.S. Supreme Court has recently approved new Fed. R. App. P. 32.1, prohibiting the federal appellate courts from restricting citation of unpublished opinions. Texas appellate lawyer Scott Stolley has written a commentary about new Rule 32.1, which just arrived in my in-box and which I hope you can read by clicking on the link. I don't know whether this satisfies the commenters' constititional concerns (see first two comments to this post), but it certainly demonstrates a trend toward approving citation of unpublished decisions.