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Louisiana’s digital wallet gets approved for airports, federal buildings

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry says his state's LA Wallet app can now be used to pass through airports and enter federal courthouses and other federal facilities.
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Trump and Landry
President Donald Trump speaks with Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung (right), Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (center) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., (left) at an investment announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House March 24, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

Louisiana residents who are registered on the state’s digital identity platform can now show the smartphone app to Transportation Security Administration agents when making their way through the nation’s airports.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced Monday that the state’s smartphone wallet app, where residents can store digital health cards, hunting and fishing licenses, driver’s licenses and identification cards, has been certified by the federal government.

“If you forget your wallet, no worries. You’re never going to forget your phone,” Landry says in a recent YouTube video highlighting the federal approval.

The app, called LA Wallet, was also authorized for identification purposes in federal courthouses and other federal facilities. According to a press release from the governor’s office, the state will review LA Wallet’s compliance with federal requirements in 2028.

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Louisiana has offered LA Wallet for at least five years, but its users scarcely exceeded 1,000 until the start of 2023, when a new state law requiring adult websites to authenticate users prompted thousands of sudden downloads.

The digital wallet started with only basic functionality and has continually added new documents over the years. At the onset of the pandemic, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards waived the app’s usual $5.99 sign-up fee to encourage its adoption and social distancing.

OMV’s IT overhaul

In addition to celebrating LA Wallet’s federal approval, Landry also took a victory lap on progress fixing the state Office of Motor Vehicles’ dysfunctional IT systems. The office’s commissioner, Bryan Adams, accompanied Landry in the YouTube video to note that he recently “finalized a contract for a system that will take Louisiana into the 21st century.”

Landry last March declared a state of emergency when outdated software used for licensing, titling and registering vehicles began to experience intermittent outages. The system had been operating on a 50-year-old mainframe and relying on more than 400 programs written in COBOL, a 66-year-old programming language. He signed an executive order that directed the system to be updated, and last April said publicly that the system has seen “significant improvements.”

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In the recent YouTube video, Landry thanked Adams and the state’s chief information officer, Evilina Broussard for their work in updating the system.

“We’re doing what no other administration has been able to do,” Landry says in the video. “We’re making the convenience of going to get your driver’s license so much more easier.”

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