Record Groups Issue Warnings of Their Own : Legislation: If Louisiana’s governor signs a bill requiring labels on ‘offensive’ recordings, record-industry groups promise legal and economic retaliation.

The record industry has vowed swift legal and economic retaliation if a pending Louisiana bill becomes law requiring allegedly “offensive” recordings to carry government-mandated warning labels. The bill, which passed the Louisiana Senate on Friday and was approved by the House of Representatives on Saturday, is expected to reach Gov. Charles Roemer’s desk today.

Roemer was unavailable for comment, but Billy Riemes, his deputy chief of staff, said that the governor may veto the bill “as it is presently structured” but that he could not offer any further details.

Jay Berman, president of the Recording Industry Assn. of America, the organization that represents most of the country’s major record labels, promised a court battle if the governor signs the bill. Berman’s group has helped defeat more than a dozen similar label proposals in other states.

“This law tramples on the right to freedom of expression guaranteed to all Americans under the Constitution,” Berman said in a statement. “It is tragic that Louisiana legislators are willing to turn their backs on the basic freedoms that make our country what it is today.”

Mike Greene, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, said that the academy will cancel consideration of New Orleans as a site for the Grammy Hall of Fame if the governor signs the bill. “The passage of this bill is an indication as to the climate of cultural artistic intolerance in Louisiana,” Greene said. “We will not be a part of that.”

A spokeswoman for the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers said the organization intends to scratch plans for its 1992 convention in New Orleans if the law is enacted.

Targeted in the legislation are lyrics that advocate or encourage sex, substance abuse, violence and other subjects “potentially harmful to minors.” Under the law, which would go into effect Jan. 1, 1992, retailers, distributors and manufacturers who sell a labeled album to an “unmarried person under the age of 17” could be fined up to $1,000 and jailed up to six months. The sale of unlabeled recordings to minors could bring fines up to $5,000 for producers as well as manufacturers and distributors.