Senator Clarke Tucker

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:36:27)

THAT'S TRUE. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FROM COMMITTEE? HEARING NONE. NO ONE

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:36:08)

like when you check the box for the terms and conditions when you get your iPhone

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:35:48)

that you're going to be subject to law of some other state, then you should be bound by your agreement. In these contracts, we know there's no bargaining power on the part of the purchaser. It's

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:35:17)

I'll give a kind of a theoretical answer. The higher the dollar value, the more balance there is in the bargaining power between the parties. If it's a lower dollar value, then one party has all the bargaining power, the other party has zero. But if you're buying a house for four or $500,000, for example, from a seller and you're making offers and counteroffers, you're negotiating the terms of the contract, then if you have some bargaining power and you agree to a provision

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:35:13)

jurisdiction on all. Well, it's not a bad point, Senator Johnson. I think the higher,

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:34:12)

FOR THE HOUSING MARKET, THEN YOU CAN ONLY BE SUED HERE IN ARKANSAS WHERE YOU LIVE AND

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:33:37)

the amendment does. It clarifies this is not a purchase of any personal property. It's a piece of personal property that will be used as a dwelling unit. That's in the amendment. But if you're buying a piece of property that you're going to live in, either a house or a mobile home, AND IT'S LESS THAN $100,000, THEN ARKANSAS LAW GOVERNS YOUR TRANSACTION AND ANY LITIGATION PERTAINING TO THE CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO JURISDICTION IN ARKANSAS. SO IT'S JUST IF YOU'RE A LOW-INCOME GROUP THAT'S BUYING A HOME THAT'S RELATIVELY INEXPENSIVE

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:33:02)

in Utah under Utah law. Something happened with this couple. They got sued in Utah. There's no way they can go defend themselves in Utah. They got sued in Utah under Utah law, and that company then registered their judgment in Arkansas and started collecting on whatever assets they could collect on. So the purpose of this is it's not for any home, but if you buy a home that's valued at $100,000 or less, I mean, we're talking about vulnerable people here, and that's part of what

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:32:26)

and he was helping a couple. They bought a mobile home through an adhesion contract. And an adhesion contract is another term for a contract where one party has no bargaining power, and one party has all the bargaining power. So, this mobile home, the seller is in Texas, the financer is in Utah, and the contract said that any litigation with the seller had to be in Texas under Texas law, and any litigation with the entity financing the purchase had to be

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:32:13)

your bill is amended. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This issue was brought to my attention just a few days ago by retired federal judge Leon Holmes, who I clerked for, for two years, 20 years ago.

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:31:30)

I'VE GOT ONE LAST ONE. IT'LL BE QUICKER THAN THAT ONE. I'VE GOT MY

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:31:46)

HEAR THAT THE AMENDMENT ADDS REPRESENTATIVE GASSAWAY AS A HOUSE SPONSOR. I'LL EXPLAIN THE REMAINDER OF THE AMENDMENT WITH THE FULL BILL WITH THE COMMITTEE'S INDULGENCE

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:30:45)

If you go through the full process, you have to dot all the I's and cross the T's. So that's the

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:30:29)

or no? Senator Tucker, you're recognized to close. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And again, with my apologies, I should have, we're

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:30:35)

late in the session. The situation is that with an interlocutory degree, all the I's may not be dotted, all the T's may not be crossed, and then you leave and you don't have the oversight.

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:29:23)

So this would resolve that. With my apologies, I should have had a better understanding before I sat down. But it's not clear when you can get an interlocutory degree. Yeah, okay. Okay.

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:27:33)

that's why i see i'm gathering that's why icpc is not involved if you have a full vetting of the adoption through the court but if you have an interlocutory decree the court may have not done a full gone thoroughly through the process then you go to another state without the icpc oversight and the child has left the state both without a full thorough vetting by the court and also without the ICPC oversight. And that's where the problem lies. If the chair will permit me

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:27:21)

If a court has fully vetted the parents and gone through the full adoption process, but that's a process that we trust yes absolutely yeah so if you if you have an interlocutor so

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:27:00)

So let me ask it this way. If you get an interlocutory decree in Arkansas, the court has not exercised a full review of the adoption

Judiciary Committee (Senate & House) — April 2, 2025 (1:26:11)

that we understand? The answer that I hear is, once the adoption is final, then it's your child as if it's your kid. And then the ICPC nor anyone else has any oversight over how you raise your child at that point.