House Convenes
Video
Transcript
Bills discussed (45)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1509
Act 452
· 7 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “that to the Mars calendar. Madam Clerk, please read House Bill 1509.”
|
TO CREATE THE SECOND AMENDMENT FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT; AND TO PROHIBIT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FROM USING … | Beaty Jr. | Notification that HB1509 is now Act 452 |
|
HR1057
· 4 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HR1057 T. Shephard TO RECOGNIZE THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVER…”
|
TO RECOGNIZE THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN, CENTRAL ARKANSAS BRANCH, FOR ADVANCING GENDER EQUITY … | T. Shephard | READ AND ADOPTED. |
|
HB1552
Act 420
· 3 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “It's house, house bill. House Bill 1552, Madam Clerk, please read Amendment number 1 to House Bill…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING CERTAIN INCHOATE OFFENSES RELATED TO FENTANYL; AND TO ESTABLISH THE … | Gazaway | Notification that HB1552 is now Act 420 |
|
HB1443
· 2 mentions in transcript
Matched: “…be able to find compromise language on House Bill 1509 and House Bill 1443. But it appears that no such compromise is going to be”
|
TO CREATE THE SECOND AMENDMENT FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT; TO PROHIBIT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND PAYMENT NETWORKS … | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HR1071
· 2 mentions in transcript, chapter
Matched: “…resolution. The question before the House is the passage of House Resolution 1071. All those in favor say aye.”
|
TO RECOGNIZE MARCH 2025 AS AMERICAN RED CROSS MONTH AND SUPPORT THE HUMANITARIAN MISSION OF … | Wing | READ AND ADOPTED. |
|
HB1072
Act 876
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ur Committee on Revenue and taxation, to whom was referred? House Bill 1072, House Bill 1691. Vaguely reporting the same consideration…”
|
TO CLARIFY THE REQUIREMENTS FOR ESTABLISHING ELIGIBILITY FOR THE PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION FOR DISABLED VETERANS, … | C. Cooper | Notification that HB1072 is now Act 876 |
|
HB1079
Act 860
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1079 F. Allen TO MANDATE COVERAGE FOR GENETIC TESTING FOR AN INH…”
|
TO MANDATE COVERAGE FOR GENETIC TESTING FOR AN INHERITED GENE MUTATION FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS; AND … | F. Allen | Notification that HB1079 is now Act 860 |
|
HB1092
Act 785
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1092 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF P…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF PROVIDER SERVICES AND QUALITY … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1092 is now Act 785 |
|
HB1094
Act 494
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1094 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH - TOBACCO PREVENTION AN…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH - TOBACCO PREVENTION AND CESSATION PROGRAMS APPROPRIATION FOR … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1094 is now Act 494 |
|
HB1095
Act 539
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1095 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE - STATE BANK DEPARTME…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE - STATE BANK DEPARTMENT AND STATE SECURITIES DEPARTMENT … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1095 is now Act 539 |
|
HB1124
Act 542
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1124 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION APP…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1124 is now Act 542 |
|
HB1125
Act 495
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1125 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION - REG…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION - REGULATORY DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1125 is now Act 495 |
|
HB1147
Act 408
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1147 AN ACT FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 202…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1147 is now Act 408 |
|
HB1191
Act 619
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1191 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY APPROPRIATION FO…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1191 is now Act 619 |
|
HB1206
Act 792
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1206 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - DIVISION OF ELEMEN…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION - … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1206 is now Act 792 |
|
HB1232
Act 496
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1232 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE MILITARY APPROPRIATION FOR…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE MILITARY APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1232 is now Act 496 |
|
HB1246
Act 409
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1246 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE AT…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE AT RICH MOUNTAIN APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that HB1246 is now Act 409 |
|
HB1265
Act 660
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1265 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK APPROP…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL … | Joint Budget Committee | Delivered to the Secretary of State |
|
HB1293
Act 414
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “and Social Security to whom was referred House Bill 1293, House Bill 1313, House Bill 1322, House Bill 1327, vaguely…”
|
TO INCREASE THE PAYMENT OF A CLAIM TO DESIGNATED BENEFICIARIES OR SURVIVORS OF CERTAIN PUBLIC … | Andrews | Notification that HB1293 is now Act 414 |
|
HB1303
Act 546
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1303 Jean TO CREATE THE SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL INCENTIVE ACT;…”
|
TO CREATE THE SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL INCENTIVE ACT; AND TO CREATE AN INCOME TAX CREDIT … | Jean | Notification that HB1303 is now Act 546 |
|
HB1313
Act 415
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “and Social Security to whom was referred House Bill 1293, House Bill 1313, House Bill 1322, House Bill 1327, vaguely reporting the sa…”
|
TO EXPAND HEALTH BENEFIT COVERAGE FOR CERTAIN FIREFIGHTER RETIREES OF MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES. | C. Cooper | Notification that HB1313 is now Act 415 |
|
HB1322
Act 416
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…rity to whom was referred House Bill 1293, House Bill 1313, House Bill 1322, House Bill 1327, vaguely reporting the same consideration…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAWS UNDER THE ARKANSAS LOCAL POLICE AND FIRE RETIREMENT SYSTEM CONCERNING LINE-OF-DUTY … | Clowney | Notification that HB1322 is now Act 416 |
|
HB1327
Act 451
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…referred House Bill 1293, House Bill 1313, House Bill 1322, House Bill 1327, vaguely reporting the same consideration here for time wit…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN RETIRED EMPLOYEES UNDER THE STATE AND … | Warren | Notification that HB1327 is now Act 451 |
|
HB1582
Act 708
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1582 McAlindon TO REQUIRE CERTAIN ACTIONS AND ENCOURAGE CERTAIN…”
|
TO REQUIRE CERTAIN ACTIONS AND ENCOURAGE CERTAIN ACTIONS FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR … | McAlindon | Notification that HB1582 is now Act 708 |
|
HB1598
Act 474
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1598 Brooks TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH A NEW ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS; … | Brooks | Notification that HB1598 is now Act 474 |
|
HB1604
Act 943
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1604 McAlindon TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PROHIBITED CONTRACTS…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PROHIBITED CONTRACTS BY STATE AGENCIES; AND TO PROHIBIT THE USE … | McAlindon | Notification that HB1604 is now Act 943 |
|
HB1622
Act 635
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1622 Gramlich TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO MODIFY THE…”
|
TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO MODIFY THE DEFINITION OF "ADVERSE DECISION" UNDER THE … | Gramlich | Notification that HB1622 is now Act 635 |
|
HB1637
Act 457
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1637 Ray CONCERNING THE DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENTATION OF FISCAL I…”
|
CONCERNING THE DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENTATION OF FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE FISCAL IMPACT OF STATEWIDE … | Ray | Notification that HB1637 is now Act 457 |
|
HB1688
Act 710
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…r, we are a committee on Public Transportation, who was the House Bill 1688, vaguely reporting the same consideration here returned wit…”
|
TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING THE USE OF A DEALER'S EXTRA LICENSE PLATE. | Cavenaugh | Notification that HB1688 is now Act 710 |
|
HB1691
Act 497
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…evenue and taxation, to whom was referred? House Bill 1072, House Bill 1691. Vaguely reporting the same consideration here for time wit…”
|
TO PROVIDE FOR CERTAIN PROPERTY TO BE EXEMPT FROM TAXATION; AND TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN … | Torres | Notification that HB1691 is now Act 497 |
|
HB1713
Act 602
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1713 Rose TO REQUIRE BALLOT TITLES FOR INITIATED MEASURES TO BE…”
|
TO REQUIRE BALLOT TITLES FOR INITIATED MEASURES TO BE AT OR UNDER A CERTAIN READING … | Rose | Notification that HB1713 is now Act 602 |
|
HB1757
Act 528
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…aker, your Committee on Public Transportation who was fired House Bill 1757 vaguely important to the same consideration here it's time…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING RAILROADS; AND TO CREATE THE OFFENSE OF TAMPERING WITH RAIL … | Joey Carr | Notification that HB1757 is now Act 528 |
|
HB1770
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “House Bill 1770, vaguely reporting the same consideration here with the sam…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE PREGNANCY PARKING ACT; TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PARKING FOR A PERSON … | Pilkington | Died on House Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB118
Act 517
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB118 C. Penzo Bentley TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "AUDIOLOGY" REL…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "AUDIOLOGY" RELATING TO THE PRACTICE OF AUDIOLOGISTS. | C. Penzo | Notification that SB118 is now Act 517 |
|
SB125
Act 611
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB125 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS APPROPRIATION…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB125 is now Act 611 |
|
SB127
Act 612
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB127 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS - FAYETTEVILLE APPROP…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS - FAYETTEVILLE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB127 is now Act 612 |
|
SB189
Act 396
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB189 A. Clark Bentley TO AUTHORIZE IVERMECTIN FOR HUMAN USE TO B…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE IVERMECTIN FOR HUMAN USE TO BE SOLD WITHOUT A PRESCRIPTION OR CONSULTATION WITH … | A. Clark | Notification that SB189 is now Act 396 |
|
SB22
Act 377
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB22 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF INSPECTOR GENERAL APPROPRIATIO…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF INSPECTOR GENERAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB22 is now Act 377 |
|
SB270
Act 360
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB270 Crowell Wooldridge TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE FILING P…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE FILING PERIODS OF CERTAIN NONPARTISAN SCHOOL BOARD AND MUNICIPAL … | Crowell | Notification that SB270 is now Act 360 |
|
SB307
Act 373
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB307 J. Dismang Eaves TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC UTILITI…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC UTILITIES; TO CREATE THE GENERATING ARKANSAS JOBS ACT OF … | J. Dismang | Notification that SB307 is now Act 373 |
|
SB333
Act 381
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB333 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT PINE BLUFF - POLIC…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT PINE BLUFF - POLICE STATION FACILITY CONSTRUCTION … | S. Flowers | Notification that SB333 is now Act 381 |
|
SB336
Act 382
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB336 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT APP…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT APPROPRIATION. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB336 is now Act 382 |
|
SB38
Act 378
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB38 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH -LICENSING AND REGULATI…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH -LICENSING AND REGULATION BOARDS APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB38 is now Act 378 |
|
SB42
Act 379
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB42 AN ACT FOR THE OFFICE OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR APPROPRIAT…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE OFFICE OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR. | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB42 is now Act 379 |
|
SB64
Act 532
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB64 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL TELEVI…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB64 is now Act 532 |
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Chair
Unverified
6:14
I invite the members, staff, press, and guests in the galleries to stand and be led in prayer by house chaplain, Brother Richard Hamlin, senior pastor of Faith Baptist Church of Cabot, to remain standing for the Pledge of allegiance to be
Speaker 9
6:30
led by Representative Lane Jean. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we remember the words of Simon Peter. Uh, when he spoke of those exceeding great and precious promises. And, uh, almost all of your promises, God are precious to
us, but this one that you gave us in John chapter 16. Always gives us pause. You told us there that in this world, you shall have tribu and we get very forceful reminders of the reality of that from time to time. Certainly our state has experienced one just this week. So God, we want to pause in this house today and pray for all of those who have suffered and continue to suffer. Those who've lost loved ones, those who are recovering.
Uh, we pray for the relief efforts that even now are going on, those who are helping. Uh, we pray for those who are there to help those who are helping. And God, we pray for ourselves. Uh, that you might help us. To help those who are helping because whether they are governmental based or faith-based, they all need our prayer support and perhaps even our financial support. So we remember God that when you
told us that uh in the world you shall have tribulation. You also gave us a precious promise to go with it. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. And we pray, God, that supremacy over all things, and we pray your bless this house's efforts to help those who are helping.
Chair
Unverified
8:41
Members, please indicate your presence by pushing your yellow present button. Prepare the machine, madam clerk.
Everyone indicated their presence. Cast up the ballot with 98 members present, Cher sees a quorum. Are there any requests for leave? Representative Carr, for what purpose? You're recognized. Leave for Representative Kendra Moore. Is leave granted for Representative Kendra Moore.
Speaker 20
9:32
So ordered. Any other request for leaves represent a painter for what purpose? Leave, you're recognized. Leave for Representative Bart Schultz. His leave granted for Representative Bart Schultz.
So ordered. Representative Matthew Shepherd moves that
Chair
Unverified
9:45
we dispense of the reading of the previous day's journal. No objection, so ordered. Madam Clerk,
you have reports from select committees, you're recognized. Mr. Speaker, were your Committee on Public retirement
Speaker 23
9:56
and Social Security to whom was referred House Bill 1293, House Bill 1313, House Bill 1322, House Bill 1327, vaguely reporting the same consideration here for time with the
Chair
Unverified
10:05
same recommendation that do pass, respectfully submitted Representative Warren, co-chair.
Thank you, Madam Clark. You have reports from standing committees, you're recognized. Mr. Speaker,
Speaker 23
10:18
we're your Committee on Revenue and taxation, to whom was referred? House Bill 1072, House Bill 1691. Vaguely reporting the same consideration here for time with the same recommendations and that it do pass as Amendment number one respectfully submitted. Representative Kavanaugh, Chair. Mr. Speaker, we are a committee on Public Transportation, who was the House Bill 1688, vaguely reporting the same consideration here returned with the same recognition that do pass respectfully submitted Representative Holcomb, Chair. Mr. Speaker, we're your committee on public transportation, who was fired
House Bill 1770, vaguely reporting the same consideration here with the same recommendation that do pass, effectively submit it. Representative. Milligan, vice chair. Mr. Speaker, your Committee on Public Transportation who was fired House Bill 1757 vaguely important to the same consideration here it's time with the same recognition that it do passes amended number one, respectfully submitted Representative Milligan, vice chair. Mr. Speaker, your committee of public transportation, who was afraid has 1745 vaguely reporting the same consideration here for two, same recommendation that they do pass as amendment number one, respectfully submitted. Representative Holcombe, chair. Thank you, Madam Clark. Is there
Speaker 27
11:13
any unfinished business? Do you have any executive communications. Thank you,
Chair
Unverified
11:17
Madam Clerk. Members like to, uh, first, Direct your attention to the back of the chamber we have with us today, Arkansas State Trooper Sergeant Corey Ray and the aircraft section and Corporal Trey Keller and the Highway Patrol Administration. Gentlemen, thank you for your service to Arkansas and to the House of Representatives.
Also in the back of the room, uh, standing over, uh, We have Doctor Tom De Graff. He's a flight medicine physician from Representative Andrew Collins' district, also joining him is Doctor Patrick Fraley, uh, from Representative Mary Bentley's district. Would you please welcome our doctors of the day. Serving alongside of them and here
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
12:06
with us every day and we're thankful for her as Miss Lee Fazio, our house nurse. Thank you for your service.
Chair
Unverified
12:19
Members, we have several guests today with us up in the North gallery up over my head. We have, uh, Miss Reagan McCollum along with Eliza and Banks McCollum. That's the wife and children of Representative Austin McCollum, please make them welcome.
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
12:39
Joining them also in the north gallery, wife of Representative Les Eaves, we have Miss Denise Eaves.
Chair
Unverified
12:52
Also in the north gallery with us today, we have Mallory Steimel along with Drew and Evelyn Steinel, that's the wife and children of Representative Trey Steiner, please make them welcome. Over to my left up in the East gallery from um up in Representative Hope Duke's district. We have Heidi Larson and Heather Finley. If you please stand, let us, uh, welcome you here to the house.
And you'll also see, uh, under the voting boards, we have a great group of pages here today, here to help serve and hopefully make our day go just a little bit quicker and more efficient here today, but two of these are special guests. We have with us Claire McGee and Isaiah Stowall. They are the grandchildren of Representative Steve McGee. Please give them a welcome. Madam Clerk, please read House resolution 1057.
House Resolution 1057 by Representative Shepherd to recognize the American Association of University Women, Central Arkansas branch for Advancing gender equality for women and girls through research, education,
and advocacy. Representative Shepherd, you're recognized to explain
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
14:13
your resolution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, colleagues, today I have joining with me a group of absolutely phenomenal women. I'm gonna ask them to stand.
Here today, we have the central Arkansas branch of the Arkansas Association for American Association from university women, the American Association for University Women is about advocating for gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy, the vision is for equity for all women and girls and the organization has a strong presence.
With over 100 chapters, um, I'm sorry, over 130,000 members in over 1000 organizations, and so I could not be more prouder. I've had the opportunity to serve in a leadership capacity with AAUW and I could not be more prouder to be here today and to recognize them for all that they do for fighting for women and girls. Thank you, ladies. OK.
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
15:36
I'm closed, Mr. Madam Clerk, please read
Chair
Unverified
15:42
the resolution by title. To recognize the American Association of University Women, Central Arkansas branch for advancing gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
15:51
advocacy. Representative Shepard has explained the resolution. Would anyone like to speak against the
Chair
Unverified
15:57
resolution. For the resolution. Representative Shepard is closed for the resolution. The question before the House is the passage of House resolution 1057. All
those in favor say aye. Opposed nay, the ayes have it. Congratulations, Representative Shepherd, your resolution has been adopted. Representative McCullough, for what purpose? Point of personal privilege. You're recognized come to the well.
Representative Tippi McCullough
Unverified
16:38
You're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, if I could draw your attention to the North Gallery, I'm gonna ask a young woman that's up there to stand up. She's, um, we're we're lucky today. She's home from college, so she was able to join us. Um, I'll be presenting her with the resolution later, but it was timely, she could be here, so we decided to do this. So members, I just want you to know that we have an Olympic champion in our
midst. You can see that by looking at the metals, I think, which are not, they're very heavy. It's, they're not that easy to even hold up. Olivia Chambers of Little Rock began swimming when she was 4 years old with the Arkansas Dolphin. swim team breaking her first state record at age 7. She began losing her vision, um, when she was 16 years old. And they, um, she woke up one morning with blurry vision. And this led to a diagnosis of multiple mitochondrial gene
deletion syndrome. This condition has progressed over the last 5.5 years, rendering her legally blind, but that hasn't didn't and won't stop her. She was the gold medal winning Paralympic champion in the women's 400 m freestyle at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, France. She also learned to earned two silver medals in the women's 200 m. Individual medley in women's 100 m breaststroke in Paris. She's earned 2 silver medals and
4 bronze medals at the 2023 Paris swimming World Championships in Manchester, England. She currently holds 7 pair of swimming American records, and two Paris swimming world records as an eight-time medalist at the World Paris Swimming Series meets. She's an eight-time champion of the United States Paralympics swimming national championships. But not only is she a Paralympic champion, but she also excels in college swimming at the University of North Iowa. She's been a bronze
medalist there in the 400 yard individual medley at the 2025 Missouri Valley. Conference championships. She made the conference swimming and diving, scholar athlete team and 23, 24, and 25, made the conference first team in 2025, earned the conference's most courageous award in 2024 and earned a conference honorable mention in 23. Olivia is a 2017 graduate of the Anthony School and a 2021
graduate of Mount Saint Mary Academy here in Little Rock. At the University of Northern Iowa. She's in the honors college with a double major in biology and psychology. She is the daughter of Alison and Brad Chambers, who are with her today. She has a brother, Mason, and a sister, Emerson. Her coach at Northern Iowa says this about her. She's passionate about everything she does. It doesn't matter if it's in the pool. or the weight room, or just having lunch. She's excited, full of life, even over a Zoom
call, you can feel the energy both from her and her family. I'd like to ask all 100 members of the House of Representatives to please join me in recognizing Paralympic medalist Olivia Chambers of Little Rock for her remarkable gifts and incredible achievements that bring renown to her and to the state of Arkansas. Thank you.
Chair
Unverified
20:17
Members also joining us, uh, here today, and I believe they're all 3
over here to my right. We've got 3 siblings here working for us on behalf and family of Representative Harlan Bro, they are Colin, Canton, and Caden Phelps all from Representative Bro's district. So would you please welcome those young men. Madam Clark, please read House
Resolution 1071 1071 by Representative Wing to recognize March 2025 as American Red Cross
Month and support the humanitarian mission of the American Red
Cross. Representative Wing, you're recognized to explain your resolution.
Representative Carlton Wing
Unverified
20:57
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, we had some representatives from the American Red Cross here last week, but we did want to have a resolution in their honor so that it would be permanently on record with the House of Representatives, as you know, Clara Barton founded the Red Cross 140 years ago and since 1943, we have honored March as Red Cross Month. So I would
appreciate a good vote and, uh, Mr. Speaker, if you would have the clerk please read the title of the resolution. Madam
Chair
Unverified
21:26
Clark, please read the resolution by title. March 2025 as American Red Cross Month and support the humanitarian mission of
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
21:33
the American Red Cross. Representative Wing has explained the resolution. Would anyone like to speak against the resolution. For
Chair
Unverified
21:41
the resolution. Representative Wing is closed for the resolution. The question before the House is the passage of House Resolution 1071. All those in favor say aye.
Po nay, Ya have it. Congratulations, Representative Wing, your resolution has been adopted. Morning hour
Speaker 34
22:18
has ended. Representative Gazaway moves that we concurrence and Amendment number 1.
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
22:24
It's house, house bill. House Bill 1552, Madam Clerk, please read Amendment number 1 to House Bill 1552.
Speaker 23
22:33
Amendment number 1 to House Bill 1552. Representative
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
22:36
Gazaway. You want to pass over that today? Representative Gazaway has requested that we pass over that. Move
Chair
Unverified
22:43
that to the Mars calendar. Madam Clerk, please read House Bill 1509.
Speaker 64
22:54
House 1509 by Representative Beatty to create the 2nd Amendment Financial Privacy Act and to prohibit financial institutions from
Chair
Unverified
23:02
using certain discriminatory practices. Representative, you're recognized to
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
23:08
explain your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members, I'm here to present House Bill 1509. It was my hope that we would be able to find compromise language on House Bill 1509 and House Bill 1443. But it appears that no such compromise is going to be
forthcoming. So I shared with you today earlier my notes and talking points that I would have shared at caucus. And I asked if you had questions or concerns to get with me and talk about this bill. I heard from a couple of members and I answered and addressed your concerns. I'm gonna go over just a few points in the, in the, in the message I sent out to you. Not going to go over everything. And I'm gonna cover some of the highlights. One, the bill would prohibit the requirement of usage of a
firearms code, uh, for any firearms retailers in Arkansas. Um An unlawful disclosure of protected financial information. Kind of as a background, this bill is addressing concerns that were raised by NRA and other, um, other states across the country in response to actions taken, uh, by the International Organization for Standardization when they created a code 5723, a firearms category code. And they requested no input uh from payment card networks or banks.
And just basically at the request of one bank in New York City. They approved this new merchant category code. It raised concerns and potential misuse of the code, um, where it would unlawfully track firearms purchased or otherwise, uh, chill, awful Second Amendment activity. Key provisions of House Bill 1509. Pavement card networks, uh, that would be Visa, Mastercard, and
the, and the like would be prohibited from requiring merchants to use the merchant code 5723. This is something that both bills include in the NRA supports that. Banks such as Chase, Bank of America, that have a closed loop system, uh, would be prohibited from using those merchant codes as well. This is something that both bills. I want The bill prohibits a gun registry. Which is another area of agreement.
The bill gives authority to the Attorney General to investigate any violations of the section. It also allows for courts to assess a $10,000 penalty for each violation. Those are the things that are all in agreement. The one area that is in disagreement. I basically our Arkansas community banks only move funds from funds from the bank to the retailer. And they have to abide by
policies and terms that are, are dictated by the card networks. Arkansas Community Banks cannot force a customer to use a specific code. And that would be the retailer or the merchant. Unlike the NRA bill, this bill does not put the direct liability on Arkansas community banks for something the banks have no control over. And that would be the MCC code. In the past couple of years, there have been about 40 bills filed throughout the US, 19 of
those bills have passed. Every one of those bills are different. Every one of those bills are tailored to the state of origination. To point something out, the exact language that is in our bill. And I'll read the three lines that are the point of contention. There's a payment card network does not include a financial institution that settles a credit, debit, or prepaid transaction directly with the retailer on behalf of a customer. Those are the points of contention in the bill. The exact language that is in
this bill was passed in 2024 in the state of Kentucky. You can go on to the, go on the NRA website, and you can see where they praised all the leadership in Kentucky and so this was a good, uh, uh, a good Second Amendment bill. It's the same language. All we're asking for is the same protection for Arkansas community banks that Kentucky got for their bankers. So, with that, I'll, I'll encourage you, uh, to vote yes
and support this bill, and I'll entertain any questions. Thank you. Representative Beatty has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? Representative Pilkington, you're recognized to speak against
Representative Aaron Pilkington
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the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, before I began, I, I do want to thank Representative Beatty. Uh, we had a lot of meetings and conversations about this bill trying to, trying to find a way to come together, uh, and actually, if you notice on some drafts, at one point I was even
a co-sponsor on this bill, but uh I'm, I'm not anymore. And so I do want to thank him for that. I, I have no animosity towards him on this. I feel like we've been on the opposite sides of a lot of issues, but um, but no, and, and unfortunately, sometimes you just get to a road and a fork and you can't, you can't come together. And so there's some key differences and so I just wanna come down and, and talk about uh some of these key differences. So in the scope and focus, this bill targets merchant category codes uses by payment card networks and
covered entities. Whereas the NRA backed bill 1443 broadly addresses firearm codes, discrimination, and privacy across financial institutions, payment networks, and government entities. On definitions, the NRA backed 1443 introduces terms like firearms codes, protection, financial information, enhancing privacy protection while HB 1509 only focuses on those codes. On prohibitions, the NRA backed bill, which is the better bill, explicitly prohibits discriminatory practices and
disclosure of financial records, where this one only once again focuses on the codes. On enforcement, The HB 1443 offers higher penalties, private action options and cost recovery, where HB 1509, this bill before us has a stricter timeline to bring these forward and no private recourse. Those are a summary of the key differences on this bill. And that's why the NRA is opposing this bill and has told their
members to reach out to us to let us know that they oppose this bill. Now, Representative Beatty brought up the Kentucky issue that Kentucky, unlike the 17 other states that this has passed has different languages that quote unquote protects community banks. Uh, this language was put in there because unlike Arkansas, uh, Kentucky has Governor Beshear, who a liberal Democrat who opposed this legislation and the only way they, they could get through without a veto was including these protections. So while the
NRA did praise the leadership for getting the best they could. I think we all understand positions in which a Republican legislature versus a liberal Democrat governor would be in a position to make that. Um And so I just, I want to bring this to everyone's attention, uh, and you know, this is, I call this kind of a Trojan horse bill. It's pretending to be a 2nd Amendment bill, but this is not a 2nd Amendment bill. This is a banker's protection bill. It was drafted by bankers. It's been promoted by bankers and even some of which don't even
know. I had a bank president call me before I was most recent amended and told me I needed to support this bill and not, not the other one. And I said, well, there's a gun registry in this bill. I'm not gonna vote. to put a gun registry here in Arkansas. An hour later, I got a text message from the banking association saying that there'd be an amendment tomorrow that took that out. So I had bankers calling me, promoting a bill that they weren't exactly sure what was entirely in it because this isn't a 2nd Amendment focus bill. This is a banker's focus bill. Um, and so that's why I'm
opposed, that's why the NRA is opposed and, um, when I, when I ran for office, I put on my mailers that I would protect the Second Amendment. And that's what I'm doing. I'm making sure that we're protecting the Second Amendment and not allowing loopholes to exist that can be exploited, um. And at the uh detriment of the 2nd
Amendment here in Arkansas. And for that, I would ask for a no
vote. Thank you. Representative. Bookington has left the world. Representative Pilkington has spoke against
Chair
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the bill. You would like to speak for the
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
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bill, Representative Wardlaw, you're recognized speak for the bill. Thank you Mister Speaker. That thing was way down there. Oh So, um, Couple of years ago, I ran a little old Bill. It was the ESG bill. And where that bill came from. Was a national organization. It was a 2A bill originally. And when we got to looking at that language,
The language was very egregious against community banks. And what they didn't realize is you here in Arkansas, we actually have some very conservative community banks. They do not have any policies about investing in guns. They did not have any policies about not investing in oil. So with that, we, we sat down with the community banks of Arkansas and came up with language that protected community banks against having to do certain things that bill was requiring them to have to do because they did not have any of those problems.
When you look at this bill, in this situation today, and I met with the NRA rep yesterday. It's exactly the same problem all over again. It's just a different issue. We've got community banks in Arkansas that don't have problems with wanting to track their constituency in a gun buyer or a gun sale. But then you got these federal national banks out here that do. And if you look at these bills, this bill does protect community banks in Arkansas, but we're protecting the people that are friends to the industry. That's
the reason we're here. It's not that they don't want to comply with what the NRA is asking for, is that they don't have those problems, and we trust those people because those are our community banks. So with that, I'd appreciate a good vote.
Representative Wardlaw spoke for the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill?
Chair
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Would anyone like speak for the bill. Representative Torres, you recognized speak for the bill.
Representative Randy Torres
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33:47
Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. um, and as most of you know, I am a market president of a community bank and have worked in the community banking industry in the state of Arkansas and have witnessed the contributions that community banks make to the communities and the state as a whole. I, I do want to clarify that the bill, um, Today does not create a gun registry and it does not allow for protected financial information to be disclosed.
What I will say is I was VP of treasury Management at a community bank, so I've done this. This is an area that I'm very familiar with. And when we, when we sign people up for merchant services, we fill out an application we collect the gun, gun owner's license, we submit that to a third party processor, like first data and some others, they're the ones that have signed the codes, not the community banks. This bill not only is a 2nd Amendment bill. But it also protects the
community banks that we were elected to serve. Thank
you. Representative Torres has spoke for the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? Would anyone like to speak for
Chair
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the bill. Representative Beatty, you're recognized close for the
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
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35:13
bill. Members, I want to echo what Representative Pilkington
said, we, we've worked on this bill. We both have put countless hours
in to try to find compromise. Uh, one morning, it was a 5:30 a.m. meeting, uh, to sit down and discuss this bill. So, we have both tried. This is not a battle between, this is just a, a basic disagreement on, on the importance and, and one line in this bill. And again, I'll say it again, I, I think both of us hope that there could be some compromise, but I think we're just both at a point where there's an impasse and there's not going to be compromise on this bill. So I'll focus back in that right
now there's 77 banks headquartered in the state of Arkansas. I included that in the email, 1300 branches over 18,000 Arkansans. Those, those banks and branches, and, and all that network, the NRA has confirmed through our meetings that the firearms code for has never been used in an Arkansas bank. Um I'll restate that we don't have a gun registry in the state. Uh, this bill does not create one. So what I would point out is if
you look back at the history of amendments on this bill, The Bankers' Association, myself, um, The the sponsors in the Senate have tried to amend our bill to match and, and please, uh, the other side. So the restrictions they had in their bill, we started with a $1000 fine. We raised ours to $10,000. So that really the only exception in the bill, primarily was the exemption for banks. We've, we've dealt in good faith to try
to do that. When that happened, the fines and, and the fees went to $15,000 so that maybe that made the case for a watered down bill. I don't, I don't know. I'll leave you to, to be the judge of that. So what I'm gonna say is, let's make this in a, a real-life analogy. You're in a car and you're riding down the interstate with someone, and they're speeding. You choose to be a passenger in that car, cause you need to get from point A to point B. And you get stopped by state police. Or let's just say going 95. In a 65.
You're gonna get a ticket too, just like the driver for speeding. That's what this bill does to Arkansas community banks. It's unfair, and it's it's something they don't have some control over. You might could tell the guy to slow down, but you're in the car. The banks are in the car. It's facilitating what our consumer and our customer ask us to do, which is to transfer money from their account to the merchant that they purchased goods from. That's what the banks are doing. We don't set the code. We have no
influence over it. We can say we don't do it. This bill will prohibit it and restrict it, but the bank should not be punished and held liable for having to follow a guideline that they have no control over. So with that, I hope that makes a point, and I'd ask for a good vote. And I appreciate y'all taking the time to, to, um, address this issue. I think Representative Pilin, we both put in a lot of time on this. And, um, I just asked for a good vote and thank you members. Representative Beatty is closed
Chair
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38:33
for the bill, question before the House is the passage of House Bill 1509. Prepare the machine, madam clerk. Has everyone voted? As everyone voted. Cast up the ballot. By a vote of 80, 14 nays, and 1 present, the bill is passed.
Speaker 23
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Madam clerk, please read House Bill 1604. As 1604 by Representative Michaelinon to amend the law concerning prohibited contracts by Senate agencies and to prohibit the
Chair
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39:12
use of public funds by state agencies to purchase
promotional items made in China. Representative McAlinden, you're recognized to
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explain your bill. Thank you, Speaker. Uh, today
Representative Mindy McAlindon
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I bring you House Bill 1604. It's a really simple bill. It's a bill that basically says state agencies are prohibited from pur purchasing promotional
items that are made in China. And this bill aligns perfectly with what Governor Sanders has done in terms of policies regarding the CCP Currently we have policies that prevent Chinese government linked companies from buying farm land. We have policies that prevent state agencies from purchasing drones made in China. So this one is just a natural next step. We're saying that public dollars should not be used to fund a regime whose values don't align with ours.
Now to be clear, this is not an anti Free market bill. I am a strong conservative. I believe in the power of the free market. Competition drives innovation. It strengthens businesses and it lifts communities. Private citizens and businesses will still be able to purchase any product they want from wherever they want. This bill does not infringe on their rights. But when it comes to taxpayer dollars, we have a responsibility to make sure that we are protecting Arkansas.
Public funds should serve our interest, not the interest of our foreign adversaries. The Chinese media has called America a paper tiger. Saying that we are rotting from within. Every dollar that we send to China. Secures their future, not ours. There is no fiscal impact on this bill, um, state agencies will still be able to purchase inexpensive products from a number of countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, um, Mexico, and many others. So, in conclusion, House Bill
1604 is a very simple bill. It simply states that state agencies should not use public funds to purchase promotional items from China. Our tax dollars should be spent wisely, securing our state and our country and not funding
those who stand against us. And with that, I asked for a good vote. Representative McAlinden has left the well.
Chair
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41:28
Representative McLynn has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? when I speak for the bill.
Representative Brian S. Evans
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41:38
Representative McAlennon is closed for the bill. Question before the house is the passage of House Bill 1604. Prepare the machine, Madam clerk.
Chair
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41:59
Everyone voted So everyone voted. Cast up the ballot. By a vote of 79, 15 nays, and 0 present. The bill is passed.
Members, uh, we have with us this afternoon guest of Representative DAne Volt. We have the Little River County leadership
class. They are up in the East Gallery. Would you please
make them welcome to the house. Madam Clerk, please read House
Bill 1637. House Bill 1637 by Representative Ray concerning the deployment, the Concerning the development and
Speaker 23
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presentation of physical impact statements concerning the physical impact of statewide initiative and referendum measures and legislatively referred constitutional amendments. Representative Ray, you're recognized to
Chair
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explain your bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Representative David Ray
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House bill, uh, 1637 is a bill I'm very excited to bring to you because it's an extremely pro-voter, pro-taxpayer piece of legislation that I've been working on for the better part of a year. Um, I first want to thank Representative Meeks for his help with this bill. He and
I were working on, um, basically identical pieces of legislation and discovered that through conversation. So we combined our efforts. What this bill would do is it would require a short, concise, fiscal impact statement of any statewide measure that is put on the ballot, and it would appear on the ballot, um, this would apply both to citizen initiated and legislatively referred measures. So what is the problem that exists today. When a voter goes into the voting booth for a
general election, they're often asked to make a host of decisions on ballot measures. But even for the most diligent of voters, the ones that do their homework, the ones that conduct the research prior to casting their ballot. A lot of times they don't have the most important piece of information that they need when trying to make it a determination. And that is the cost of the proposal, something that we commonly refer to around here as the fiscal impact. So I got this idea last year in
2024 as the, uh, as the so-called educational rights amendment was being circulated. I read that proposal and quickly realized that if it were to pass, it would amount to an enormous unfunded mandate on the state. It would impose huge cost obligations on the state. And, but I didn't know how much, so I took the proposal to BLR. I put it in a bill under my name and had them work up. a fiscal impact on it. And the impact that they came back with
was in the billions with a B. And I thought, this is insane. How do I get this information to the voters? And I thought it would be fundamentally unfair that any voter would have to go into the voting booth and make this kind of decision without having that information. So I began to research what other states do in this regard, and I realized pretty quickly that I was far from the first person that had this idea. There are 26 states in the country that have an initiative process and there's many more
that require, uh, or that, that, that have legislatively referred measures. In 17 states, they require some form of fiscal analysis to be conducted. I crafted this bill using the framework from Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Oregon. So the way this bill would work is, DFNA would develop a short concise, unbiased, good faith fiscal impact statement on any measure that either increases or
decreases state revenues, costs, expenditures. Or indebtedness or if the measure establishes, repeals, or modifies one or more taxes. If it trips any of those levers, then it's determined to have a fiscal impact. The department will develop an unbiased good faith estimate, not to exceed 100 words or there's an instance where they could, uh, have up to 200 words if it were creating a new revenue source or, or, or, uh, raising or lowering an existing tax.
So in short, what this bill would do is it would bring more transparency and accountability to the initiative process, you know, all of, all of you in this room are policymakers. You know that the cost evaluating any policy is essentially weighing the costs and the benefits, and we asked the voters to do that when they go into the voting booth, this simply gives the voter more information in order to make the best possible determination. And as I, as I mentioned, this would bring us in line with a lot of other states.
that have this, um, states like Wyoming, California, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Oregon, and Utah all have similar requirements. And so as you can see from that list, this is not necessarily a left or right issue. There are states of a lot of different political persuasions that have similar requirements. So with that, I'd be happy to take questions. Saying none, would appreciate a good
book. Representative Ray has explained the bill.
Chair
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47:13
Would anyone like to speak against the bill. For the bill
Representative Ray is closed for the bill. Question
Representative Brian S. Evans
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47:22
before the house is the passage of House Bill 1637, repair the machine, madam clerk. So everyone voted. everyone voted.
Chair
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47:39
Cast up the ballot By a vote of 80, 14 nays, and 0 present. The bill is passed.
Madam Clerk, please read House Bill 1713. Representative Rose to require ballot titles for initiated measures to be at or under a certain reading level
and to declare an emergency. Representative Rose, you're recognized to explain
Representative Ryan A. Rose
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48:07
your bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon, colleagues. I believe that House Bill 1713 is a bill that you will be able to go back to the voters of your district, and they will actually thank you for having supported it.
Uh, this is a widely beneficial readability standard for ballot titles before circulation of initiative and referendum petitions and signature collection. Before I dive into my introduction, I want to reference the readability test, uh, that we will be using should you decide to pass
this bill. The Flesh Kincaid readability test was developed in 1975 by J Peter Kincaid and his team under
contract to the US Navy, was using this to assess readability. The purpose of this test was designed to help determine the US school grade level required to understand a given text, making it easier to assess the readability of technical manuals and other materials. Currently, this, uh, flesh Kincaid grade level test is used broadly in the federal government and in other states across our great country.
It is my belief, and I believe the majority of you as well agree that every Arkansan deserves the ability to make an informed decision when asked to sign a petition. And to be able to do that without confusion or having to understand legalese or deceptive wording, and that is what this bill is about. My belief is that it ensures that when citizens are asked to support a ballot measure that they can clearly understand what it proposes before they put their name on it
and should that measure gather enough support to make it onto the ballot. The voters should be able to read and grasp what it says when they go to the ballot box, and it should be easy for them to understand. For far too long, many of us, if not all of us in this room have heard complaints or similar challenges that ballot language is too complex, and it has made it harder, not easier, for the people to engage in the democratic process. Many petitions and ballot measures are written
at or above college and post-grad levels. Now, this is not a new or radical idea. More than 20 states in our country have readability standards, uh, for their ballot measures in similar laws to increase clarity and accessibility. No court has struck down a readability law in the United States. And it's because that this protects the voters' right to make an informed choice. Arkansans should have the
opportunity to join these states in strengthening election integrity and ensuring that every voter has a fair chance to understand what they're being asked to sign and later, what they're being asked to vote on. Most recently in 2023 and in 2024, Rhode Island and New York unanimously passed readability standards for ballot measures in their legislatures. And with regards to how the Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court feels about
readability standards. The Supreme Court in '99 in Buckley versus American Constitutional law, stated that states have considerable leeway to protect the integrity and readability of the initiative process, as long
as the regulations do not significantly inhibit communications with voters about proposed political changes. Just for understandable, uh, reasons here. I want to reference. The grade-level scores of some of our past ballot measures.
The 2018 casino amendment had a grade level of 23, which is postgraduate. The 2024 abortion amendment was 11.2. The casino amendment was 14.5 and the marijuana amendment of 2024 was 21.7, which is postgrad.
This body is full of great legislative and legal minds and in drafting and composing these bills, we made sure to consult
examples across our country and worked with legal experts to bring you the best possible
version of this bill. And, uh, I look forward to you supporting it, and I'd
Speaker 115
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appreciate a good vote. Representative Perrier, for what purpose?
Speaker 117
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You're recognized. So how does this apply to ballot titles that this
Representative Ryan A. Rose
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52:54
body presents. It's a great question, Representative Per year. We discussed that in committee. Uh, currently,
the Attorney General makes the decision on, uh, The initiative and referendums
that are referred out for signature gathering. And so this is specifically dealing with that process, not the constitutional amendments that are referred out by the legislative body. Those are not under the Attorney General's jurisdiction, to my
understanding. So Representative Steele, for what purpose? You're recognized. Representative,
Representative Tracy Steele
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53:21
how does this impact those individuals who are barely literate. Sure, and you know, yeah,
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thanks, thank you for for saying that, uh, it's
Representative Ryan A. Rose
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53:31
a portion of kind of this bill that I, I
really wanted to explain. I kind of got sidetracked. Uh, this setting, the reading level at 8th grade is, uh, due in part to the average reading level in the United States, being at the 8th grade level. So, the, the language in this bill is to bring us to the average reading level in this country, um, that reach everybody? Are there people that are below that level? There are. And, uh, something else that I discussed in committee is that an
individual's, uh, reading level is not always indicative of their intelligence level. Uh, there are many people in this room and across our state who are much smarter than many of us in this room who may not be able to read at the same level that you or ICANN Representative Steele. And so this is an attempt in, in my belief, to make the, uh, petition process and those ballot measures just much more digestible for every Arkansan, and, and, and, and at least attempting to do that in a greater way than we have done before.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you and I'd appreciate a good vote. Representative Rose has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? Representative
Representative Nicole Clowney
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54:55
Clowney, you're recognized to speak against the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, Y'all, I actually really think that this is a good and necessary idea, and I mentioned that not to be cute, but because I think it's pretty noteworthy when Representative Rose and I agree so strongly on a proposed ballot and, um, anything having
to do with ball initial process. Um, I actually, this is probably one of the things I and I know y'all get asked most about around election season, constituents who say, I do not understand what any of these mean. Will you explain it to me? So I love actually the idea of a readability standard of some sort. My issue with this bill, and I also want to note that when this came through committee, it got out with 10 votes on a roll call. So it was really close. We had really intense debate about it, um, and I, I came here to speak, not because I think it's
a bad idea, but because I do think we could get this really right if we just take our time. I'll point out the two issues that I have with it quickly. So, first of all, is this particular test that would be in code if this bill in this version, passes. The flesh can test would require, um, that any ballot title be at an 8th grade readability level. Now that sounds really good in theory, but this particular test is
very, very, um, very hard for anything that would be on the ballot to pass, and here's why. There's no factoring in of comprehension into this particular test. It's just an algorithm that spits out a readability level based on sentence length and word length. So if a word has 5 syllables, a word like constitutional, you are automatically penalized under the parameters of this test. Um, here are some examples. So last, uh last election we had on our ballot a legislatively referred
ballot title, I believepresentative Lungstrom ran this through the house, um, the amendment to provide the lottery proceeds go towards, this is actually the text of it, an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to provide that lottery proceeds may be used to fund or provide scholarships and grants to Arkansas citizens. enrolled in vocational technical schools and technical institutes. Using the flash Kincaid test, the one proposed by this legislation, that is a grade level 19 or a college graduate.
Um, so these are the kinds of words, Arkansas Constitution, scholarships. These are lots of syllables, and so they ramp up the grade level, um, instantly. Just the phrase, an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution. Grade level 12.7. So that's one of my issues with this bill is just this particular test. I don't even have a problem with the 8th grade readability level, but I do, I, I I told Representative Rose, and I mean this, I could absolutely support the bill if it were 8th grade reading level using a
different passable test or this test with a slightly higher grade level requirement. Um, but it is virtually impossible to make something under 8th grade using the flesh Kincade test. The second reason that I opposed in some of my um colleagues on committee opposed is exactly what Representative Perrier pointed out, this creates two different sets of rules for legislatively referred amendments and citizen-led amendments, that doesn't feel right. to me and I understand that Representative Rose can only address this one with this issue or with this bill, but the fact
of the matter is it does create two different sets of rules. So like I said, I would appreciate a no vote on this, not because I'm against the idea, I think it's a wonderful idea, but because I think it's not quite right with this particular test. Thank you.
Representative Brian S. Evans
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58:30
Representative Clowney has spoke against the bill. Would anyone like to speak for the bill? Would anyone
Chair
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58:35
like to speak against the bill? Representative Rose, you're recognized to close for your bill.
Representative Ryan A. Rose
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58:46
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, thank you, Representative Clowney. We had healthy discussion
and debate. It passed, it passed state agencies commit if you've been through there, it's, I refer to it as the meat grinder, um, also, as I was referencing people who were more intelligent than me, uh, you know, across this, uh, this state, rather, you know, regardless of their grade level reading, you know, I put Nicole Clowney in that category. You're, you're very intelligent, you're very good with, uh, legal language and those types of things. There's an area
I think I'm a slightly more well versed in you, and that is with this readability test, because I've spent a little bit more time studying it. And so I want to share a couple of things about this readability test. Uh, the question was raised and it was referenced again here, was that an amendment to the United States Constitution is, is higher than an eighth grade level. And that is one sentence, and I understand that, but the way that this test grades, it's not that you're penalized for using
large words or multiple syllable words, it's simply that you need to be redirected to either counterbalance that with additional shorter words or shorter sentences. Uh, I took the abortion amendment from 2024 and I filtered it into an artificial intelligence, and I said, hey, make this more readable. So it made it more readable, and I ran it through the flesh Kincaid readability, the grade level test, and it came back at
like 11.4. So that's a junior in high school. And so then I went to Amending it slightly using synonyms and shortening sentences where I could. I don't know if you want me to, but I could read this entire thing to you. Now, would the Attorney General's office accept this? No, they may say, hey, we need this to be different, or we want you to include this. Also, this is just the ballot title. It's not the entire ballot measure. It is the title that needs to be at 8th grade reading level. But I'm gonna give you the introduction to this.
This amendment would change Arkansas abortion laws. Currently, abortion is not legal except when needed to save a pregnant woman's life. Even then, only in a medical emergency. The Arkansas Constitution, our state's founding document does not limit the state's power to regulate abortion. If passed, this would prevent the state and local governments from banning, punishing, delaying, or restricting abortion in these cases. It goes on to list it and give lots of specifics and those things. That comes down to an
8th grade reading level. The flesh Kincaid test has been widely used by the US government, uh, different agencies and states across our country for over 50 years. The benefit that this test provides is that it is entirely objective. When language is filtered through this, it uses a mathematical formula. It does not look at policy. It does not look at partisanship. This is not something that determines whether something is even right or wrong, left or right. It is a
purely mathematical formula, and this bill states that we will use this test as it was set in January of this year. Should grade level reading change across our country and go up or down, this legislature
and its infinite wisdom. could adjust the way this language reads in the future, uh, with future legislation. I want to reiterate again that
large words and, uh, difficult language is not penalized. It's just redirected. Um
In closing, I just would like to say that, uh, the simple truth at the heart of this bill is that every Arkansan, not just great legal minds, not just policy experts should be able to understand the choices that they're making when they're signing petitions, and then later, should those petitions receive enough signatures when they're voting on those initiatives. Similar laws have been passed in more than 20 states, and no court has overturned these. This bill ensures that when we ask
people to decide on a law that it's presented to them in a way that respects their time, their intelligence, and their right to be an informed signer or voter. By passing this bill, Arkansas is going to join a long line of states, both left and right, uh, conversely, Rhode Island and New York, uh, significantly Democrat leaning legislatures in Rhode Island, they only have 9 Republicans in their house, and they still pass this, uh, this readability standard of, of a similar
nature, uh, unanimously. So by passing this, uh, we're going to be supporting our Kansans opportunity to understand what they're signing and what they're voting on without confusion, without manipulation, and without barriers to understand. Ultimately, voters deserve
clear language. And this bill brings transparency and clarity, which are the opposite of suppression. It's my belief that when you vote for this bill, you support it if
we pass it, it gets through the Senate and it's
signed by the governor, that this is one Arkansans all across our great state will be thankful for. And with that, I appreciate a good vote.
Chair
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1:04:07
Representative Rose is closed for the bill. The question before the House is the passage of House Bill 1713. Prepare the machine, madam clerk. Is everyone voted? So everyone voted.
members your one vote is for the bill and the
Chair
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1:04:38
emergency clause. Cast up the ballot By a vote of 60, 23 nays, and 10 present. The bill is passed by the clerk would prepare the machine will now vote on the emergency clause.
So everyone voted, so everyone voted. Cast
Chair
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1:05:13
up the ballot. My boat was 63, 26 nays, and 8 present emergency clause has failed. Madam Clark, please read House Bill 1303. Isville 1303
by Representative Jean to create the substantial sustainable aviation fuel incentive Act and to create an income tax credit related to sustainable aviation fuel. Representative Juni, you're recognized to
explain the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Representative Lane Jean
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1:05:40
Colleagues, I bring to you House Bill 1303. This is an economic development bill for South Arkansas. Um, What is sustainable aviation? Right now, it's, it's, there's none in the, in the, in the country. There's some being proposed to be built. What it does is take your treetops, what they call the roundwood, your pup wood, and it converts it into a, uh, high volume jet fuel. Where is the market for this, is
mainly in Europe and California, where they have strict reg regulations. The good thing about it is we're always worried about trade deficits. This will help the United States trade deficits on this. What is that, what are they asking for? This company, which is going to have the 500 acre option, and Wade Andrews district. It's on a rail. And a major highway south of Camden, Arkansas, about 15
miles, and I'm gonna do this, Representative Springer, cause I don't know that Ogi Mall has ever gotten her name mentioned, this little community south of Camman named Ogie Mall. That's the town it is, and that's where Representative Springer hails from. And the people that are going to do this are Arkansas folks. Representative Barker knows these people, the Martins from Smackover. They run cross oil refinery, and, uh, been in the refinery business of oil for many years.
And I've also co-sponsored a bill. By Representative Beck, And it's coming down the pipe in a few weeks, Green Bay Packaging up in Morton, they're going to be doing a billion-dollar expansion, and I supported that. But what is natural states, that's the company. They're gonna do a minimum of $2 billion plant. Could be up to 3. They're going to employ a minimum of 75 jobs at $100,000 a
job. Uh, they could be as high as 200, but we got a comfortable number that we know they'll hit. Uh, they're gonna do, they're buying the land on their own. They're putting all the infrastructure. They've got to put a bridge over the railroad track. They're not asking the state to do a thing for them. What we're gonna do is the same thing we did for Big River Steel. New core and the pellet mill that Representative Wardlaw helped pass a couple of years
ago. We're gonna do a tax credit. Of up to $10 million a year. But it has to be verified by DFNA. That the that it is profitable to the state. Uh, me and Senator Stone sat down with the governor. She supports this bill, and she told us one thing. It cannot be. A cost to the state, and we have done that. And she says, as long as you, so we, we took out all the little
stuff we had in there, DFNA helped us write this, Department of Commerce supports this, uh, but this will provide job opportunities for South
Speaker 143
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Arkansas. And at this time, I'll take any
Representative Jim Wooten
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1:09:07
questions. Representative Wootten, for what purpose? Question. You're recognized for a
question Southwest, South Central, and southeast. Arkansas. Well,
Representative Lane Jean
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1:09:19
If anybody knows anything about the pulpwood business, which everybody that has paper, Cardboard boxes, everything that's where, that's where the, the wood business comes in effect. Right now, For a ton of pupwood, you can't even get 50 cents for it. You just have to give it away because you have to let the, the loggers get the money for it to take it to the mill. This will help, they're, they've agreed to purchase somewhere between 50 million and $100 million of wood
products a year. So this will be huge for the logging industry, for the landowners that own timber down there. It'll, it'll be a, a tremendous boost for South Arkans. So in an area that needs you very much. Thank you for the question. Any other questions? See, I'd appreciate a good vote.
Representative Jean has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? And anyone like speak for the bill.
Chair
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1:10:19
Representative Jean is closed for the bill. Question before
the house is the passage of House Bill 1303. Prepare the machine, madam clerk. So everyone voted
everyone voted. Cast up the ballot. By a vote of 91, 2 nay, and 3 present, the bill is passed. Madam Clerk, please read House Bill 1079. 1079 by
Representative Allen to mandate coverage for genetic testing for an inherited gene mutation for certain individuals and to mandate coverage for evidence-based cancer imaging for certain individuals, mutations,
sorry. Representative Allen, you're recognized to explain your
Representative Fred Allen
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1:11:07
bill. Uh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, House Bill 10079. It's the American Cancer Society. Uh, this is the final bill that we're gonna run this session for the American Cancer Society. And one of the things that happened that takes place in house bill
1079. It ensures that those at the highest risk of cancer, have timely access to life saving genetic testing to achieve better health outcomes and improved quality of life. Studies confirmed that genetic testing is a cost-effective strategy for cancer prevention and
treatment, lead to earlier detection targeted therapists and lower overall healthcare costs. For many of you sitting here in
this body today. Every morning when I come in this building and talk to some of my colleagues. They talk about cancer. They talk about how some of their friends and families been impacted by cancer. For those of you who don't know that cancer is an equal opportunity disease. It does not discriminate. It does not care about the color of your skin. It does not care about how much money you make. It does not care. about your status. One thing about cancer, you don't have to
find cancer. Cancer will find you. And this bill here will save the lives of many of you in this body, if you ever experienced cancer. If you're not fighting cancer, then somebody in your family is fighting cancer, that somebody you're fighting in your family's not fighting cancer. That's a strong possibility that you have friends that are battling cancer. So this is A life saving. piece of legislation.
Chair
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1:12:58
So I would ask you all for a good vote today. Representative Allen has explained the bill. Would anyone
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like to speak against the bill? Would anyone I speak for the bill. Rave, speak. Against the bill Thank
Representative David Ray
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1:13:18
you, Mr. Speaker. I really just wanted to ask a question, um, but Representative Allen stepped out of the well, so I'll just
pose the question and hopefully he can address it in his closing. Um,
I was, I was looking at the fiscal impact uh on the bill and it said that the cost of the bill was somewhere between 2 to 2.5 million. I was just wondering if he could address that. So hopefully he'll address that. Representative Ray has
spoke against the bill. My, my apologies for leaving, Reps
Allen. Not ready for you to close it. Representative Reyes spoke against the bill and he would like to speak for the bill.
Representative Jim Wooten
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1:14:00
Representative Wooten, you're recognized speak for the
bill. I don't know how many of you have survived cancer. But it's a God-given miracle. I happen to be one that had fought
bladder cancer because the graciousness of But the only reason. is because of the fact. diagnosis. And then It metastasized in my lungs. And I had a spot on my lung. I went to the doctor. I'm gonna give you 3 drugs.
A true day. But he told me in 25 years of practice. I'm the only one. completed the treatment. And survived I was blessed. The Lord's hand touched me. And made it possible.
But without the doctor, Without the drugs. Without the early diagnosis of the original cancer. To the chagrin of some. I wouldn't be here. But let me say, we need to do all we training. But be ready If it hadn't gotten to you yet. It's coming.
The member of your family and you want to be able to spot
it quick. And react to it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative
Speaker 162
1:16:18
Wootton has spoke for the bill. Would anyone like to
Chair
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1:16:22
speak against the bill? Would you like to speak for the bill. Representative Allen,
Representative Fred Allen
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1:16:31
you're recognized close for the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as the financial impact that Representative Ray was talking about. We met with Grant
Wallace, and we eliminated EBD in the bill. So when we did that, there's no longer a
physical impact. So I hope I've answered your question. Appreciate a good vote. Representative
Allen is closed for the bill. The question before the House is the passage of House Bill 1079.
Speaker 101
1:17:00
Prepair the machine, Madam Clerk. So everyone voted
Chair
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1:17:14
As everyone voted Cast up the ballot By a vote of 84 years, 3 nays, and 10 present. Bill is passed. Madam Clerk, please read House
Representative Brian S. Evans
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1:17:24
Bill 1622. Hospital 1622 by Representative Graham like
Chair
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1:17:28
to amend the Medicaid Fairness Act to modify the definition of adverse decision under the Medicaid Fairness Act
Speaker 22
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and to provide for administrative reconsideration under the Medicaid Fairness Act. Representative Gramlick, you are recognized to
Chair
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1:17:39
explain your bill. Uh, thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker. Uh, House Bill 1622 just really allows companies who are doing the right thing to, um, have a uh what happens is an organization comes in to do a review. They have a checklist and they're checking boxes, and they may not really know certain words and certain things. And in one case, um, they check, checked the box, said there was no medical direct harm because of that. But what actually was
the case is they had a chief medical officer. Well, they do the same thing. They just have different words. And there was no recourse for the organization to be able to come and say, hey, no, we're in compliance, we're trying to do the right thing. Um, so what this bill will do is it will do is it'll allow um there to be a administrative reconsideration, uh, for an organization who gets dinged and then we'll allow the imposition of correction action and, um, There's no money involved with
Chair
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1:18:46
this, and I had a couple of questions about that. Representative Gramlich has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? Would you like to speak for the bill. Representative Gramlich is closed for the bill. The question before the House is the passage of House Bill 1622. Prepair the machine, Madam Clerk. So everyone voted. Does everyone voted.
Cast up the ballot. by a vote of 96, 0, nay, and 0 present. The bill is passed. Madam Clerk,
Representative Brian S. Evans
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1:19:25
please read House Bill 1582. 1582 by Representative McAlinden
Speaker 23
1:19:28
to require certain actions and encourage certain actions for an individual to be eligible for benefits under the division of workforce Services law.
Speaker 64
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Representative McAlinden, you're recognized to explain your bill.
Representative Mindy McAlindon
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1:19:48
Good afternoon again. Um, so this is House Bill 1582. It basically strengthens our workforce services by ensuring that our Kansans who are on public benefits and public assistance are actively seeking work and that they're connected with available job opportunities. It fits really well with the current system that was just introduced called the launch online platform and, um, it makes sure that we're making quick connections with real opportunities for those people that are on public assistance. It encourages participation. It
tries to strengthen the workforce applications by making, by encouraging applicants to apply to the jobs that match with them best, um, it also requires that they report back to Workforce services, there are 5 searches for that week, whether it was a job search or training or whatever that they had chosen for those 5 claimants. Um, this actually helps DWS by making their audits a little bit easier. Um, it also reduces fraud and abuse. It doesn't change the system, that we currently have in place of them having to audit
100 per week. And with that, I would be happy to address any oh we did work with DWS to make sure that it implements in their system, that it works well with them, and they are supportive of the bill. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. And
Chair
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1:21:07
with that, I asked for a good vote. Representative McAloon has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against
the bill? Would anyone like to speak for the bill? Representative McAlinden is closed for the bill, question before the House is the passage
of House Bill 1582. Prepare the machine, Madam Clerk. So everyone voted As everyone voted Cast up the ballot. By
a vote of 83 e, 11 nays, and 0 present. The bill is passed. Madam Clerk, please read House
Speaker 23
1:21:49
Bill 1598. Representative Brooks to require the Department of Education to
Speaker 64
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establish a new accountability system for public schools and remove public schools from school ratings for certain school
Chair
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1:22:00
years. Representative Brooks, you're recognized to explain your bill. Thank you, Mr.
Representative Keith Brooks
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1:22:05
Speaker. Colleagues, this is a bill that comes to us from the Department of Education, as you know, we have, uh, gone to a new school, um, assessment system from the ACT Aspire to the Atlas within the last year. And so as we are working through the process of that, uh, just the department's asking to pause the school
ratings for one school year, uh, simple reason behind that is because you can't really get good data to aggregate when you have two different forms of testing. And so they're just looking to pause in the 23 to 24 year, and they will she grades that are 24 to 25 years, so they can get the appropriate data, which will be out. The schools still have all their information, uh, so nothing changes in terms of the school being able to aggregate your own data and look at it, the apartment is just simply not going to release the scores because they wouldn't be a good comparison based upon the new testing. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Representative Wootton, for what
Speaker 179
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purpose? Question. You're recognized. Does this apply to private schools.
Representative Keith Brooks
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1:23:04
This bill is only for schools that the department currently issues grades on, which will be our public school system. Would you explain why to private
Representative Jim Wooten
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1:23:12
school because that's currently the statute in the state of Arkansas that we only issue graces
Representative Keith Brooks
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1:23:17
for public schools. With that, I appreciate a good vote.
Representative Brooks has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? For
Chair
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1:23:32
the bill Representative Brooks is closed for the bill. Question before the house is the passage of House Bill 1598, repair the machine, Madam Clerk. So everyone voted. So everyone voted. Cast up the ballot.
By a vote of 89 years, 2 nays, and 6 present. The bill is passed.
Madam Clark, please read Senate Bill 270. of Bill 270 by Representative Woolridge to amend the law concerning the filing periods of certain nonpartisan school
board and municipal candidates. Representative Water, you're recognized to explain
Representative Steven Walker
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1:24:22
your bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. This is another bill brought to us by the clerks currently in statute, there's an ending time for the one week filing period. This just sets a
beginning time. It will start at 12 noon, it will end at 12:00 noon. With that, I'll be happy to take any questions. See none, I'd
Representative Brian S. Evans
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1:24:40
appreciate a good vote. Representative Woodridge has explained the bill, what anyone would like to speak against the
Chair
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1:24:47
bill? For the bill Representative Wooldridge is closed for the bill. The question before the House is the passage of Senate Bill 270. Prepare the machine, madam clerk. So everyone voted.
So everyone voted, casts up the ballot. By a vote of 98 ya, 0 nay, and zero present. The bill is passed. Madam
Speaker 64
1:25:14
Clerk, please read Senate Bill 118 Representative Bentley to amend the definition of ideology relating to the practice of audiologists. Representative
Speaker 68
1:25:21
Bentley, you're recognized to explain the Bill. Colleagues,
Representative Mary Bentley
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1:25:27
this is a really good bill that just pretty much cleans up the audiology,
License, we'll put it that way. They are, um, allowed to do specific things with the ear and the vis vestibular conditions of the ear. Anyway, well, this is a cleanup language to make sure that the current statutes we have, uh, go along with what their regulations are. Also streamlines the process for them to be able to order imaging and testing for our patients, it will allow, if you, I'm not sure many of you take your kids to the end to a there to a specialist ENT specialist or uh an elderly parent that you have to take a day off from work. This will allow you to get the testing done before you go to the special
specialists so when they get there, they can actually, uh, diagnose what's going on with the patient. It will save us time, save your patience time, and just really streamlines things with the process. I think it's a great patient-centered care bill. We have 249 audios in the state and only 41 ENTs, so I think it's gonna be greatly help our rural patients to get better, uh, patient-centered care. And with that, I would take any questions. I do want to say real quickly before I close this bill, I wanna thank, uh, Senator Lee Johnson for helping me some good moments in this spill to make it better with the, uh, with the
Chair
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1:26:39
The Medical Association. So, thank you very much. Representative Bentley has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak
against the bill. For the bill Representative Bentley is closed for the bill. The question before the House is the passage of Senate Bill 118. Prepare the machine, Madam Clerk. Everyone voted So everyone voted. Cast up the ballot
By a vote of 97, 0 nay, and 0 present. The bill is passed. Madam Clerk,
Speaker 191
1:27:19
please read Senate Bill 18989 by Representative Bentley to authorize Ivar Min for human use to be so without a prescription or
Chair
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1:27:26
consultation with a healthcare professional. Representative Bentley, you're recognized
Representative Mary Bentley
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1:27:33
to explain the bill. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. That's not Saint Patrick's Day, but I sure appreciate seeing all that grain. Hopefully we can repeat it on this bill. Um, Ivormectin is a very, a, a
medication, very well known, has been studied like crazy, especially in the past 10 years, it's won the Nobel Peace Prize. It's been given all over the world during a recent pandemic and really the Benefits of Iber Mor just getting more and more known and known. And I bet every one of you have constituents that go to the feed store or to the co op and pick up their Iverm in there for personal use, and we'd like it to be dosed out in human dosages. So this bill does not mandate anybody to buy Ir merchant does not mandate anybody to sell Iber Mart and just allows it to be sold over the counter as it's made available. I think it's a great
bill. Um, I know with my parents during the COVID epidemic, um. They were in their 90s. I was able to get I my to my mom, and she survived well. Um, Pop went into the hospital and did not receive it. He got re de severe and was in heaven two days later. So, I'm a staunch believer and it's a great medication, it's very well studied, and again, there's no mandates, requires nothing. This allows it to be over the counter. And with that, I take any questions. If anybody's got
Speaker 44
1:28:39
any. Representative Collins, for what purpose? Question, you're recognized for a question. So
Representative Andrew Collins
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1:28:44
it's been studied so much has it been studied by uh people to give an FDA approval, and if not, why do you think that's not the case? I'm sorry, can you repeat your question? I didn't studied extensively. Has it been studied in clinical trials to give it FDA approval, and if not, why not? I think there's been
Representative Mary Bentley
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1:29:02
a whole host of things going on with the FDA and unfortunately during the pandemic FDA even
said it was a sports medicine and we shouldn't use it. So I'm very disappointed. I think we got some new, new administration, get new folks over the FDA and I think we'll hear a whole
different tune in the near future, but thank you for your question.
Chair
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1:29:22
With that appreciate a good vote. Representative Bentley has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against
the bill? For the bill Representative Acer, you are recognized to speak for the
Speaker 200
1:29:42
bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, colleagues, um, so I did want to
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
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1:29:47
speak, uh, for this bill and uh mainly that comes from the position that I do believe that this bill in its current form actually uh will force individuals who want to receive these products to actually engage with their pharmacist. So one confusing thing that I think um the term over the counter implies is that this is gonna be just like, uh, Tylenol or aspirin or cough syrups that you see, with it not being approved by the FDA, there's not going to be any new Packaging. Um, so typically when you see over the counter packaging, it tells you how to
take it, what side effects there are, numbers to call, drug interactions, what occurs in pregnancy, um, without this being federally approved, that information's not going to be on the stock packaging. So what I have in the store right now doesn't have that information. So in order for me to sell this and honor my oath as a pharmacist, it's gonna require a face to face interaction to counsel and provide that information. So, um, with that, I, I understand that. There's no FDA approval, but I do believe that
Pharmacists who take their responsibility, um, I guess in its entirety, will honor the fact that the packaging doesn't give the information needed for this to be safely used and those pharmacists will have extensive counseling opportunities with patients who seek this product. And for that
Speaker 27
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reason, I'll be voting for it. Representative Eaves, for what purpose? Question,
Representative Les D. Eaves
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1:31:08
you're recognized. Representative Edgar, would there be a dispensing fee for this? Uh, unfortunately, no, our services are not valued. Thank you, Representative Hawk. For what purpose?
Speaker 205
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Doctor Aker, um, Are there, are there any, is there any other prescriptions or medicines that you that are not FDA
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
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1:31:29
approved that you guys currently dispense. That are not FDA approved. Um, so, FDA approval is usually, and I appreciate the acknowledgement uh towards myself as a doctor there Mr. Hawk, um. Currently, um, FDA approval is usually used in, uh, I guess, indication specific so if this is for heart failure, if this is for high blood pressure, um,
there is the leeway off-label use, so, um, in that capacity, this would fall under that where it would be in the purview of the. Doctorally trained individual who doesn't get a dispensing fee to help give that information, free of charge to the public regularly and accessible. Representative Aker spoke for the bill.
Would anyone like to speak against the bill? For the bill Representative Bentley has closed for the bill. Question before the house is the passage
Speaker 168
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of Senate Bill 189. Prepare the machine,
madam clerk. Everyone voted As everyone voted. Cast up
Chair
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1:32:35
the ballot. By a vote of 78 ya, 14 nays, and 3 present. The bill is passed. Madam Clerk, please read Senate Bill 307 Representative Eaves to
Speaker 64
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amend the law concerning public utilities to create the
Chair
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1:32:52
generating Arkansas Jobs Act of 2025 and to
Representative Les D. Eaves
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1:33:04
declare. Representative Eaves, you are recognized to explain your bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, here we are, extended Bill 307. I wanna give you a little background on our situation currently. So within 3 to 5 years, Arkansas stands to lose 2 power plants. This represents about 33.2
gigawatts of power. We have to replace that power just to maintain the status quo. In other words, just to stay right where we are and keep up with the current demands. The plants that are being replaced, by the way, are in White Bluff, representative of Holcomb's district. They're also in Newark, Representative Long's district. When we replace these plants using the current traditional method. It'll be more costly for our ratepayers than the method proposed in this bill. There's also the reality that we are currently facing, where the co-ops are sitting on requests for over 4 gigs of additional
power. And the other utilities, Entergy, uh, Swepco are sitting on at least that much, if not more. So that's a clear indication to me that businesses are looking at Arkansas, but we just can't supply enough power. There are also several large data centers that are currently looking at Arkansas as a possibility. If we are able to modernize. Excuse me, modernize our process for building new power. We have a choice to make. Do we invest in the future of Arkansas and create an environment.
That captures the businesses that are looking to locate in our state, or do we let this transformational opportunity pass us by. And contrary to what you've heard, this bill is not the reason that utility rates are going up. Your utility rates are going to increase whether we pass this bill or not, because the utilities, as I said before, will be replacing power that we are losing, and they're going to be building more. And the customers have always been responsible for paying for that infrastructure. However
Passing this bill will minimize the impact of rate increases that are coming, whether we do it or not. Again, this bill minimizes how much your utility bill will increase as a result of these new power plants. And this bill applies to all investor owned utilities, as I mentioned before, Entergy, AEP Swepcoat, and all of the co ops. So there's two main sections in the bill that I want to walk through real quick and I'll be as quick as I can. I know you're probably getting tired, but I just want to walk through the process. So this bill introduces a framework for utilities to
recover costs associated with what is called strategic investments. And they do this through a rider mechanism, a rider is something that's added to your bill. This approach allows these utilities to begin recouping expenses during the construction phase of major utility projects. And this is aimed at mitigating the rate spikes that will be coming if we don't do this. So the first thing they would do is utilities would, uh, utilities, uh, uh, intending to undertake strategic investments. They have to submit an application to the PSC. The PSC is required to review
and decide on the application within 6 months. This period ensures a comprehensive evaluation to determine if the investment serves the public interest. That is a well understood term at the Public Service Commission. After obtaining approval for the strategic investment, the utility can file for the rider rate schedule. With the PSC again, and that would be the point where they can start recovering costs. Uh, once the plant gets under construction, so the PST must issue an order regarding the rider rate schedule within 90 days following the utilities
filing. If the PSC finds that the application does not comply with the provisions of the Act. It will you an order denying the application, detailing the basis for its findings and any insufficiencies in the application. Also, once the rider is approved, And construction begins, utilities are required to file an annual update to those riders. Again, PSE is involved. They are required to review each annual, uh, each.
PSC reviews each annual update and must issue its order within 90 days of the filing. If the PSC determines that the annual update does not comply with the Act. It will issue an order denying the update, providing reasons for the denial. The PSC also has ongoing oversight throughout the construction period, the PSE will review every 12 months to monitor the project's progress and expenditures. The PSE will audit the previous 12 months, and they'll audit the next 12 months. This process of looking back and looking forward goes on until the end of the
project and, and the the power plants put into uh into service. This ensures that all costs are prudently incurred, safeguarding ratepayers from unjustified expenses. This structured process is designed to provide utilities with a timely mechanism to recover costs associated with these investments. It also allows them to maintain regulatory oversight. To protect consumers. And best of all, keep rates as low as possible. So we have some decisions to make.
We have 3 choices to provide power in our state. The most expensive option for our ratepayers is to buy power from places like Canada and other surrounding states that have invested in their power infrastructure. That's the most expensive thing we could do. The 2nd most expensive thing we can do is finance power plants during the old method, the current traditional method. This causes ratepayers to pay an increased cost for construction by having to finance and capitalize hundreds of millions
of dollars of interest. And this is spread out over the lifetime of the plant. That's the 2nd most expensive option. The least expensive option is to use the method outlined in this bill. And this will result in overall lower cost for the ratepayer. As I mentioned before, the data centers that are looking to come to Arkansas are not like what we've been traditionally thinking about in terms of crypto mines and that kind of thing. The one that's just going into Mississippi now is a $10 billion investment with 1000
employees. I'd like to have something like that in my district. If we fail to pass this bill, those data centers are going to move on to other states that are doing what we are trying to do today. And those other states will benefit from the economic development projects and those jobs that come with it. There's also the very real possibility that one or more of these data centers will invest hundreds of millions of dollars. in new power generation, and this will result again in overall, overall lower power costs to our ratepayers. There's been some talk about cost shifting in this bill.
They pay their fair share. We, there, it, this bill will prevent shifting costs from big businesses to consumers. So if a data center comes in and uses 90% of the power of a new generation plant, they will be responsible for 90% of the cost of that plant. It's also important to note that in this, uh, bill has been this bill, excuse me, has been reviewed by the governor's office and the Attorney General's office, and they both are in support of this bill. I'd be happy to take any questions. Seeing no, I appreciate a good vote. Right
Presentative Eaves has left the well. Representative Es has explained the bill would anyone like to speak against the bill. And when I speak for the bill. Representative Meeks, you are
Representative Stephen Meeks
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1:40:33
recognized to speak for the bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, uh, colleagues, uh, I wanna thank, uh, Representative Eaves for, for bringing this bill. Uh, for those of you that do, do not
know, I am your representative on NCSL's energy supply task force. And so I've been studying energy and energy-related policy for the better part of a decade now. Last summer, I had the opportunity to go to the headquarters of Myso and Myso is the mid-continent independent system operators organization, and they're responsible for maintaining the grid across the central United States. So most of Arkansas, uh, they're the ones that manage power for our, uh, utility, uh, for the grid here.
At that, uh, uh, visit, uh, we had an opportunity to see what projects are coming online, and they had 25,000 gigawatts worth of new projects that they were anticipating coming online in the next 10 years. And just to give you an idea, that doubles pretty much the current capacity of, of myo and almost every single one of those projects was from an intermittent source, solar and, um, Um Wind And while those are, those are great for what they do. Uh, the
sun doesn't always shine, the wind doesn't always blow. They're not base generation. And unless we develop new base generation projects the reliability of our grid is going to be at risk. And so what this bill does, it tries to address that to allow our utilities, and I, and I think one of the things he didn't mention about the bill that I really like is the bill is forward thinking as new modular reactors and that technology comes on. line over the 10 year, next 10 to 15 years, the bill actually
looks forward to that technology, to that technology coming to our state to help fill some of those, uh, needs going into the future. And so, uh, I really, I just want to come down here and say that I support the bill that we're trying to ramp electric bills and not have those sharp cliffs that were building base generation that we need for a reliable grid here in the state of Arkansas, and this bill is always looking to the future at new technologies and how we can implement them to help. Make sure we have a reliable grid and that our rates, and I know this is hard to believe
sometimes, but, uh, our rates here in Arkansas are some of the lowest in the country. We are, uh, almost universally the top 10 lowest rates in the country, and I think this bill will help make sure we stay there for years to come. And so I, I appreciate a good vote. Representative Meeks
Speaker 34
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has spoke for the bill. Would anyone like to
Chair
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1:43:06
speak against the bill? Would anyone like to speak for the bill? Representative McKenzie, you're a recognized speak for the bill.
Representative Brit McKenzie
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1:43:18
Mr. Speaker, um, I come down because uh my supports derived from the chairman saying gig everybody else. Um, the, the, when the bill sponsor asked me to speak in favor of the bill, it was on two points that, that align to why I am in support of this legislation. Um, and it's Black and white shades of gray, it's oversimplified, but that's the way that I'm thinking about it as it's relevant to my constituents. One is the, is the cost savings, cost savings and cost avoidance structure that this helps, this helps promote um.
A dollar spent today is helping us save 5 later. Um, the, the term that we that we heard in committee a lot was called rate shock. Um, I think shock would be an understatement as to if this bill weren't to pass, what our ratepayers, our constituents would feel, uh, if the uh development of new base generation, um, opportunities took place. This bill didn't, wasn't in, in, in place to protect them. Shock would be an understatement. They'd be apoplectic. The, the increase in their rates would be so severe that we would see cost of living
adjustments and um negative cost of living, um, associated with our constituents because of the, the dramatic increase. And the other is what this does for base generation. Uh, this makes all projects, again with the two PowerPoints coming offline, shovel ready. A vote today, a yes vote today, gets these projects shovel ready so that we have the generation of the power power schedule we need, uh, in order to have, uh, the lights turned on. And also there's a, I was trying to uh reference a um a Winston Churchill quote paraphrased about, um, if you,
if your constituents and the people elect you to your office, can't flush a toilet. Don't expect to be re-elected. Um, if they can't flip on a light switch, don't expect to be re-elected. So thank you very good vote. Representative McKenzie has spoke
Representative Brian S. Evans
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1:45:01
for the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? Would anyone like to speak for
the bill? Representative Eaves, you are recognized to close for the bill. Mayors, I apologize to Representative Woolridge. I
Representative Les D. Eaves
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1:45:19
stepped out before I could see him standing up. I just want to address the question he had, and it's about can we use this to build plants out of state. The answer is yes. There are strict requirements on how that could be done. The language in the bill would have you prefer to build these plants in Arkansas, but in a rare occasion, uh, and it has to be again in the public interest. So it has to be in the interest of our Arkansans. You could build a plant, let's say for example, the transmission lines were already there, uh, the gas lines are there, all the infrastructure is there. You just needed to put a
plant there to generate power to send it back to Arkansas. That would be allowed. It's, it would have to go through the PSC process. Again, it's a pretty high bar, but that would be an option. Uh, again, everything we're doing here is trying to make sure
Chair
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1:46:06
we are providing plenty of power at the lowest cost. I appreciate a good vote. Thank you. Representative Eaves is closed for the bill. The question before the House is the passage of Senate Bill 307. Members, we have a pair on the desk. Representative Kendra Moore votes yes. Representative Stetson Painter votes no.
This pair was witnessed by Representative Trey Steel, Representative Painter is the present member. Please do not vote either of these machines. Are there any procedural objections to
Representative Brian S. Evans
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1:46:35
this pair, seeing none, prepare the machine, madam clerk. Remembers your
one vote is for the bill and the emergency clause. So everyone voted. As everyone voted.
Chair
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1:46:55
Cast up the ballot. By a vote of 77 ya, 13 nays, 9 president, the bill and the emergency clause has passed. Members will now go to the budget calendar.
Representative Jean, you are recognized to present the budget calendar.
Representative Lane Jean
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1:47:39
Right Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, we've got a series of
amendments. All these came from Governor's letter. If, uh, for the save us from time for this evening, I'll go over them. If you want to pull any of these amendments out.
Remember, we still got a vote on the bill. But I'll kind of give a quick synopsis of these amendments. Senate Bill 1092. Is, uh, the Department of Human Services. What this does is delete 19 positions, and it adds it to the division of Aging, Youth and Behavior, just moves them over. That's why there's a reduction in positions. House Bill 1095 with this does, this amendment does is create 12
positions, 12 examiners for the banks, excuse me, 6 examiners for the banks, 6 examiners for the securities. This is all paid out of cash fund within the industry. House Bill 1124. This is the appropriation for the, uh, DFNA. This takes 40 positions. There's no, we, we lost the dog track in, in, uh, West Memphis, 40 positions and it moves it over, uh, for these positions to be on, on the gambling side.
House Bill 1125, this amendment, amendment number 1, it's just a cleanup bill for DFNA and it came from Governor's letter number 20. House Bill 1191, the Department of Public Safety. Uh This is from Governor's letter 22. And it's, it's a, it's a ads. Several troopers. Uh, and leadership position, sergeants and such as that. It's a total cost of $150,000.
House Bill 1206, Department of Education, elementary education, uh, this is to clean up, came from Governor's letter number 26. And the Department of Military, which is House Bill 1232. This is all federal funds, uh, we added 27 positions of federal funding, and we did away with 68 positions in the department of military department. Any questions on any of these amendments.
With your blessing we'll, we'll batch these amendments on a voice vote.
And do I need to pull any of these out? Of the
Chair
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batch. So no, I appreciate a good vote on the amendments. Representative Jean has explained amendment number one to House Bill 1092, 1095, 1124, 11:25, 1191, 1206 and 1232. All those in favor of the amendment say aye. nays have it, please send the amendments to engrossing.
Representative Lane Jean
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1:50:39
Representative Junior recognized to present the budget. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Tonight is the speaker's banquet. Everybody needs to be in a festive mood. Do y'all, some of y'all probably don't know what festive is, but You need to be in one. So anyway, we're going to give a try for the tobacco sensation. House Bill 1094. Any questions? Your one vote is for the bill, the mercy clause, Mr. Speaker,
Chair
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had the clerk read the bill the 3rd time. Madam Clark, read the bill for the 3rd time 1094. Representative Jean has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? And when I speak
Representative Brian S. Evans
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1:51:24
for the bill. Representative Jean is closed for the bill. Question before the house is the passage of House Bill 1094. prepare the machine, Madam Clerk.
Everyone voted Everyone voted. Cast up the
Chair
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1:51:55
ballot. By a vote of 68, 17 nay, and 11 present. The bill has failed. Representative Jean. Thank you Mr. Speaker.
Representative Lane Jean
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1:52:08
Well, that didn't work. So let's go, we're gonna try to batch these two bills, the 2 house bills or House Bill 1147. This is the Secretary of State's, the only increase. We
did the amendment earlier on the 3.1 million for the security for the Capitol grounds and the 9.1 million for the, uh, air conditioning on the north end of the, of the, uh, Capitol. That's the only changes in Secretary of State's bill, and the other bill is, uh, Rich Mountain. Uh, community college is appropriation, it is flat. Any questions? I need to take any of these two out of the batch? Sing no, your one vote is for the two bills and the emergency
Speaker 23
1:52:49
clause, Mr. Speaker, the clerk read the bill for the 3rd time. Madam Clark, read the
bills for the 3rd time. House Bill 1147, House Bill 1246. in the machine, Madam Clerk. Remember your one vote is for the bills and the emergency clause. So everyone voted. So everyone voted. Cast up the ballot.
Chair
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1:53:23
By a vote of 96, 0 nay, and to present the bills and the
Representative Lane Jean
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1:53:31
emergency clauses have passed, Representative Jean. We're gonna skip over ULR for right now. We're gonna go to the Senate bills. We're gonna try to match these two. Well, we're gonna try to batch 3. We're gonna send it, uh, Senate Bill 22, Department of Inspector General, Senate Bill 38, Department of Health. This is the Laings and regulation.
And Senate Bill 42, this is the lieutenant Governor's office op all these are relatively flat. Uh, they come to, uh, us on governor's letter number 11. Except the lieutenant governor, and he came straight from his office, her office, excuse me. Any questions on these and I need to move these 3 out of the batch? Singan Senate Bill 22, Senate Bill 38, Senate Bill 42, your one vote is for the bill, the mercy clause, Mr. Speaker, had the clerk read the bill 3rd time.
Speaker 191
1:54:26
Madam Clerk, read the bills for the 3rd time. 22, Senate Bill
Chair
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1:54:37
38, Senate Bill 42. in the machine, Madam Clerk. Members, your one vote is for the bills
and the emergency clauses in the batch. So everyone voted. Everyone voted. Cast up the ballot. By
Chair
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1:54:49
a vote of 94 ye, 1 nay, and 2 present the bills in the emergency closets and the batch had passed. Representative Jean.
Representative Lane Jean
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1:55:01
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, colleagues, we're gonna skip down to Senate Bill 127. This is the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Campus budget We'll vote this singly since people have asked to pull it out of the batch before, so this will be a single vote. Any questions on this? Your one vote is for the bill and the mercy clause, Mr. Speaker, the clerk read the bill for the 3rd
time. Madam Clark, read the bill for the 3rd time. 127. Representative Jamess explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill?
And when I speak for the bill.
Chair
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1:55:38
Representative Jean is closed for the bill, question before the House is the passage of Senate Bill 127. Prepare
the machine, Madam Clerk. Everyone voted. So
Chair
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1:55:59
everyone voted. Cast up the ballot. By a vote of 62, 20 nays, and 11
Representative Lane Jean
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1:56:04
present. The bill has failed. Representative Jean. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, the next one is, uh, Senate Bill 336. This is the Capital improvement that was sent in over. I guess last week by the governor, I, I pulled this out for a member that had some questions. I'm a, I'm assuming They, they, it's good to go representative of Bentley said is good to go. Any questions on this? Your one vote is for the bill,
Speaker 224
1:56:35
the emergency clause, Mr. Speaker, the clerk read the bill a 3rd time. Ma clerk agreed the bill
for the 3rd time. about 336. Reverend Tim Jean has explained the bill. Would
Chair
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1:56:47
anyone likes to speak against the bill. For the bill Representative Jean is closed for the bill. Question before the house is the passage of Senate Bill 336. Prepare the machine, Madam Clerk. Members, your one
vote is for the bill and the emergency clause. Everyone voted.
Chair
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1:57:07
Because everyone voted. Cast up the ballot. By a vote of 95, 0, nay, and 2 present to build the emergency clause
Representative Lane Jean
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1:57:28
has passed. Representative Gene, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh,
this is Senate Bill 333, uh, Senator Flowers at the Senate.
I explained this last week. It's a $3 million appropriation with no funding, she would have to go find funding inside UAPB or get the governor to write her a letter and go through Pier and, uh, ALC. Any questions? Your one vote is for the bill, the emergency clause, Mr. Speaker, the clerk read bill 3rd time. Madam Clark, read the bill for
the 3rd time. 333. Representative Jean has explained the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill?
Anyone I speak for the bill. Representative Ferguson. Since you're walking this way. Representative Ferguson, you're reckon I speak
for the bill. Thank you,
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
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1:58:24
Mr. Speaker. Representative Jing has uh Explained the bill is there's no money. In this appropriation, but let
me tell you what we are at UAPB. We do have a police department.
The facility that they were in has been condemned. It was a house. Now they're in Complex D, which is a Dormitory. Now this is a temporary situation for the UABB campus police. And so this appropriation doesn't fix anything right away. They are gonna have to find the money. I would hope that you would take a look at these. This bill, this, and uh just give the university an opportunity to find the funds so
we can relocate uh our campus police department. Oh, thank you, colleagues.
Thank you Representative Ferguson who spoke for the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? Anyone like speak
Chair
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1:59:26
for the bill. Representative Shepherd, you're recognized speak for the
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
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1:59:39
bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, I wanted to take this opportunity, colleagues, as representative
Ferguson said he's absolutely correct. This is only allowing Senator Flowers to find money. Now, I've had the opportunity to speak, to speak to several of you gentlemen,
Speaker 234
2:00:02
officers. You understand the importance. So think about that for
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
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2:00:08
a second. We have UAPB law enforcement without a home.
They were in a house that had to be condemned. The conditions were just that poor. So now, the law enforcement is in a dormitory. Just think about that for a minute, gentlemen. Especially you all that are in law enforcement. These gentlemen need a home. For those that are not in law enforcement. If you got a child that's on a college campus.
You would want law enforcement to be in a position to where they can respond and respond appropriately, efficiently and as effectively and as swiftly as possible. So we're just asking, give senator flowers the opportunity to find the money. And why am I down here speaking as passionately as I am for this because I am a UAPB graduate.
I received my undergrad at UAPB and my graduate at ULR. But even if I was not a UAPB graduate. I wouldn't care if they was at ULR ASU or any of our other college institution. We have a responsibility, folks, to make sure that students on our college campuses are safe. So all we're asking is, give Senator flowers, the opportunity
to find the money. And with that, I would appreciate a good vote. Representative Shepherd has
spoke for the bill. Would anyone like to speak against the
Chair
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2:02:05
bill? Anybody like speak for the bill? Representative Barnes, you're recognized to speak for the bill.
Representative Glenn Barnes
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2:02:26
Thank you, chair. Colleagues, listen, I'm
Graduated UAPB also the police department is about. 70 yards from the church that I pastor. It is sad to see the condition of the police department where they were housed. I want to say UAPB. Uh, does not have the funds. And some of our other schools in Arkansas. But they should have the same love because they are under the
university of Arkansas Umbrella. All we're asking. Give us a chance to try to find the funds so we can take care of of the police department. I believe it's only fair. That we do that. They are part of the Arkansas system. Thank you so much. Representative Barnes has spoke for the
bill. Would anyone like to speak against the bill? Would anyone like to speak for the bill? Representative Jean is closed
Representative Brian S. Evans
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2:03:29
for the bill. Question before the house is the passage of Senate Bill 333. Prepare the machine, Madam
Clerk. So everyone voted. Your one vote is for the bill and the emergency clause. So everyone voted. Cast up the ballot. By a
Chair
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2:03:49
vote of 82 ye, 2 nays, and 11 present, the bill and the emergency clause has passed.
Representative Stephen Meeks
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2:04:00
Represented Meeks, for what purpose? Motion. You're recognized
Representative Jimmy Gazaway
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2:04:06
for motion pursuant to Rule 33M. I move we adjourn until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon. That's a proper motion. It's non-debatable.
Chair
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2:04:12
All those in favor say aye. Osnay, the ayes
Representative Brian S. Evans
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2:04:18
have it. Have any committee report or committee announcements, Representative Lynch, for what purpose? Tomorrow at
Speaker 241
2:04:22
10 a.m. A meeting in room 138. Representative Barker, for what purpose? You're recognized.
Representative Sonia Eubanks Barker
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2:04:31
Um, aging children and youth will meet at
Chair
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2:04:35
10 a.m. in room 1:30. Representative Pilkington, for what purpose?
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:04:38
You're recognized JBC Pier we'll meet tomorrow at 8 a.m. and uh Mackay. Representative
Gazaway, for what purpose? You're recognized agencies will meet
Representative Jimmy Gazaway
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2:04:47
tomorrow morning 10:00 a.m., room 151. Representative Wooldridge, what
purpose announcement you're recognized public health will meet today
Representative Steven Walker
Unverified
2:04:54
5 minutes upon adjournment, uh, room 130. Representative Maddox, for what
Speaker 26
2:05:01
purpose? Announcement you're recognized. Insurance and commerce will meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. in room 149. Representative Gonzalez, for what purpose? You're
Speaker 244
2:05:11
recognized 10 a.m. might be. Representative Meeks, for
Representative Jimmy Gazaway
Unverified
2:05:16
what purpose? Announcement you're recognized. Technology committee will meet at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon in MacA. Any other committee announcements. Any other
committee announcements? Seeing none, the desk will remain open as needed.
Who did I miss? Walker, Representative Walker, what purpose? That's announcement, you're recognized. House
Speaker 248
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management in room 138 at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The desk will remain open
Chair
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2:05:42
as needed for the reading of the bills and upon completion of the items named in the adjourned motion.
Agenda
Call to order
Prayer
Pledge
Roll Call
RESOLUTIONS
HR1057 T. Shephard TO RECOGNIZE THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN, CENTRAL ARKANSAS BRANCH, FOR ADVANCING GENDER EQUITY FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS THROUGH RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND ADVOCACY.
HR1071 Wing TO RECOGNIZE MARCH 2025 AS AMERICAN RED CROSS MONTH AND SUPPORT THE HUMANITARIAN MISSION OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS.
End of Morning Hour
CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENT
HB1552 #1 Gazaway TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING CERTAIN INCHOATE OFFENSES RELATED TO FENTANYL; AND TO ESTABLISH THE CLASSIFICATION FOR A CRIMINAL ATTEMPT, SOLICITATION, OR CONSPIRACY FOR CERTAIN FENTANYL RELATED OFFENSES.
REGULAR BILLS
HB1509 Beaty Jr. TO CREATE THE SECOND AMENDMENT FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT; AND TO PROHIBIT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FROM USING CERTAIN DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES.
HB1604 McAlindon TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PROHIBITED CONTRACTS BY STATE AGENCIES; AND TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS BY STATE AGENCIES TO PURCHASE PROMOTIONAL ITEMS MADE IN CHINA.
HB1637 Ray CONCERNING THE DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENTATION OF FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE FISCAL IMPACT OF STATEWIDE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM MEASURES AND LEGISLATIVELY REFERRED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.
HB1713 Rose TO REQUIRE BALLOT TITLES FOR INITIATED MEASURES TO BE AT OR UNDER A CERTAIN READING LEVEL; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
HB1303 Jean TO CREATE THE SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL INCENTIVE ACT; AND TO CREATE AN INCOME TAX CREDIT RELATED TO SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL.
HB1079 F. Allen TO MANDATE COVERAGE FOR GENETIC TESTING FOR AN INHERITED GENE MUTATION FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS; AND TO MANDATE COVERAGE FOR EVIDENCE-BASED CANCER IMAGING FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS.
HB1622 Gramlich TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO MODIFY THE DEFINITION OF "ADVERSE DECISION" UNDER THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; AND TO PROVIDE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE RECONSIDERATION UNDER THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT.
HB1582 McAlindon TO REQUIRE CERTAIN ACTIONS AND ENCOURAGE CERTAIN ACTIONS FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR BENEFITS UNDER THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES LAW.
HB1598 Brooks TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH A NEW ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS; AND TO REMOVE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM SCHOOL RATINGS FOR CERTAIN SCHOOL YEARS.
REGULAR SENATE BILLS
SB270 Crowell Wooldridge TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE FILING PERIODS OF CERTAIN NONPARTISAN SCHOOL BOARD AND MUNICIPAL CANDIDATES.
SB118 C. Penzo Bentley TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "AUDIOLOGY" RELATING TO THE PRACTICE OF AUDIOLOGISTS.
SB189 A. Clark Bentley TO AUTHORIZE IVERMECTIN FOR HUMAN USE TO BE SOLD WITHOUT A PRESCRIPTION OR CONSULTATION WITH A HEALTHCARE
PROFESSIONAL.
SB307 J. Dismang Eaves TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC UTILITIES; TO CREATE THE GENERATING ARKANSAS JOBS ACT OF 2025; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
Bills to Be Amended
HB1092 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - DIVISION OF PROVIDER SERVICES AND QUALITY ASSURANCE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1095 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE - STATE BANK DEPARTMENT AND STATE SECURITIES DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1124 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1125 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION - REGULATORY DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1191 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1206 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION - PUBLIC SCHOOL FUND APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
HB1232 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE MILITARY APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
Bills and their Emergency Clauses to be considered which have been introduced by Joint Budget Committee
HB1094 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH - TOBACCO PREVENTION AND CESSATION PROGRAMS APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
jean
HB1147 AN ACT FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
jean
HB1246 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE AT RICH MOUNTAIN APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
jean
HB1265 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
SB22 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF INSPECTOR GENERAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
jean
SB38 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH -LICENSING AND REGULATION BOARDS APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
jean
SB42 AN ACT FOR THE OFFICE OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
jean
SB64 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION DIVISION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
SB125 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
SB127 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS - FAYETTEVILLE APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
jean
SB336 AN ACT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT APPROPRIATION.
jean
Bills and their Emergency Clauses to be considered which have been introduced by Senators
SB333 AN ACT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT PINE BLUFF - POLICE STATION FACILITY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATION FOR THE 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR.
jean
ferguson
shepherd
barnes
Motion to Adjourn
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Speakers
Chair
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Speaker 9
Speaker 20
Speaker 23
Speaker 27
Representative Brian S. Evans
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Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
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Representative Tippi McCullough
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Representative Carlton Wing
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Speaker 34
Speaker 64
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
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Representative Zack Gramlich Chair
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Representative Aaron Pilkington
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Representative Jeff Wardlaw
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Representative Randy Torres
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Speaker 93
Representative Mindy McAlindon
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Representative David Ray
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Representative Ryan A. Rose
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Speaker 115
Speaker 117
Representative Tracy Steele
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Speaker 121
Representative Nicole Clowney
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Representative Lane Jean
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Speaker 143
Representative Jim Wooten
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Representative Fred Allen
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Speaker 126
Speaker 162
Speaker 101
Speaker 22
Representative Keith Brooks
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Speaker 179
Representative Steven Walker
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Speaker 68
Representative Mary Bentley
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Speaker 191
Speaker 44
Representative Andrew Collins
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Speaker 200
Representative Les D. Eaves
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Speaker 205
Speaker 168
Representative Stephen Meeks
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Representative Brit McKenzie
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Speaker 224
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
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Speaker 233
Speaker 234
Representative Glenn Barnes
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Representative Jimmy Gazaway
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Speaker 241
Representative Sonia Eubanks Barker
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Speaker 26
Speaker 244
Speaker 248