On Wednesday the Arkansas Senate passed H.B. 1977 by Rep. Joshua Bryant and Sen. Bob Ballinger, and the Arkansas House passed S.B. 739 by Sen. Kim Hammer and Rep. Joshua Bryant.
The two bills are virtually identical.
Both of them require employers to provide certain exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Under these measures, if an employer mandates COVID-19 vaccines, employees who decline to receive the vaccine could instead provide a negative COVID test to their employer on a regular basis or provide proof of natural immunity from a healthcare provider.
Both bills have passed in the entire Arkansas Legislature. The next step is for one or both of them to go to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.