Arkansas Senate Passes Measure Protecting Children From Sexual Indecency

Legislation,

On Tuesday the Arkansas Senate passed a bill addressing sexual indecency with a minor in public changing areas.

S.B. 270 by Sen. John Payton (R – Wilburn) and Rep. Cindy Crawford (R – Fort Smith) clarifies that an adult commits sexual indecency if the adult enters and remains in a changing area where a child of the opposite sex is present.

It’s a good bill that will help protect children in Arkansas, and Family Council is pleased to be able to work with lawmakers to support this measure.

S.B. 270 now goes to the Arkansas House of Representatives for consideration.

The Following Senators Voted For S.B. 270

  1. Boyd
  2. Crowell
  3. Dees
  4. Dotson
  5. Flippo
  6. Gilmore
  7. Hammer
  8. Hester
  9. Irvin
  10. Johnson, B.
  11. Johnson, M.
  12. McKee
  13. Payton
  14. Petty
  15. Rice
  16. Stone
  17. Stubblefield
  18. Sullivan
  19. Wallace

The Following Senators Voted Against S.B. 270

  1. Bryant
  2. Chesterfield
  3. Flowers
  4. Leding
  5. Love
  6. Murdock
  7. Tucker

The Following Senator Voted “Present” on S.B. 270

  1. Hill

The Following Senators Did Not Vote

  1. Davis
  2. Dismang
  3. English
  4. Hickey
  5. King
  6. Penzo

The Following Senators Were Excused From Voting

  1. Caldwell
  2. Clark

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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House Public Health Committee Defeats Bill That Would Weaken Arkansas’ Pro-Life Laws

Abortion, , , ,
Above: Family Council staff member Charisse Dean (right) testifies against H.B. 1301 in committee.

On Tuesday the House Public Health Committee defeated a bill that would weaken the state’s pro-life laws.

H.B. 1301 by Rep. Nicole Clowney (D – Fayetteville) would legalize abortion in cases of “fetal abnormality incompatible with life.”

Now that Roe v. Wade has been reversed, abortion is prohibited in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother. H.B. 1301 would undermine Arkansas’ good, pro-life laws.

Among other things, the bill does not define what is or is not a “fetal abnormality.” It is not clear how a federal judge might interpret this language.

Unborn children should not be aborted simply because a doctor thinks they may be at risk for a fetal abnormality.

That is part of the reason why Family Council strongly opposed this bill.

Arkansas Right to Life, Family Council, and many pro-lifers came out against H.B. 1301 at the legislature on Tuesday.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who took time to help stop this bad bill at the Arkansas Legislature, and we want to thank the members of the House Public Health Committee for upholding the state’s good, pro-life laws that are saving the lives of unborn children.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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House Committee Fails to Pass Bill That Would Address Obscenity at Libraries

Legislation, , , ,
Above: Family Council staff member Luke McCoy was among those who testified in favor of S.B. 81 at Tuesday’s committee meeting.

On Tuesday the House Judiciary Committee failed to pass a measure that would address obscene material in libraries across Arkansas.

S.B. 81 by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R – Russellville) and Rep. Justin Gonzales (R – Okolona) prohibits giving or sending harmful sexual material to a child.

The bill eliminates exemptions for libraries and schools in the state’s obscenity statute, and it clarifies how library patrons can work to remove objectionable material from a library’s catalog.

As we have written before, the Jonesboro public library has been at the center of multiple controversies over its decision to place books with sexually-explicit images in its children’s section and for failing to adopt a policy that separates sexual material from children’s content.

The library in Jonesboro went so far as to post on Facebook that it isn’t the library’s responsibility to protect kids from obscenity.

Other public libraries in Arkansas have failed to separate sexual material from children’s material as well.

More and more, Family Council is hearing from people who are deeply troubled by the obscene children’s books that librarians have placed on the shelves of their local libraries.

Some of the people who have testified publicly against S.B. 81 this year have signaled that they want to be free to share obscene material with children at a library.

S.B. 81 is a good bill that would help prevent that.

Unfortunately, the bill failed to pass on a voice vote at Tuesday morning’s House Judiciary Committee meeting, but it could come back up later in the session.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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