Committees Pass Measures to Strengthen Rights of Conscience, Religious Liberty in Arkansas

Religious Freedom, ,

This week committees in the Arkansas House of Representatives backed two good bills protecting rights of conscience and the free exercise of religion.

In recent years, Arkansas has passed some of the best rights of conscience and religious freedom protections in the country.

In 2015, the state enacted its Religious Freedom Restoration Act. And lawmakers passed good bills in 2023 to further strengthen that law.

In 2021, Arkansas passed Act 462 protecting healthcare workers’ rights of conscience.

Before that law passed, Arkansas’ conscience protections were narrowly focused on abortion and end of life decisions, and they protected very few people. Act 462 helped broaden those protections and apply them to all healthcare workers.

On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee backed H.B. 1615 to further strengthen Arkansas’ protections concerning the free exercise of religion. This good bill by Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R — Elm Springs) and Sen. Gary Stubblefield (R — Branch) would ensure that religious organizations and religious individuals are not penalized for living out their deeply held religious convictions.

Time and again, wedding venues, bakeries, photography studios, florist shops, and others have been targeted by public officials and dragged into court simply because their owners wanted to operate according to their deeply held convictions.

H.B. 1615 will help prevent the government from burdening the free exercise of religion in Arkansas.

On Wednesday, the Senate Public Health Committee passed S.B. 444 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Lee Johnson (R — Greenwood). This good bill improves the healthcare workers’ rights of conscience law Arkansas passed in 2021.

Among other things, S.B. 444 adds whistleblower protections for healthcare workers, and it helps protect all medical professionals from having their rights of conscience violated.

If H.B. 1615 and S.B. 444 pass this year, Arkansas law will continue to provide some of the best protections for religious liberty and medical rights of conscience in the country.

That would be something to celebrate.

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

READ MORE

Arkansas House Passes Bad Bill Legalizing Marijuana Deliveries

Marijuana,

On Wednesday the Arkansas House of Representatives narrowly passed a bad bill that would let “medical” marijuana dispensaries deliver marijuana to patients and caregivers in Arkansas.

In 2016, Arkansas enacted an amendment permitting “medical” marijuana in the state. At the time, we said that people would use marijuana recreationally under the amendment — and there is evidence showing that is happening.

H.B. 1889 by Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R — Knoxville) and Sen. Joshua Bryant (R — Rogers) would let marijuana dispensaries in Arkansas deliver marijuana directly to patients and caregivers.

Under current law, marijuana is processed and delivered to dispensaries that are authorized to sell marijuana.

H.B. 1889 would let dispensaries use delivery vehicles to deliver marijuana to people rather than requiring people to come to the dispensary.

Letting marijuana dispensaries deliver marijuana to people serves no legitimate purpose, and it undermines regulations on “medical” marijuana.

The Arkansas Constitution already lets “designated caregivers” deliver marijuana to patients who are authorized to use it. That provision was written into the medical marijuana amendment to assist patients who can’t go to the dispensary.

Since designated caregivers are already able to deliver “medical” marijuana to patients, the deliveries legalized under H.B. 1889 are unnecessary.

Marijuana deliveries like the ones allowed under H.B. 1889 make it easier for “medical” marijuana to be moved to the black market or fall into the hands of people who are not authorized to use “medical” marijuana — including children.

States around the country have continued to encounter serious problems with marijuana trafficked illegally on the black market. Despite some provisions in H.B. 1889, the bill simply does not provide the kind of oversight necessary to keep that from happening in Arkansas.

You Can Read H.B. 1889 Here.

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

READ MORE