Arkansas House Approves Bill to Expand Public Drinking to Dry Counties

Alcohol, Public Drinking, ,

On Thursday the Arkansas House of Representatives voted to advance a bill that expands public drinking in dry counties.

Currently, cities and towns in wet counties can approve public drinking in commercial neighborhoods where bars and restaurants are located.

H.B. 1228 by Rep. Lee Johnson (R – Greenwood) and Sen. Breanne Davis (R – Russellville) effectively makes it possible for many cities in dry counties to approve public drinking in these so-called “entertainment districts.”

Public drinking doesn’t attract new businesses or bolster the economy. It hurts neighborhoods and families.

This bad bill passed with 54 votes. It now goes to the Arkansas Senate.

Below is a breakdown of the vote on H.B. 1228 in the Arkansas House.

Voted For The Bill

  • Barker
  • Beatty Jr.
  • M. Berry
  • Boyd
  • Breaux
  • Brown
  • Bryant
  • Carr
  • Cavenaugh
  • Christiansen
  • Clowney
  • Coleman
  • A. Collins
  • Cozart
  • Crawford
  • Dalby
  • M. Davis
  • Ennett
  • Eubanks
  • Evans
  • K. Ferguson
  • D. Ferguson
  • Fielding
  • C. Fite
  • V. Flowers
  • D. Garner
  • Godfrey
  • M. Gray
  • Haak
  • Hillman
  • M. Hodges
  • Hollowell
  • Hudson
  • L. Johnson
  • Lowery
  • Maddox
  • Magie
  • McCollum
  • McCullough
  • McNair
  • Penzo
  • Perry
  • Pilkington
  • Ray
  • Richardson
  • Scott
  • Slape
  • Speaks
  • Springer
  • Tollett
  • Underwood
  • Warren
  • Watson
  • D. Whitaker

Voted Against the Bill

  • Berry
  • Cloud
  • C. Cooper
  • Deffenbaugh
  • Dotson
  • Fortner
  • Gazaway
  • Gonzales
  • Lynch
  • J. Mayberry
  • M. McElroy
  • McKenzie
  • Miller
  • Milligan
  • Payton
  • Rye
  • B. Smith
  • Vaught
  • Wing
  • Womack
  • Wooten

Voted “Present” on the Bill

  • Bragg
  • Brooks
  • Eaves
  • L. Fite
  • Furman
  • Hawks
  • Holcomb
  • Love
  • Lundstrum
  • McClure
  • McGrew
  • S. Meeks
  • Nicks

Did Not Vote

  • F. Allen
  • Beck
  • Bentley
  • Jean
  • Jett
  • Ladyman
  • Murdock
  • Richmond
  • Shepherd
  • S. Smith
  • Tosh
  • Wardlaw

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Bill Filed to Protect Healthcare Workers’ Rights of Conscience in Arkansas

Legislation, Legislature, Rights of Conscience,

On Thursday Sen. Kim Hammer (R – Benton) and Rep. Brandt Smith (R – Jonesboro) filed S.B. 289, the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act. This good bill protects healthcare workers’ rights of conscience in Arkansas.

S.B. 289 supplements existing conscience protections in Arkansas law.

It emphasizes the right of healthcare providers, institutions, and payers to decline to participate in medical procedures that violate their moral, religious, or ethical convictions. It also prohibits retaliatory discrimination against healthcare providers, institutions, or payers for declining to participate in healthcare services that violate their consciences.

Arkansas’ current conscience protections are narrowly focused on abortion, abortifacients, and end of life decisions, and they protect only a limited number of people. S.B. 289 helps broaden and strengthen those protections for healthcare workers.

No one should have to worry about facing discrimination for obeying their conscientious convictions.

You can read S.B. 289 here.

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Bill Filed to Improve Arkansas’ Restrictions on Abortion Drugs

Abortion, , , ,

On Wednesday Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover) and Sen. Blake Johnson (R – Corning) filed H.B. 1402 improving Arkansas’ restrictions on drugs like RU-486 that doctors use in chemical abortions.

H.B. 1402 outlines requirements that abortionists must follow in administering abortion-inducing drugs, and it prohibits abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas.

It also updates current law to ensure doctors who perform chemical abortions are credentialed to handle abortion complications and can transfer the woman to a hospital if she experiences complications.

Since 2015, we’ve seen a push at the federal level to make abortion-inducing drugs easier to obtain.

Under President Obama’s watch, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration changed the protocols for the RU-486 regimen. These changes made it easier for abortionists to give abortion-inducing drugs to women.

Pro-abortion activists also have taken legal action demanding that abortion drugs be available by mail rather than in-person from a doctor’s office.

H.B. 1402 will help act as a shield if the Biden Administration or the courts decide to relax these federal abortion rules any further. It also helps further clarify Arkansas’ restrictions on chemical abortions.

That has the potential to protect a lot of unborn children in Arkansas.

You can read H.B. 1402 here.

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