Four Great Bills Advance in the Arkansas Legislature

Legislature

Four great bills passed key legislative hurdles yesterday.

In the House Education Committee, Rep. Clemmer’s bill (HB1629) was approved. This bill would ensure that home-schooled students have an equal opportunity to receive the Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship. HB1690 by Rep. Debra Hobbs—which would institute a minute of silence at the beginning of each public school day—also passed the committee. Both bills will be considered by the Arkansas House of Representatives next week.

In the House Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jim Hendren’s bill, SB417, was approved by the committee. This pro-life bill doesn’t address abortions; it updates Arkansas’s fetal homicide law in the criminal code. It now heads back to the Senate to concur in some amendments, but it’s safe to say that it’ll become law soon. Another great bill that passed was Rep. Charlene Fite’s bill, HB1447, requiring abortion facilities to be mandatory reporters of child abuse. This bill will be considered by the Arkansas House of Representatives next week.

We’ll continue to keep you updated as the session moves along.

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Nearly 700 Bills Filed in One Day

Legislature, ,

Yesterday marked the deadline for filing new legislation at the Capitol for this legislative session.

From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. yesterday, nearly 700 bills and resolutions were filed by lawmakers. More than 650 of those were new laws senators and representatives would like to propose.

Many of these were what we call “shell bills.” Shell bills simply state the bill’s purpose in a sentence or two, and are fleshed out later with amendments. Others, however, are already complete pieces of legislation.

Here are a few bills filed yesterday worth noting:

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