Legislation – Page 18 – Family Council

UPDATED: Ask Your Representative to Support Religious Freedom

Apr 5, 2013JerryLegislation, Religious FreedomAlert, Arkansas Legislature, Legislation, Legislature, Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty, RFRA

SB1119, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, needs your support.

This good law affirms the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and can prevent the future erosion of religious liberty. The Home School Legal Defense Association has written extensively about how state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts like this one help protect home schoolers who want to home school for religious reasons from harassment. Last week Texas’ religious freedom law was used to overturn a Dallas city ordinance preventing local ministries from distributing food to the homeless.

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Why Arkansas Needs The Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Apr 3, 2013JerryLegislation, Religious FreedomArkansas Legislature, Legislation, Legislature, Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty, RFRA

SB1119, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) affirms the traditional interpretation of “free exercise of religion” under the U.S. Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution. It provides legal recourse for individuals whose religious freedoms are infringed and prescribes penalties for filing frivolous or fraudulent lawsuits. (more…)

Nearly 700 Bills Filed in One Day

Mar 12, 2013JerryLegislatureArkansas Legislature, Legislation, 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: