Arkansas House Passes Bill to Protect Teachers Who Decline to Use Students’ Preferred Pronouns

Education,

On Monday the Arkansas House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill to help protect students and teachers who decline to use a person’s preferred pronouns at school.

H.B. 1468 by Rep. Wayne Long (R – Bradford) and Sen. Mark Johnson (R – Little Rock) says that a student or teacher cannot not be penalized for declining to address a person by a pronoun that is inconsistent with the person’s biological sex.

As we have reported before, educators in other states have been fired and suspended for declining to use students’ chosen pronouns.

H.B. 1468 would help prevent that from happening in Arkansas.

The bill now goes to the Arkansas Senate for consideration.

The Following Representatives Voted For H.B. 1468

  • Andrews
  • Barker
  • Beaty Jr.
  • Beck
  • Bentley
  • M. Berry
  • Breaux
  • K. Brown
  • M. Brown
  • Burkes
  • John Carr
  • Cavenaugh
  • C. Cooper
  • Cozart
  • Crawford
  • Duffield
  • Duke
  • Evans
  • C. Fite
  • L. Fite
  • Fortner
  • Furman
  • Gazaway
  • Gramlich
  • Haak
  • D. Hodges
  • G. Hodges
  • Hollowell
  • L. Johnson
  • Ladyman
  • Long
  • Lundstrum
  • Lynch
  • Maddox
  • McAlindon
  • McClure
  • McCollum
  • M. McElroy
  • McGrew
  • McNair
  • S. Meeks
  • Miller
  • Milligan
  • J. Moore
  • Painter
  • Pearce
  • Pilkington
  • Puryear
  • Ray
  • Richmond
  • Rose
  • Rye
  • R. Scott Richardson
  • Steimel
  • Tosh
  • Underwood
  • Unger
  • Vaught
  • Walker
  • Warren
  • Watson
  • Wing
  • Womack
  • Wooldridge
  • Wooten

The Following Representatives Voted Against H.B. 1468

  • Joey Carr
  • Clowney
  • A. Collins
  • Ennett
  • D. Ferguson
  • K. Ferguson
  • V. Flowers
  • D. Garner
  • Hudson
  • Magie
  • McCullough
  • Nicks
  • Perry
  • J. Richardson
  • Scott
  • T. Shephard
  • Springer
  • D. Whitaker

The Following Representatives Voted “Present”

  • Brooks
  • Gonzales
  • Hawk
  • B. McKenzie
  • Schulz

The Following Representatives Did Not Vote

  • Achor
  • F. Allen
  • S. Berry
  • Dalby
  • Eaves
  • Eubanks
  • Holcomb
  • Jean
  • J. Mayberry
  • K. Moore
  • Wardlaw
  • Speaker Shepherd

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House Education Committee Passes Bill Expanding Interscholastic Opportunities for Home Schoolers

Education, , ,

On Tuesday the House Education Committee passed a good bill expanding interscholastic opportunities for home schoolers.

S.B. 361 by Sen. Matt McKee (R – Pearcy) and Rep. Cameron Cooper (R – Romance) amends Arkansas’ “Tim Tebow” law that lets home schoolers participate in athletics and other interscholastic activities at their local public schools. The law is named after former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, who was able to play football as a home schooler thanks to a similar law in Florida.

S.B. 361 makes it easier for home schoolers to participate in an interscholastic activity in a neighboring school district if their local district doesn’t offer the activity.

It also clarifies requirements in the “Tebow” law about enrollment in public school classes and about the waiting period for students who want to play sports after withdrawing from a public school to start home schooling.

As we said when lawmakers passed it in 2013, the “Tim Tebow” law is about school choice.

It empowers families by providing children with interscholastic options as well as educational options.

Last summer Family Council obtained government data showing at least 463 home schooled students utilized the “Tim Tebow” law in 2021.

The “Tim Tebow” law is a good law that Family Council has been pleased to support over the years.

You Can Read S.B. 361 Here.

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

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Senate Public Health Committee Advances Good Bills

Abortion, , , ,

On Monday the Senate Public Health Committee advanced two good bills.

The first was S.B. 452 by Sen. Ben Gilmore (R – Crossett) and Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R – Centerton).

The bill amends the legislative declarations in the Arkansas Family Planning Act of 1973. It deletes legislative findings in state law that claim, “Continuing population growth either causes or aggravates many social, economic, and environmental problems, both in this state and in the nation,” and that “[c]ontraceptive procedures, supplies, and information as to and procedures for voluntary sterilization are not sufficiently available as a practical matter to many persons in this state.”

The second was S.B. 463 — also by Sen. Ben Gilmore (R – Crossett) and Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R – Centerton) — clarifying that the State Medical Board will revoke the license of a physician that violates Arkansas’ laws against abortion-inducing drugs.

Both bills now go to the Arkansas Senate for consideration.

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