Arkansas lawmakers are gradually getting into the rhythm of their work in the second week of the 2025 legislative session. After a break on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, many state officials used the opportunity to attend inauguration events in Washington.
Among those attending were Rep. Mindy McAlindon, Attorney General Tim Griffin, and Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Sanders, a former press secretary under President Donald Trump, even delivered a speech at an event after the inauguration, expressing her excitement about the political shift in Washington, D.C.
1. Revisions to Proposed Bills
The Arkansas legislative session has begun with several bill revisions. On Tuesday, as lawmakers returned to the Capitol, many committees held organizational meetings, while others began reviewing bills. However, most of these bills were met with questions and revisions, as lawmakers were cautious in their approach. One example of this was Rep.
Chad Puryear’s bill regulating liability for youth shooting events. After discussions in the House Judiciary Committee, concerns about the bill’s vagueness, lack of recourse for victims, and failure to specifically include “youth” in the language led Puryear to pull the bill for further revision.
Other bills that faced revisions included a proposal to offer a lifetime hunting and fishing license to commercial truck drivers who provide information about human trafficking, and another to establish a joint committee for military and veterans’ affairs.
A controversial bill that would require public schools to teach the dangers of communism and autocratic governments, while promoting the U.S. constitutional republic, also faced challenges in its early stages.
2. Hospital Pharmacies Legislation
One of the few bills that received a vote this week was Senate Bill 58, introduced by Senator Jonathan Dismang. This bill aimed to allow nonprofit hospitals to hold retail pharmacy permits. Currently, Arkansas is the only state where nonprofit or government-funded hospitals are prohibited from owning or acquiring interest in retail pharmacies.
Supporters of the bill argue that allowing hospitals to run retail pharmacies would improve access to medications, especially for patients in rural areas where independent pharmacies may struggle to provide specialized or expensive medications.
However, the bill was narrowly defeated in the Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee, with only four senators voting in favor and three against. Despite the setback, Dismang stated he did not plan to amend the bill, but acknowledged that the proposal could be revisited in the future.
3. Bills Addressing Child Abuse and Protection
In a significant development on Wednesday, Sen. David Wallace introduced Senate Bill 13, which aims to protect funds allocated to victims of child abuse in Arkansas. The bill received approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee and is designed to safeguard nationally allocated funds for over 500 victims of child abuse in the state.
Wallace had previously sponsored a 2021 bill that extended the age limit for survivors of child sexual abuse to take legal action against their perpetrators. The law was further amended in 2023, removing the age limit and extending the filing deadline for claims until February 2026. The Arkansas Court of Appeals is currently considering whether the legislature has the authority to remove the statute of limitations on these cases, which could lead to new legal actions in the future.
4. New Legislative Proposals
Alongside the revisions to existing bills, Arkansas lawmakers also introduced several new bills this week:
- House Bill 1180: This bill, introduced by Rep. Mary Bentley, would require public schools to integrate human growth and development discussions into an existing health and safety course, beginning no later than fifth grade. The discussion would include a high-definition ultrasound and a video from Live Action, an anti-abortion nonprofit. This bill is part of ongoing debates about sex education in Arkansas, where it is not required in public schools.
- House Bill 1190: Rep. DeAnn Vaught introduced a bill that would create an income tax credit for public school teachers on the first $50,000 of their wages. This bill comes after a 2023 legislative decision to raise the state’s minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000.
Conclusion
As the legislative session continues, Arkansas lawmakers are adjusting and fine-tuning the bills on their agenda. While some bills have moved forward, others have faced setbacks or revisions to address concerns. The session is still in its early stages, and more discussions and decisions are expected in the coming weeks. From education to healthcare, these legislative changes will likely have a lasting impact on the state’s policies.
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