Legislative Update

By Larry Page, Director - Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council

The second month of this legislative session is about to go into the books. The following is a compilation of some of the key bills and proposals with which we are concerned, working on at some level or tracking. There are other measures, but the ones we list in these updates are the major ones.

Some bills covered in previous updates are not included in this one. Those are bills that were either passed and signed into law, defeated, withdrawn by the sponsor(s) or still in the hopper but dormant and may or may not become active again. If any of these dormant bills become active, we will add them back into these legislative alerts. We omit the bills in those four categories to prevent the updates from being too long.

We begin this update by acknowledging a significant achievement and the part many of you played in that success. If it becomes law, Senate Bill 66 (SB66) will require that internet distributors of obscenity utilize reasonable age-verification methods to prevent minors from acquiring the obscenity. SB66 was approved recently in the Senate, but on Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the House Rules Committee, no member made a motion to approve the bill. That development effectively prevented the full House from hearing the bill.

SB66 got another hearing in the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, March 1. We thought that with help from our grassroots network, the outcome might be different. Early Tuesday, we sent emails to our entire grassroots email list, asking that emails be sent to the members of the House Rules Committee, encouraging them to grant their approval to SB66. Many of you took that step, and on Wednesday, March 1, that committee gave a unanimous vote of approval to the bill. Due to the efforts of many of you, this really good bill will be heard in the full House, where it should get overwhelming approval and, upon the Governor’s signature, it will become the law of Arkansas. We are most grateful for your help on this. We couldn’t get close to these kinds of achievements without so many of God’s people taking a stand for righteousness.

• Senate Bill 43 (SB43) — This bill will further define what constitutes “adult-oriented performances” and will prohibit such performances from being conducted on public property or in the presence of children and further forbids public funding of those events. This bill has been approved by both chambers of the legislature and signed into law by the governor. It is now Act 131. This victory represents a concrete move to protect our state’s children from being exposed to indecent and sexually provocative displays.

• Senate Bill 81 (SB81) — This bill will amend the law concerning obscenity provided to a minor, including from a library. It was amended recently and is pending in the House’s Judiciary Committee. It looks as if it is headed for approval and will soon become law. It will be a proper outcome in further efforts to protect the sensibilities of children.

• House Bill 1156 (HB1156) — If approved, HB1156 will protect students at public schools and public charter schools from having to share sex-specific spaces such as locker rooms, shower rooms, restrooms and changing areas where stages of undress are common with a member of the opposite biological sex. Accommodations, such as single-use facilities may be provided for those declaring a different gender identity than the sexual identity given at birth. The House and the Senate’s Education Committee have approved the bill. If approved by the full Senate, it will go to the governor and, upon her signature, this will be a good law that will be essential if we are to protect female students from having to undress and shower with biological males.

• Senate Bill 270 (SB270) — This bill will amend the laws regarding the criminal offenses of sexual indecency with children. Essentially, the bill will make it a crime for an adult to knowingly enter and remain in a public changing facility (bathroom, locker room or shower room) assigned to persons of the opposite sex while knowing a minor of the opposite sex is present in that facility. After being amended for the third time, the bill was approved by the Senate’s Judiciary Committee. Now it will go before the full Senate and, if approved there, will go over to the House for consideration.

• House Bill 1502 (HB1502) — This bill was recently filed. If it becomes law, HB1502 will create the criminal offense of sexual solicitation of a minor. The bill was filed in the House Judiciary Committee, where it awaits a hearing. After an initial review, it appears this bill could be very helpful in protecting children.

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about any of these issues. We will be glad to explain these matters further. Thanks for your participation in good government. It works best when we get involved, have our voices heard and our preferences are known.