Weeks 1 and 2 of the 2025 general session are in the books! How’s everybody doing? Hanging in there?

Here’s a few things we’re watching. 

Lobbyists

Organizational meetings for standing committees took up the majority of Week 1. These meetings let new members introduce themselves and get a sense for their new colleagues. Interestingly, some committee chairs also asked the crowd to introduce themselves. This gave us a good sense for the special interests that will be influencing lawmakers as they work to pass bills. 

The phrase “special interests” certainly has a negative connotation, and while we’re nervous about some of the folks in the crowd, we should note that many of the people in the crowd were career civil servants coming from various agencies, departments, and well-regarded nonprofits. For example, several individuals from organizations supporting two-year and technical colleges attended the Senate Education committee, and the Bar Association sent representatives to Judiciary. That’s not out of line. 

However, we saw representatives from the Family Council (who opposed both the Arkansas Abortion Amendment with disinformation and fearmongering) and the Governor’s Office floating around. The Governor likes to have her hands in as many pies as possible, and you can bet your salary that Jerry Cox will do whatever he can to make direct democracy harder and make life worse for Arkansas’s women and children. 

Bills Heard in Committee

Very few bills were heard in the first two weeks, but there’s a few that piqued our interest. 

We already wrote about Mary Bentley’s terrible anti-sex ed bill. 

House Judiciary heard HB1007 from Rep. Puryear, which essentially removes liability from private citizens who open their land for shooting ranges in the event of an accident. A bipartisan group of legislators pointed out a serious lack of definitions and limitations, nothing that, as written, it would have also removed liability from public, for-profit ranges. After a bit of wrangling, the committee managed to talk Rep. Puryear into some revisions. 

Senate Judiciary heard SB13, a bill from Sen. Wallace that would remove the statute of limitations from minor victims of sexual assault. He said this was to protect settlements from a lawsuit that’s working its way through the courts right now brought by a convicted sexual predator.

House State Agencies caught some drama over HB1058 by Rep. Unger. The bill would prevent members of state agencies responsible for inspections from tipping off the individuals or agencies about to be inspected. There were a lot of questions about the specific mechanisms of enforcement and prosecution, so looks like there will be further revisions to this one as well. 

Sen. Dismang’s SB58 failed in the Senate Public Health Committee. The bill eases restrictions on certain hospital pharmacies, making it easier for them to retail pharmacy permits. This was by far the most contentious bill of the week; several hospitals, including Mercy, Baptist Health, and St. Bernard spoke FOR the bill, while Jefferson Med. Center in Pine Bluff spoke AGAINST, alongside pharmacist Galen Perkins. Those in favor of the bill claimed it would increase access to drugs and medication for patients and increase their profits; those speaking against the bill said it would hurt competition, especially rural pharmacies which already struggle mightily against their larger competitors. The bill FAILED in committee because bills need at least 5 YES votes to pass out. 

YES votes: Flippo, Hill, Love, Irvin

NO votes: Penzo, Payton, Wallace 

PRESENT: Leding

SB86 by Se. Boyd will be heard this week by the same committee. It functions similarly but with more restrictions on the hospitals. 

Bills We’re Watching 

The assault on direct democracy has already begun. Rep. David Ray and Sen. Hammer (who’s running for Sec. of State next cycle) filed several bills that drastically increase the power of the Attorney General to deny citizen-led initiatives and referendums and limit the amount of time groups have to submit petitions and collect signatures. 

Sen. Penzo filed SB91, a bill that prevents localities from implementing controls on rental applications. Northwest Arkansas has been in the midst of a housing crisis for years and it’s only getting worse. This bill makes it harder and more expensive to even apply for a rental space. 

Sen. Blake Johnson filed SB84 alongside Rep. Vaught. Vaught’s been at the forefront of efforts to weaken protections for the Buffalo National River, and this would prevent the state from banning hog farms in the Buffalo’s watershed (or indeed, any watershed). The Arkansas Times did an excellent writeup on the longer term effects of the bill, but suffice to say here, hog farms have devastating impacts on watersheds and the Buffalo would not fare well. 

Last, Sen. Sullivan’s SB3 is scheduled to be heard in the Senate State Agencies committee tomorrow, January 28. It’s a silly, pointless screed against “preferential treatment” across Arkansas’s government and institutions of higher education. With the recent national focus on “anti-DEI” initiatives, the bill may go further than it did in 2023 when it died on the House floor. It can’t be overstated how damaging this bill would be to the long-term functioning of state government, but Sen. Sullivan has never let that get in the way of a good fight. 

2025 Legislative Interns Madelyn White and Phoenix Vu contributed to this report.