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Daily Legislative Update: Monday, January 6, 2025

Date
Category Daily Legislative Update

Monday, January 6, 2025

The 95th General Assembly will convene at noon next Monday, January 13, 2025.

Through year-end 2024, members of the Arkansas House pre-filed 70 bills and four joint resolutions. Senators pre-filed 15 bills and two joint resolutions. We are tracking 56 of these pre-filed bills and joint resolutions, all of which are listed below.

STATE CHAMBER/AIA LEGISLATIVE TRACKING

Health care and Medicaid

  1. HB 1004 (Pilkington-R): Extends Medicaid postpartum coverage to one year.
  2. HB 1047 (Pilkington-R): Allows Arkansas Medicaid to make presumptive eligibility determinations for pregnant women.
  3. HB 1052 (Gramlich-R): Mandates coverage for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunization technologies.
  4. HB 1053 (Pilkington-R): Requires Medicaid reimbursement for remote ultrasound procedures.
  5. HB 1054 (Pilkington-R): Mandates Medicaid coverage for blood pressure monitors for pregnant and postpartum women.
  6. HB 1055 (Mayberry-R): Establishes coverage for Alzheimer’s and dementia treatment under public health insurance programs.

Tax Reforms

  1. HB 1015 (Collins-D): Introduces an income tax credit for dependent children.
  2. HB 1016 (Collins-D): Creates a sales & use tax exemption for feminine hygiene products, diapers and certain items related to breast feeding.
  3. HB 1018 (Collins-D): Creates a tax credit for employers offering paid family and medical leave.
  4. HB 1019 (Collins-D): Provides a tax credit for employers assisting with childcare costs.
  5. HB 1026 (Collins-D): Offers a tax credit for tuition paid to public institutions.
  6. HB 1065 (Ray-R): Creates the Inflation Reduction Act of 2025.
  7. HB 1066 (Ray-R): Proposes an increase in the standard deduction.
  8. HB 1072 (Cooper-R): Clarifies eligibility for property tax exemptions for disabled veterans and dependents.
  9. SB 7 (Penzo-R): Allows legislators to request sales and tax reports from the Department of Finance and Administration.

Education Initiatives

  1. HB 1020 (Collins-D): Repeals the Children’s Educational Freedom Account Program and establishes funding for special education.
  2. HB 1021 (Collins-D): Incentivizes early childhood education workforce quality.
  3. HB 1022 (Collins-D): Repeals performance-based incentives for public and open-enrollment charter schools.
  4. HB 1024 (Collins-D): Repeals laws prohibiting public employee collective bargaining.
  5. HB 1025 (Collins-D): Establishes the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act of 2025.
  6. HB 1027 (Collins-D): Mandates contributions to Arkansas Brighter Future Fund accounts.
  7. HB 1051 (Andrews-R): Modifies public school start date requirements.

Public Policy and Social Reforms

  1. HB 1033 (Collins-D): Creates the Arkansas Red Flag Law for extreme risk protection orders.
  2. HB 1044 (Hawk-R): Introduces the Arkansas Sports Raffle Act.
  3. HB 1049 (Tosh-R): Criminalizes unlawful squatting.
  4. HB 1058 (Unger-R): Prohibits public employees from giving advance notice of inspections to entities.
  5. HB 1071 (Richardson-R): Expands protections against misuse of AI-generated likenesses.
  6. SB 3 (Sullivan-R): Seeks to prohibit discrimination or preferential treatment by the state and other public entities.
  7. SB 12 (King-R): Subjects Board of Apportionment communications to the Freedom of Information Act.

Proposed Constitutional Amendments and Ballot Initiative Process

  1. HJR 1001 (Collins-D): Proposes a Citizens’ Redistricting Commission to replace the Board of Apportionment.
  2. HJR 1002 (Collins-D): Repeals slavery exceptions in the Arkansas Constitution.
  3. HJR 1003 (Collins-D): Proposes the Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment.
  4. HJR 1004 (Collins-D): Applies for a term-limits amendment for U.S. Congress members.
  5. SJR 1 (King-R): Requires 3/4th majority to change public record or access to public meeting laws.
  6. SJR 2 (King-R): Creates Arkansas Apportionment Commission to apportion districts for the Arkansas House of Representative and Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
  7. HB 1042 (Collins-D): Establishes the Direct Democracy Act of 2025, revising ballot initiative processes.

Economic, Infrastructure, and Environmental Policy

  1. SB 2 (Penzo-R): Repeals the statewide fluoridation program mandate.
  2. SB 8 (Payton-R): Provides supplemental appropriations for the Department of Energy and Environment for used tire recycling.
  3. SB 9 (Davis-R): Prohibits certain substances in food products under the Make Arkansas Healthy Again Act.
  4. HB 1045 (Cavenaugh-R): Regulates crop residue burning and associated liabilities.
  5. HB 1069 (Meeks-R): Eliminates daylight saving time in Arkansas.
  6. HB 1073 (Ennett-D): Establishes the Advanced Energy Jobs Task Force.

Criminal Justice and Public Safety

  1. SB 5 (King-R): Establishes a criminal offense for prescription drug harm or homicide.
  2. SB 6 (King-R): Introduces the criminal offense of vaccine harm.
  3. SB 13 (Wallace-R): Allows civil claims for child sexual abuse at any time in certain circumstances.
  4. SB 16 (Boyd-R): Increases penalties for discharging firearms or throwing objects at trains.

Election Reforms

  1. HB 1035 (Collins-D): Seeks amendment to constitution regarding online voter registration.
  2. HB 1036 (Collins-D): Allows voter registration during early voting and on election day.
  3. HB 1037 (Collins-D): Amends voter registration laws under Amendment 51 of the Arkansas Constitution.
  4. HB 1038 (Collins-D): Eliminates qualifications for absentee voting.
  5. HB 1039 (Collins-D): Amends laws concerning absentee ballots and elections.
  6. HB 1040 (Collins-D): Revises penalties for voting-related misdemeanors.
  7. HB 1043 (Collins-D): Requires transparency in appellate judicial campaign financing.
  8. HB 1064 (Whitaker-D): Allows individuals over 65 to vote by absentee ballot.

Technology and Infrastructure

  1. SB 10 (King-R): Regulates blockchain and digital asset mining’s impact on water and electricity.
  2. SB 11 (King-R): Amends regulations for data centers and digital assets.

STATE CHAMBER/AIA LEGISLATIVE RECEPTION

Save the date! The State Chamber/AIA will host its Annual Legislative Reception on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The event will take place in the big tent on the State Chamber/AIA parking lot.