Latest news with #HouseBill1668
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Arkansas bill would allow lawsuits over gender transitions for minors
ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) — A proposed bill in Arkansas would hold adults civilly liable for assisting transgender minors in their gender transitions. Rep. Mary Bentley (R-Perryville) introduced House Bill 1668, also known as the Vulnerable Youth Protection Act. The bill seeks to impose civil liability on individuals who 'knowingly cause' a minor's social transition, or who perform actions like 'castration, sterilization or mutilation.' The bill would also establish a 20-year statute of limitations for filing civil suits, allowing complainants to recover financial damages for any personal injuries or harm caused by these actions. While several other states have passed similar laws banning gender-affirming medical care, Arkansas' latest bill is the first to target 'social transitioning', or the act of adopting a gender identity different from one's biological sex. Four takeaways from the 10th week of the 95th Arkansas General Assembly HB 1668 defines social transitioning broadly, including changes in clothing, pronouns, hairstyle and name. '[A]ny act by which a minor adopts or espouses a gender identity that differs from the minor's biological sex as determined by the sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous profiles of the minor, including without limitation changes in clothing, pronouns, hairstyle, and name.' House Bill 1668 (proposed) The proposed law would allow lawsuits to be filed up to 15 years after an incident, with damages ranging from $10,000 to $10 million for those found to have provided gender-affirming care to minors. As of Mar. 19, the bill has been engrossed, meaning it has passed through the committee stage and is now ready for consideration by the full House of Representatives. HB1668-as-engrossed-on-03-19-2025-15_05_26Download The full bill can be read above. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SESSION SNAPSHOT: Arkansas lawmakers approve higher ed, energy bills ahead of spring break
Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, asks a question about an amendment to the Arkansas State Library's fiscal year 2026 appropriation bill during the Joint Budget Committee's Special Language subcommittee on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) Arkansas lawmakers spent long hours at the state Capitol during the tenth week of the legislative session as they worked to clear agendas ahead of their weeklong spring break. On Monday, legislators sent Arkansas ACCESS, two identical higher education overhaul bills, to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who signed them into law Tuesday. The General Assembly also advanced the governor's new state employee pay plan and approved legislation that sponsors said will help mitigate a sharp increase in energy bills for Arkansans as the state generates new power to meet expected demand. Sanders signed the latter into law Thursday. The governor this week also unveiled legislation that would impose harsher penalties on undocumented immigrants who commit crimes in the state. An amended version of Senate Bill 426 will be considered after legislators return to Little Rock on Mar. 31 and make a final push to conclude their business by Apr. 16. Some legislation faced challenges this week. A bill mandating citizen-led ballot measures be written at an 8th-grade or lower reading level cleared the House of Representatives Wednesday, but it took three tries to garner enough votes to support an emergency clause that will allow the law to go into effect immediately upon the governor's signature. The House on Thursday rejected legislation that would have placed restrictions on noncitizens attempting to vote or register to vote, just one day after the bill narrowly passed out of committee. Noncitizen voting is already illegal on the federal level. Another bill that would create a civil liability for adults who assist transgender minors' transitions didn't make it out of the starting blocks after the attorney general's office said it couldn't defend House Bill 1668 because it wasn't legally sound. Lead sponsor Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, said she would amend her bill. State lawmakers approved a $750 million appropriation bill Thursday for the construction of a 3,000-bed prison in western Arkansas. Funds won't be disbursed until formal requests are approved by the Legislature, but that didn't stop members of the Joint Budget Committee from venting about plans to place the prison in rural Franklin County in an effort to alleviate overcrowding in county jails. Several lawmakers who've been critical of the project argued that local residents don't want the prison in their community, costs will be higher than estimated and staffing the facility will be difficult. The debate is expected to continue throughout the project, which one of Sanders' advisers said could take until 2029 to complete. After a subcommittee on Tuesday rejected his proposed ban on the Arkansas State Library funding public libraries affiliated with the Arkansas Library Association, Jonesboro Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan filed legislation Thursday to abolish the State Library and its board. Sullivan has vowed to eliminate the State Library Board, which refused last month and again last week to disavow the ALA. Sullivan has repeatedly criticized a portion of the ALA's Library Bill of Rights that states access to libraries should not be restricted based on a person's age. Far-right conservatives who object to the availability of certain content have said this is proof the ALA is forcing content about sexual activity and LGBTQ+ topics onto children. Lawmakers filed more than 180 bills by Friday afternoon, including: SB520 by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, would prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion offices, officers, policies or practices in local government. HB1836 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, would require all public entities to post video recordings of public meetings, and require that all public meetings be recorded in video format. HB1866 by Rep. Keith Brooks, R-Little Rock, would require each public school to install an audio recording device in each locker room and dressing room on a public school campus. HB1881 by Rep. Denise Ennett, D-Little Rock, would add menstrual discharge collection devices to the list of items exempt from sales and use tax during the state's sales tax holiday. A proposed ballot measure to create a sales tax exemption for these items failed to qualify for the 2024 general election. Meeting schedules, agendas and livestreams are available on the Arkansas Legislature's website. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Committee awaits amendments to proposed liability for social transitioning of transgender minors
Texas-based counselor Rebecca Smith (left) and Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, present House Bill 1668 to the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Photo by Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) An Arkansas lawmaker promised to amend a bill that would create civil liability for Arkansas adults who assist transgender minors' transitions after other lawmakers and members of the public presented a flurry of questions and concerns Tuesday. Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, told the House Judiciary Committee that House Bill 1668, the Vulnerable Youth Protection Act, would deter 'social experiments that are really destroying the lives' of children who do not identify with their gender assigned at birth. The bill would hold liable 'any person who knowingly causes' a minor's social transition or 'the castration, sterilization, or mutilation of a minor' for 'any personal injuries or harm' resulting from the actions. It would create a 20-year statute of limitations for civil action, and complainants would be able to recover financial damages. Arkansas was one of the first states to pass a law banning gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors. The Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act of 2021, which Bentley co-sponsored, is under appeal in federal court after families of transgender minors sued and obtained a permanent injunction. Federal judge strikes down Arkansas ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth More than two dozen other states have passed similar laws since 2021, but no state has enacted a law banning social transitioning, which HB 1668 defines as 'any act by which a minor adopts or espouses a gender identity that differs from the minor's biological sex as determined by the sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous profiles of the minor, including without limitation changes in clothing, pronouns, hairstyle, and name.' Rep. Jeremiah Moore, R-Clarendon, said this definition was too broad. 'If a parent takes their daughter to a barbershop… and [the barber] gives that haircut per the child and the parent's wishes, and that haircut is not a 'girl's haircut,' this language seems to be holding him potentially liable for the next 20 years of his barber career,' Moore said. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin's office believes the bill is not yet legally sound, senior assistant attorney general Justin Brascher told the committee. No members of the public came to speak in favor of the bill, while 20 signed up to speak against it and nine received a chance to speak. Some of the nine, including Caitlin Tannehill Oxford, said they have heard concerns from hairdressers about the legislation. 'If my son and I agree that he can get a piercing, that could also be defined as mutilation and I could be held liable,' said Oxford, president of the Washington County Democrats. 'My daughter does not dress girly. She loves jeans, not dresses. Would that hold me liable to legal action for allowing her to wear what she likes? By the way, my children are not trans. However, I have many friends and family who are, and I'm here today to support them.' Bentley said she will amend the bill to 'work on some of the definitions and make it clearer.' Transgender teen shares experience with gender-affirming care in trial against Arkansas law She and Rebecca Smith, a licensed professional counselor from southeast Texas, both claimed a majority of minors with 'gender confusion' eventually return to identifying as their 'birth sex.' Medical professionals who testified for the plaintiffs in the trial against the SAFE Act said regret over gender transition is rare, including for people who transition as minors. They also said Arkansas children do not receive gender-affirming breast or genital surgeries. Smith called HB 1668 'a crucial safeguard against practices that alienate children from their families and disrupt healthy development.' 'This legislation seeks to deter the harmful effects of gender-affirming interventions by providing victims with a path for recourse and ensuring they have the time and opportunity to seek justice once they recognize the self-hatred that has been instilled in them and are ready to reclaim their true identity,' Smith said. Some of the bill's opponents said transitioning does not alienate children from their families. 'Hatred and bigotry alienate children from their families… and legislation like this encourages that,' Arkansas Tech University student Jordyn Barnett said. HB 1668 includes the statement: 'A person shall not be held liable under this section for speech or conduct protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.' Committee members of both parties and members of the public said the rest of the bill contradicts that statement. An amendment adopted by the committee added the word 'knowingly' to the legislation, and Bentley said this should alleviate concerns about the broadness of the bill. Evelyn Rios Stafford disagreed. She is a Washington County Justice of the Peace and Arkansas' first and only openly transgender elected official. 'Sometimes I get approached by parents who have kids that are in college, sometimes in high school, and they'll introduce me to their kid and say… 'I'd like to introduce you to my trans son, John Doe,' and I say, 'John Doe, it's great to meet you,'' Rios Stafford said. '…Under this bill, that would put me under a civil cause of action for the next 20 years for having that positive interaction with an accepting parent of a 17-year-old.' First Amendment concerns are among the reasons Griffin's office is not willing to defend the law in court as it is written, even with Tuesday's amendments, Brascher said. He added that Griffin's office is 'sympathetic to the intent' of HB 1668, as evidenced by its continued defense of the SAFE Act. Bentley said HB 1668 'perfectly lines up with' the blocked law. In 2023, she sponsored the Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act, which allowed private enforcement of the SAFE Act by creating civil liability for doctors who provide gender-affirming healthcare to transgender minors. The bill initially had a 30-year statute of limitations before it was amended down to 15 years. Simon Garbett, a transgender 18-year-old from Little Rock, spoke against the 2023 law and returned to the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to speak against HB 1668. He maintained that he is 'not a social experiment' and that the idea that gender-affirming healthcare sterilizes trans youth 'is a complete lie.' 'Please have empathy for people who are different from you,' Garbett said. 'We're not hurting you, so stop hurting us.' Bill allowing malpractice suits for transgender minors' health care goes to Sanders' desk Bentley is also the lead sponsor of House Bill 1669, which passed the House last week. The bill would prohibit 'discrimination' in foster care or adoption cases if parents whose deeply held religious beliefs do not affirm transgender minors' identities. In 2023, Bentley co-sponsored two more laws related to transgender youth. One forbade public and charter school students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match their gender assigned at birth. The other, the Given Name Act, requires public school teachers and college professors to use the pronouns and names students were assigned at birth unless parents specifically allow them to do otherwise. Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, asked Bentley on Tuesday if teachers would be liable for civil action under HB 1668 if they adhere to 'the wishes of that parent united with their child, not alienated from them' if the parent has given the permission outlined in the Given Name Act. 'That is correct,' Bentley said. 'I think that we're just saying that social transitioning is excessively harmful to children.' Marie Mainard O'Connell, a mother of a transgender teen from Little Rock, said she shared Clowney's concerns. '[This bill] supposes that parents are not supportive, and in point of fact, I work with a community and dozens of families for whom this bill will make their work as supportive families harder,' said O'Connell, who is a Presbyterian pastor. 'Gutted' Arkansas bill no longer targets drag performers or LGBTQ community, activists say Another 2023 law Bentley sponsored initially would have banned drag shows from being held within a certain distance of schools, parks and other places children frequent, but the Alliance Defending Freedom helped the sponsors amend the legislation so it would hold up in court. The ADF is a conservative, faith-based advocacy group that has opposed LGBTQ+ rights efforts. The ADF weighed in on the Given Name Act in 2023, and Bentley said Tuesday that she consulted with the organization while working on HB 1668. Rep. Wayne Long, R-Bradford, was the Given Name Act's primary sponsor and said it would prevent 'compelled speech'; Rios Stafford said Tuesday that HB 1668 would actually create compelled speech. Rep. Ashley Hudson, D-Little Rock, pointed out that HB 1668 does not say there will be no civil liability if a child does not socially transition or later detransitions. Bentley said the absence of a cause of action in those cases is 'common sense.' 'If they stay with their normal gender, there's been no hurt or harm that's been done, so there'd be no lawsuit to file,' Bentley said. Judiciary Committee chairwoman Rep. Carol Dalby, R-Texarkana, said she will schedule a special order of business for HB 1668 after Bentley files the amendments. The committee did not have enough time to hear all 20 speakers against the bill Tuesday, but Dalby said those who did not get to speak will be preemptively placed on the public comment list for the next hearing on the bill. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
