Latest news with #NoCellAct
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Four takeaways from the sixth week of the Arkansas 95th General Assembly
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – It was another busy week for the Arkansas legislature despite the icy roads and bitter cold. More bills have reached the governor's desk for signature, and bills continue to be filed to address various issues in the state, both great and small. NEW LAWS Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation into law during the week, including a ceremony Thursday marking the signing of free school breakfast legislation and the Bell to Bell, No Cell Act. Both of these were part of her January speech that opened the general session. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs free school breakfast and phone-free classroom bills into law Additional legislation signed into law was a bill ending affirmative action in state operations. Senate Bill 3 prohibits discrimination by considering a person's race or gender. GULF OF AMERICA One bill that will not become law was House Resolution 1010, requiring Arkansas to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The bill had made it through its committee hearing but failed in the House on its final vote. CHEMICAL CASTRATION House Bill 1535 was filed Wednesday and would add chemical castration to the sentence of anyone accused of rape of a person 12 years of age or younger. The castration will take place using medroxyprogesterone acetate after review by a medical expert. Medroxyprogesterone acetate is a synthetic female hormone that would bring testosterone to pre-puberty levels. It is already used in several states for chemical castration. According to the bill's language, an accused can opt for surgical castration if they want to avoid using medroxyprogesterone acetate. PETITION PROCESS Back and forth continues on legislation that would tighten the signature gathering for voter ballot initiatives. AG Tim Griffin among 25 attorney generals urging US Senate to pass 'HALT Fentanyl Act' Secretary of State Cole Jester came out with an Election Security Report Card that faulted the petition process and coincided with a batch of legislation, Senate bills 207 through 211, to place greater controls on the process. The issue is citizen access to the law-making process versus its security. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Five takeaways from the third week of the Arkansas 95th General Assembly
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – It was a busy week for the Arkansas legislature as lawmakers dug into a range of matters impacting Arkansans. Five of the larger issues for the week were a counter to the governor's prison plan, a planned Medicaid work requirement, no cell phones in school legislation, an end to DEI in Arkansas and watershed protections. Prison plan: Sen. Bryan King (R-Green Forest) introduced a public safety plan to renew the focus on the safety of Arkansans. King cited what he called the 'three-headed monster' facing the state as a high incarceration rate, a high crime rate and high prison overcrowding. He proposed working with the Arkansas State Police and county sheriff's offices to add public-safety-focused hires, additional beds in county detention centers, and ramped-up assistance for probation and patrol officers. Funding would come from medical marijuana and casino revenue, King said, adding that unlike the 3,000-bed prison proposal, his plan is funded. Medicaid work requirement: Gov. Sarah Huckabee announced her plan to create a work requirement for anyone receiving Medicaid in the state. The update to the ARHOME program would require what she called 'able-bodied individuals' to either work, go to school or stay home and take care of their children to continue receiving Medicaid. Clients will receive support in meeting work requirement goals, including education and coaching, Deputy Secretary for Programs and State Medicaid Director Janet Mann said. Those who refuse to comply will have their Medicaid suspended, which will be restored when they comply with the requirements. This is a slight retweaking of the state's previous effort at a Medicaid work requirement. If the Center for Medicare and Medicaid accepts it, Arkansas will be the first state in the nation with a work requirement. No cell phones in schools: On Wednesday, the governor made a second announcement about the Bell to Bell, No Cell Act. This would end student's using cell phones while school is in session. Sanders said the bill was a necessity in light of a growing mental health need among young people with 'unrestricted access to smartphones and social media.' The plan had been tested in some schools during the previous school year where it was judged a success. End to DEI in Arkansas: A bill has cleared the Senate and is now before the House that would 'prohibit discrimination by public entities on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin,' according to the legislation's language. It would drop the requirement to state higher education from maintaining programs to encourage minority student, faculty and staff participation, as well as any hiring programs by state entities aiming to increase the number of minority employees. Several people spoke against the bill in its Senate committee hearing. It is now scheduled to be heard in the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee. Watershed protection: A bill was introduced in the Senate to end the moratorium on issuing permits to confined animal feeding operations along any Arkansas waterway, including the Buffalo River. The state currently maintains a temporary moratorium on issuing new permits for medium and large CAFOs along the Buffalo. The Department of Environmental Quality initiated the moratorium in 2014 after environmental concerns about the waste generated by a large-scale hog farm near the river. The farm closed in late 2019 when the state purchased its assets. The bill was due for a Senate Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development committee hearing, but that meeting was canceled and, as of Friday, had not been rescheduled. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas lawmakers file bill to restrict phone access at school
Rep. Jon Eubanks (left) and Sen. Tyler Dees, both Republicans, discuss a bill to restrict cell phone use in schools at the Arkansas Capitol on Jan. 29, 2025. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate) State lawmakers filed legislation Wednesday that would ban smartphones and other personal electronic devices from all Arkansas public schools beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. Senate Bill 142, also called the Bell to Bell, No Cell Act, follows through on the promise to ban cellphones in schools made by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders during her State of the State address this month. Speaking during a mental health event at the Capitol rotunda in Little Rock Wednesday morning, Sanders said the bill will curtail 'unrestricted access to smartphones and social media,' which she said has caused a decline in children's mental health over the last decade. 'Arkansas has the opportunity to lead on this issue globally and pass one of the most comprehensive phone-free school bills in the world, and that's a good thing,' Sanders said. 'And when we do that, I truly believe we won't just improve test scores and school discipline, we'll also get to one of the root causes of so many of the mental health issues facing our state today.' Co-sponsored by Sen. Tyler Dees, R-Siloam Springs, and Rep. Jon Eubanks, R-Paris, SB142 requires cellphone policies — which school districts must publish on their websites — to include exemptions for health reasons, Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), extracurricular activities and emergencies. Policies must be submitted to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education for approval, and a district that fails to adopt or enforce a policy will be cited for a violation of state accreditation standards. Under the proposed law, districts would not be liable if a personal electronic device is lost, stolen or damaged. Eubanks told the Advocate he has first-hand knowledge of health issues and learning problems for students because his daughter is a counselor at an elementary school. SB142 is a way for the Legislature 'to help our young kids have a bright future,' he said. 'We want to be able to limit the distraction that students have in school,' Eubanks said. 'They're there to learn, and we want to make sure that that happens.' Arkansas governor, education secretary call on schools to join mental health pilot project Proposals to reduce smartphone usage have gained traction in recent years in states like California and Florida. Arkansas joined the conversation last summer when the governor and education secretary invited schools to participate in a pilot program focused on restricting cellphone access during the school day. In August, state lawmakers permitted the Arkansas Department of Education to distribute $7 million to districts to cover the cost of pouches or lockers where students could store their phones during class time. Sanders said Wednesday the administration 'received an overwhelmingly positive response from school leaders.' Stakeholders, who used data from the pilot program to inform SB142, have been working on the legislation for over a year, Dees said in an interview. The bill aims to respond to parents' concerns, he said. 'Our response today with this bill is that we're no longer going to allow our children to be guinea pigs of Big Tech and social media and the ramifications that have affected our kids,' he said. Dees anticipates the bill will be presented in committee next week and said it will have bipartisan support. As of Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Reginald Murdock of Marianna was the sole Democratic co-sponsor of the bill. This is not the first time state lawmakers have tried to limit Arkansas children's access to social media. Dees and Eubanks sponsored the Social Media Safety Act of 2023 to prohibit minors from creating a social media account without parental consent. It would have been the first such law in the nation, but a federal judge blocked the law in August 2023 before it was set to take effect. Echoing statements made in her State of the State address, Sanders in a press release Wednesday said she plans to update the law so it's no longer held up in court, and to give parents the right to sue tech companies under state law 'so they can hold bad actors accountable.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces planned phone-free school legislation
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced legislation on Wednesday banning smartphones and related technology from every Arkansas public school. The Bell to Bell, No Cell Act will be introduced into the legislature to go into effect in the 2025-2026 school year. The governor said Sen. Tyler Dees (R-Silom Springs) and Rep. Jon Eubanks (R-Paris) will sponsor the bill. Arkansas school districts pushing forward with implementing phone-free campuses Sanders described the bill as a response to a growing mental health need. 'We have seen a staggering rise in mental illness among young people over the past decade. The culprit is clear: unrestricted access to smartphones and social media,' the governor said. 'After the overwhelming success of our phone-free schools pilot program, it's clear that it's time for Arkansas to ban smartphones, bell to bell, in every school in our state.' A test of the plan took place in several Arkansas schools in the previous school year. Participating districts received funding to purchase containers for students to store their devices and experience a phone-free education. Conway middle schools participate in statewide initiative to become cell phone-free Sanders said she was inspired to launch this program after reading 'The Anxious Generation' by Jonathan Haidt. The legislation will mandate, other than no cell phone or smart device while school is in session, that each public school district will be required to publish its cell phone policy on its website, including policies and exemptions concerning cell phones on school property and at school-related functions. Districts must provide exemptions for health reasons, Individualized Education Programs, after-school extracurricular activities and emergencies. Banning cellphones in schools gains popularity in red and blue states In her 2025 State of the State address, Sanders said mental health is one of her top priorities for the year. In addition to the phone-free schools program, the governor said she plans to update Arkansas' Social Media Safety Act so it is no longer held up in court and to give Arkansas parents the right to sue tech companies under state law so they can hold bad actors accountable. The legislation, , was filed Wednesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
