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Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas lawmakers grant most of governor's wishes in 2025 session
Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, speaks against Senate Bill 354, the $750 million Franklin County prison appropriation, on the Senate floor on Monday, April 7, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) With one major exception, Arkansas lawmakers gave Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders almost everything she asked for in the 95th General Assembly, and even then it wasn't a total loss. The Legislature's Republican supermajority passed bills addressing Sanders' priorities: maternal health, a higher-education overhaul, concerns about the effects of social media platforms on children and restrictions on the influence of China in Arkansas. The big exception: funding for a planned 3,000-bed prison in rural Franklin County on the western side of the state. Senate Minority Leader Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, told the Advocate Wednesday that he's experienced longer and more challenging sessions since being elected to the state Legislature in 2010, but the 2025 session saw 'quite a lot of conflict.' Much of the controversy arose over efforts by one legislator to dissolve the State Library and its board and another lawmaker's efforts to police the use of public restrooms. Then there was a conflict about funding a new state prison. 'The biggest story is probably the defeat of the appropriation for the prison in Franklin County, especially considering that was one of the governor's top priorities,' Leding said. A $750 million appropriation bill to support the prison's construction died after five failed votes in the Senate this month. Sanders has pushed for the new penitentiary to alleviate overcrowding in county jails. State officials and residents have fought against the project, citing concerns about transparency, infrastructure and staffing. State lawmakers this week also challenged a separate bill that would have added $250 million to a correctional facilities set-aside fund into which the Legislature placed $330 million during the 2023 legislative session. An additional $75 million appropriated in 2022 for prison expansion has already been allocated to the Arkansas Department of Corrections, which can use the funding to move the project forward. Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, said Wednesday that money will support the hiring of architects and engineers who can help officials get a better understanding of the project's overall cost. Initial estimates set the prison's price tag at $825 million. The state Board of Corrections has already sought proposals from architects and general contractors. 'I would have liked to have funded the entire prison, but the members saw fit to just fund a portion of it, and that's great,' Hester said. 'We're moving in the direction we want to go, just not as fast as we wanted to go.' Putting a more positive spin on the rejection of the $750 million appropriation bill, its primary sponsor, Searcy Republican Sen. Jonathan Dismang, told the Joint Budget Committee Monday that the corrections department isn't likely to use all $75 million allocated to the agency before next year's fiscal session — when lawmakers can again explore options for funding prison expansion in April. If officials need more money before then, they can request lawmakers' approval for a temporary appropriation increase, he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Sanders' effort to address the state's poor maternal health outcomes found bipartisan support this session and culminated with her signing Act 124 into law just two weeks after announcing the policy. The Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act changes the state's Medicaid program by establishing presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant Arkansans, offering reimbursements for doulas and community health workers and establishing pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage for specific treatments. Arkansas has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation, and the third-highest infant mortality rate, according to the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. Sanders last year convened a Strategic Committee for Maternal Health to develop recommendations for addressing the state's maternal health crisis. Sanders' efforts have not included support for expanding Medicaid coverage for postpartum mothers from 60 days to 12 months after birth because she said it would be 'duplicative.' Arkansas is the only state that has not taken advantage of this federal option. Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, and Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, presented legislation this session that would have provided the extended coverage to qualifying pregnant Arkansans. House Bill 1004 advanced through the House before failing in a Senate committee earlier this month. Arkansas' Medicaid expansion program, called ARHOME, covers people up to 138% of the federal poverty level. ARHOME covered 237,327 Arkansans as of the end of February, the latest figures available from the Department of Human Services. Regular Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program covered another 230,058 adults and 421,192 children, for a total 888,577 Medicaid beneficiaries. Since Jan. 1, 2023, Medicaid covers pregnant Arkansans with incomes of up to 214% of the federal poverty level, or about $45,200 for a family of two or $68,700 for a family of four. This coverage expires two months after birth, leaving many postpartum Arkansans to 'fall through the cracks,' Davis told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on April 9. 'We have got to address this holistically, and I think there's been a lot of really good work done, but it has not included this group of women,' who do not qualify for Medicaid expansion, she said. The proposal to expand coverage had supporters from both political parties. House Minority Leader Rep. Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, proposed a similar bill that was never heard in committee. Sanders signed two bills Wednesday that she said in January's State of the State address she hoped would reach her desk during the session. The two bills cleared the Legislature on the last two days of business. One new law allows parents to file civil lawsuits against social media platforms if content on those platforms harms their children, and the other amends the state's blocked social media age verification law. The Social Media Safety Act of 2023 was the first of its kind in the nation and required social media platforms to verify the age of new account holders in Arkansas. Those under 18 could only access sites with parental permission. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law before it went into effect and permanently blocked it in March. The amendments to the Social Media Safety Act will go into effect in August. They more clearly define social media and apply the definition to more platforms, lower the age of minor users from under 18 to under 16 years old, prohibit social media algorithms from targeting minors, and add a penalty for noncompliance. The other bill Sanders signed would hold social media companies accountable for showing and promoting content to a child without that child's consent if viewing the content leads to 'significant bodily or cognitive harm.' Sanders has yet to take action on a third social media regulation bill on her desk, the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act. That bill would ban technology companies from collecting data from Arkansas minors except under specific circumstances, such as for financial transactions. Companies would also be barred from retaining that data and disclosing it to third parties that use the information in advertising targeted to children, and they would be required to provide notice and obtain consent if they are collecting data under permissible circumstances. Sanders signed a slew of bills that place new restrictions on direct democracy, the process by which Arkansans can propose new laws or constitutional amendments and put them to a statewide vote. Many were sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, who in 2026 will run for Secretary of State, the office that oversees elections. Hammer and other Republican lawmakers said adding regulations to the process of soliciting and gathering signatures on petitions will protect the integrity of direct democracy and discourage fraudulent behavior. New requirements include but are not limited to: Signature gatherers, known as canvassers, must inform potential signers that petition fraud is a criminal offense Canvassers must request a photo ID from potential signers Potential signers must read a petition's ballot title or have it read to them Ballot titles must be at an eighth-grade reading level or lower Petition sponsors cannot submit more than one conflicting petition at the same time Democratic lawmakers and members of the public said the restrictions will have a chilling effect on the people's right to initiate new laws and constitutional amendments. In February, a committee rejected a proposed enforcement agency within the Secretary of State's office to investigate the validity of submitted ballot initiative documents. On Wednesday, the final day of the session, the House voted down a bill that would have given the Legislature the authority to overturn voter-approved constitutional amendments. The Legislature also took up multiple 'foreign adversary' bills. While the bills technically targeted several nations — such as Iran, Russia and North Korea — China has been repeatedly mentioned by lawmakers intent on rooting out the Communist country's perceived influence within Arkansas. Sanders promoted the legislation, saying in press conferences and on social media that Arkansas is the first state to 'kick China off of our farmland and out of our state.' The session's efforts built off of legislation passed in 2023 and 2024 that limited Chinese businesses from owning land in Arkansas and prohibited them from operating cryptocurrency mining facilities. Many of the bills passed in the last days of the session, such as House Bill 1680, which built on Act 636 of 2023's prohibition against land ownership by foreign adversary-controlled businesses. HB1680 added more prohibitions on such businesses, banning them from holding leases on land or having an interest in agricultural land within 10 miles of 'critical infrastructure' such as dams or power generation facilities. Other foreign adversary bills targeted higher education. Act 473 of 2025 requires extensive screening of individuals being considered for employment by a university or college if the person is from a covered foreign adversary such as China, depending on the role they are being considered for. It also creates a high bar for higher education institutions to enter into research agreements or cultural exchanges with groups from foreign adversary nations, requiring they be rejected unless a strong state interest is identified. Another bill, House Bill 1352, prohibits funding for institutions of higher education that have a Chinese cultural center or a Confucius Institute. A federal government report in October 2023 noted there are fewer than five Confucius Institutes left in the U.S. since Congress restricted federal funding to schools with institutes. Under House Bill 1604, government agencies would be prohibited from buying promotional items such as stickers and mugs from Chinese businesses, while House Bill 1683 would bar government agencies from buying electric vehicles or their components if the vendor could not certify that it was not made using forced labor. HB1683 took particular aim at alleged forced-labor practices in China — specifically mentioning alleged human rights abuses committed against the Uyghur people — although the importation of goods made with forced labor has been illegal in the U.S. since 1930 with the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021 established that there is a presumption that all goods imported from China's Xinjiang region, where allegations of forced labor are concentrated, are produced using forced labor. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
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
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas House rejects proposed ban on noncitizen voting, which is already illegal
Rep. Diana Gonzales Worthen, D-Springdale, expresses her opposition to the Only Citizens Vote Act before the bill's failure to pass the Arkansas House on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) The Arkansas House of Representatives failed to pass a bill that would have placed restrictions on noncitizens attempting to vote or register to vote, something that is both federally illegal and not happening in Arkansas, according to immigrant advocates. The Only Citizens Vote Act, or House Bill 1422, would have changed both state law and the state Constitution. Changing the latter via legislative action requires a minimum two-thirds vote from lawmakers, or 67 votes in the House. Only 53 House members, all Republicans, supported the bill. Fourteen more Republicans did not vote. The constitutional change in question would have added references to the proposed new statute to Arkansas Constitutional Amendment 51, which lists the documents required for voter registration. Those documents include a Social Security card and a driver's license or state-issued identification card, both of which noncitizens are able to obtain, bill sponsor Rep. Wayne Long, R-Bradford, told a House committee that narrowly passed the bill Wednesday. HB 1422 would have required the Department of Finance and Administration to share 'names and identifying information of each' noncitizen with an Arkansas-issued ID or driver's license with the Secretary of State's office, which oversees elections. If a noncitizen was found to be registered to vote, the bill would have required the secretary of state to refer the individual to the Attorney General's office for prosecution, and the clerk of the noncitizen's county of residence would have been required to cancel the person's voter registration. The individual would have had the chance to provide proof of U.S. citizenship after being notified of the secretary of state's actions. Proposed ban on noncitizen voting, already illegal, passes Arkansas House committee However, there are 'no documented cases' of noncitizens voting in Arkansas, so HB 1422 addresses 'a non-issue,' said Democratic Rep. Diana Gonzales Worthen, the Legislature's first Latina who represents the state's first majority-Hispanic district in Springdale. 'Immigrants do not want to break the law, especially in this manner, because if they're in line for citizenship, this will totally erase that,' she said. Providing false information on a voter registration form, including about citizenship status, risks fines and/or imprisonment, according to the Secretary of State's office. HB 1422 would also have required the finance department to print noncitizen driver's licenses and state-issued IDs in a vertical format. Individuals from ages 16 to 20 already have vertically printed ID cards, which Gonzales Worthen said would 'cause confusion' and single out immigrants if HB 1422 became law. Mireya Reith, founder and executive director of Arkansas United, and Maricella Garcia, race equity director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, made the same point Wednesday when speaking against HB 1422 before the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. Additionally, HB 1422 states that its noncitizen ID requirements would not be a valid federal ID. This would clash with the requirement for Arkansans to have a Real ID to enter a federal building or board a domestic flight from May 5 onward, said Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX There are 71,648 noncitizens legally residing in Arkansas, and any of them 'could potentially be voting, but we don't really know,' Long said Wednesday. Clowney noted that altering tens of thousands of Arkansans' driver's licenses would cost $152,000, according to a fiscal impact statement from the state finance department. No member of the House spoke for HB 1422, and eight Republicans voted present. Six Republicans joined all 19 House Democrats in voting against the bill: Rep. Brandon Achor of Maumelle Rep. Julie Mayberry of Hensley Rep. Mark McElroy of Tillar Rep. Kendra Moore of Lincoln House Majority Whip Stetson Painter of Mountain Home Rep. Trey Steimel of Pocahontas Mayberry and McElroy also voted against the bill Wednesday in committee. U.S. House GOP targets noncitizen voting, even though it's rare Noncitizen voting is rare but has been legalized in a handful of cities nationwide, including in Washington, D.C., in 2023, leading to backlash from conservatives. Thirteen states — including Louisiana, Oklahoma and Missouri — have amended their constitutions since 2020 to specify that noncitizens cannot vote in those states. President Donald Trump pushed the false narrative of noncitizens voting often in federal elections while he was campaigning for reelection last year, and U.S. House Republicans introduced legislation that would have required states to verify proof of citizenship to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections. The bill stalled in the U.S. Senate, which was controlled by Democrats at the time. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Proposed maximum reading level for citizen-led ballot measures stumbles but passes Arkansas House
Rep. Ryan Rose, R-Van Buren, presents House Bill 1713 to the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) A proposal mandating citizen-led ballot measures be written at an 8th-grade or lower reading level cleared the Arkansas House of Representatives Wednesday after three attempts to pass its emergency clause. House Bill 1713 passed the House on Tuesday with 60 votes; a separate vote on the emergency clause received 63 votes. Emergency clauses require a two-thirds vote in each chamber, meaning at least 67 House votes, and allow laws to go into effect immediately upon the governor's signature. HB 1713's emergency clause received 70 votes Wednesday and will next be heard in the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. HB 1713 narrowly passed the equivalent House committee on March 12 after lawmakers and members of the public raised concerns that proposed ballot measures are too complex by default to be written at or below an 8th-grade reading level. Bill sponsor Rep. Ryan Rose, R-Van Buren, said the bill should help Arkansans 'make informed decisions when asked to sign a petition, without confusion, without legalese, without any deceptive wording.' Republican lawmakers this year have introduced a wide range of bills that would add regulations to Arkansas' direct democracy process. The 2024 election cycle saw a wide range of proposed citizen-led ballot measures, only one of which qualified for the November ballot, and supporters of the direct democracy regulations have made allegations of deceptive practices by supporters of last year's measures. Many of the bills have had emergency clauses, and some have required multiple votes in either chamber before meeting the two-thirds threshold. Several of those bills have been signed into law, and most were sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton. Two bills to change citizen-led petition process pass Arkansas House, but without emergency clauses Hammer will run next year for Secretary of State, the office that oversees elections. He is a co-sponsor of HB 1713. Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, voted against HB 1713 in committee and on the House floor. She said Wednesday that she supported 'a readability standard of some sort' for ballot measures but did not believe HB 1713 was the right mechanism for creating one. The bill mandates the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level readability test as the determinant of compliance with the policy. 'It's just an algorithm that spits out a readability level based on sentence length and word length,' Clowney said. 'If a word has five syllables, a word like 'constitutional,' you are automatically penalized by the parameters of this test.' Committee chairman Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, said the bill does not acknowledge that 'it can be difficult to convey complex ideas or concepts with small words.' His vote to pass the bill out of the committee was the deciding vote, but he voted present on the bill and the emergency clause Tuesday. He voted for the emergency clause Wednesday. HB 1713 would not apply the same readability standards to legislatively proposed constitutional amendments, which drew concerns from lawmakers and members of the public March 12. Voters approved an amendment last year that the Legislature placed on the ballot, allowing trade-school students to benefit from scholarship lottery funds. Clowney pointed out Wednesday that this amendment had a college graduate-level reading level, according to the Flesch-Kincaid readability test. Proposed amendments are required to begin with 'an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution.' House Minority Leader Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, told the committee last week that this phrase is also deemed college-graduate level by the reading test. So is the title of HB 1713 itself, said Gail Choate, a political scientist and civics educator who spoke against the bill March 12. 'What I'm concerned [about] with this bill is that it does nothing to address civic education,' Choate said. 'It does nothing to address the ability of people to understand even what a ballot initiative is or what it works… It dumbs down the process, it lowers the standard under which we're presenting information under the guise that people aren't able to understand.' Jerry Cox, president of the conservative Family Council, spoke in favor of the bill before the committee, while attorney and direct democracy advocate J.P. Tribell spoke against it. HB 1713 is likely to be considered by senators after the Legislature's spring break next week.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Restrictions on use of Arkansas State Library funds fail in budget subcommittee
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, presents an amendment to the Arkansas State Library's fiscal year 2026 appropriation bill to the Joint Budget Committee's Special Language subcommittee on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) A subcommittee of Arkansas' Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday rejected a proposed ban on the Arkansas State Library funding local public libraries affiliated with the American Library Association. The State Library is responsible for disbursing funds to libraries statewide. Under the proposed amendment to House Bill 1127, the State Library would not have been allowed to 'budget, allocate, or expend any funding to any library' that is affiliated with the ALA, including as a member; refers to the ALA in any of its official documents; or 'makes payments or grants of any kind' to the national nonprofit during fiscal year 2026. Libraries that use state funds for ALA-related activities would have been required to return the funds to the State Library. Amendments to appropriations bills need eight affirmative votes to pass Joint Budget's Special Language subcommittee. Chairman Rep. Lee Johnson, R-Greenwood, said there were not enough votes for the HB 1127 amendment. Several subcommittee members voted against the proposal, and members of both political parties expressed their concerns to Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, who added the amendment to the bill last week. The ALA is a national nonprofit trade association that advocates for public libraries and helps them secure grant funding. It also accredits master's of library science degree programs. Sullivan repeated his criticism of the portion of the ALA's Library Bill of Rights that access to libraries should not be restricted based on a person's age. Far-right conservatives nationwide who object to the public availability of certain content have claimed this is proof that the ALA believes in forcing content about sexual activity and LGBTQ+ topics onto children. ALA's climate change resources and stated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion are proof the organization has 'an agenda,' Sullivan said. He also said the State Library Board didn't seem to understand that the Legislature has power over its ability to distribute funds. Arkansas senator continues mission to eliminate State Library Board, cites unfulfilled bargain 'If we're going to distribute funds to libraries that have a policy that we will not withhold any information… from anyone regardless of their age, and if our State Library Board and our State Library, county libraries and regional libraries can't develop a policy that states that, we've got a big problem,' he said. Sullivan has vowed to eliminate the State Library Board, which refused both last month and last week to disavow the ALA. The board approved a motion to create 'non-binding policies to protect children' in libraries while honoring First Amendment freedoms and libraries' material selection policies, but Sullivan said Friday that this was not enough to ensure the board's survival. He introduced Senate Bill 184 in February to eliminate both the State Library Board and the Arkansas Education Television Commission, which oversees Arkansas PBS, and transfer their powers to the state Department of Education. The bill passed the Senate Feb. 17 and has yet to be heard by a House committee. Negotiations with the PBS commission chairman led Sullivan to decide not to dissolve it, and he said he has drafted an amendment to SB 184 removing the Arkansas Education Television Commission. As of Tuesday afternoon, the amendment had not been posted on the Legislature's bill monitoring website. Sullivan told the JBC subcommittee that he planned to file a new bill that would fulfill the purpose of the HB 1127 amendment if it did not pass. The bill had not been filed as of Tuesday afternoon. Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, said he found it 'counterintuitive' that the proposed amendment banned funding libraries with any and all references to the ALA in measures passed by their governing boards. 'Let's just say that one of these boards, if this were to pass, were to go in and say, 'We cannot make a reference to the American Library Association'… then they've made a reference to the American Library Association in an official document,' Hickey said. Sullivan said he understood Hickey's point but would 'leave it at that.' He also said he had not heard from any librarians saying the amendment would put their funding at risk. However, librarians in Sen. Jonathan Dismang's district have contacted him with concerns that the fine points of the language of the appropriation amendment could jeopardize their funding, he told Sullivan. 'I don't think any member could read this language and understand what the outcome is all at once,' the Searcy Republican said. 'I may be wrong, but… I'm saying that gives me concern. You may have libraries, doing everything the way that you think they should be doing it, that could be tripped up by the way that this is written and lose their state funding.' Dismang said he agreed with Sullivan that 'sexually explicit materials' should not be within minors' reach, but Sullivan said he was skeptical of that statement based on Dismang's concerns. 'If libraries have in their policy that we adhere to the American Library Association policy, [that] policy disagrees with what we just said,' Sullivan said. Dismang also said he was concerned about the amendment's exception for libraries to pay for staff professional development from the ALA if the programming 'does not conflict with state law.' 'Obviously there are some good things [about the ALA] or we wouldn't have carved out an exception,' Dismang said. Act 242 of 2025 removes the state's requirement for public library directors in Arkansas to hold a master's degree 'from an accredited American Library Association program,' and allows someone with 'work experience in the field of library operations' but without a master's degree to run a library with approval from its local governing board. Sullivan sponsored Act 242, which became law March 4, and said it will give communities 'local control' over who runs their libraries. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
