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Committee rejects proposal to reduce felony penalties for drug paraphernalia possession
Summary
The Judiciary Committee considered HB 19‑47, which would have aligned paraphernalia penalties with DWI escalation (misdemeanor until the fourth offense); prosecutors opposed the change and the committee voted the bill down after public testimony from prosecutors and residents.
House Bill 19‑47, sponsored in committee as a statutory alignment of drug‑paraphernalia penalties with the state’s DWI escalation scheme, failed after debate and public testimony. Representative Clowney presented the measure as a fairness change that would reduce life‑altering consequences when a person is charged only with paraphernalia and not with possessing a controlled substance.
Sarah Moore, executive director of the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition, told the…
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